Secession Leader

Three-quarters length portrait of James Murray Mason, Congressman/Senator from Virginia by Mathew Brady in 1844.

James Murray Mason spent his entire adult life in politics, most of which spent serving his home state of Virginia. While his grandfather George Mason worked to bring the country together, James worked to pull it apart. His final years as Senator of Virginia were spent creating division between states and eventually pushing his home state towards secession.

"If I know anything of the condition of the southern States- a condition into which they have been brought by the conduct of your people, under your lead...the question will not be, shall the Union be dissolved? The question amond patriots-honest minded, thinking, responsible men there- will be: is there any mode on God's earth by which the Union can be preserved?" [1]