"the use of arms which pervades the country is the best Security for the rights and liberties of the people"

   "The general knowledge of the use of arms which pervades the country is the best Security for the rights and liberties of the people which can be provided."

- Senator Alexander Porter, June 10, 1836. [REGISTER OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS, COMPRISING THE LEADING DEBATES AND INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CONGRESS TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, AND THE LAWS, OF A PUBLIC NATURE, ENACTED DURING THE SESSION: WITH A COPIOUS INDEX TO THE WHOLE. VOLUME XII. WASHINGTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GALES AND SEATON. 1836. Pg.1755-56.] (Mr. Porter, (June 24, 1785 – January 13, 1844), was a delegate to the convention which framed the first Louisiana Constitution in 1812, and a member of the Louisiana Legislature from 1816 to 1818. He was a judge of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1821 to 1833. He was elected to the U.S. Senate, and served from Dec. 19, 1833, until Jan. 5, 1837).