" nor will the constitution of the United States, or the rights of the States, or of the people, be infringed"

"The amendment of the constitution of the United States, cited, secures "the right of the people to keep and bear arms;" nor will the constitution of the United States, or the rights of the States, or of the people, be infringed, and I am very confident not endangered, if the concurrent authority of the National Government is exercised to provide arms, establish magazines, &c. and to arm indeed the great body of the militia of the United States."

- Joseph Bloomfield, Dec. 29, 1809 letter to Colonel B. Tallmadge. [American State Papers. Class V. Military Affairs. Volume 1. DOCUMENTS LEGISLATIVE AND EXECUTIVE OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES FROM THE FIRST SESSION OF THE FIRST TO THE SECOND SESSION OF THE FIFTEENTH CONGRESS, INCLUSIVE: COMMENCING MARCH 3, 1789, AND ENDING MARCH 3 1819. SELECTED AND EDITED, UNDER THE AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS. BY WALTER LOWRIE Secretary of the Senate, AND MATTHEW ST, CLAIR CLARKE, Clerk of the House of Representatives. VOLUME WASHINGTON: PUBLISHED BY GALES AND SEATON 1832.] (Joseph Bloomfield, (Oct. 18, 1753 – Oct. 3, 1823), was the fourth Governor of New Jersey. He was admitted to the bar in 1775 and began his law practice in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He entered the Continental Army as captain of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment on Feb. 9, 1776. He attained the rank of major on November 28, 1776, and was appointed judge advocate of the northern army. He was wounded at the Battle of Brandywine in September 1777. He resigned from the Continental Army on Oct. 28, 1778, after he was elected clerk of the New Jersey General Assembly. From 1795 to 1800 he served as Mayor of Burlington, New Jersey. At the start of the War of 1812 he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the United States Army on March 13, 1812. He served until June 15, 1815 along the Canadian border).