"The right of the people to keep and bear arms" must be so understood as not to exclude..."

 "Mr CHANLER said:

 "Mr Speaker: The following language of Alexander Hamilton, in one his essays (No 5) in the Federalist, seems most appropriate at this time and to this subject:

  "It is of great Importance in a republic not only to guard society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part.
  "Justice is the end of government. It is the of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit.
  "In a society in which tbe stronger faction can readily unite to oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as In a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured the violence of the stronger." . . .

"...Hon. [George] Michael Hahn of Louisiana a speech delivered before the Equal Suffrage Association of Washington on Friday November 17, 1865 says:

"Fellow citizens, while we strive to secure the object we have in view--the right of suffrage to American citizens, regardless of color--we must overcome obstacles and difficulties of a serious character which still beset us and the continued existence of which may threaten to prevent our Immediate success. It in necessary, in beginning our work to see that slavery throughout the land is effectually abolished and that the freedmen are protected in their freedom, and in all the advantages and privileges inseparable from the condition of freedom."

  And again:

  "The right of the people to keep and bear arms" must be so understood as not to exclude the colored man from the term 'people.'"

[George Michael Hahn, (November 24, 1830- March 15, 1886), was the 19th Governor of Louisiana, Congressman, United States Senator during Reconstruction and after.An adherent of the Union, Hahn became the U. S. Representative from the Louisiana's 2nd congressional district in 1862. Hahn was one of two Louisiana Representatives seated in the 37th Congress which adjourned on 1863 March 4. Eventually, Hahn advised that there should be no more representation from Louisiana until it was reconstructed. During his time in Washington, Hahn met and befriended President Abraham Lincoln.]

- SPEECH OF HON. JOHN W. CHANLER, OF NEW YORK. Delivered in the U.S. House of Representatives January 12 1866. (Chanler, (September 14, 1826 – October 19, 1877) was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-eighth, Thirty-ninth, and Fortieth United States Congresses, serving from March 4, 1863 to March 3, 1869).