"the very case arises for which the constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to bear arms"

"...We should have on our side the two main elements of success-right and numbers. The superiority of our numbers would be the foundation of our right; for if the Republican party fairly outvoted us, it would be our duty to submit. But if the election shall show that the Democratic party are a majority, and Congress shall, nevertheless, declare the Republican candidate elected, our right to resist will be unquestionable, and our power to resist successfully will depend upon the same superiority in numbers which made us a majority.

"The chief advantage of republican institutions is, that they keep the preponderance of physical force always on the side of the government. If the minority grows into a majority, they have only to await the next election to come peaceably into power; and for this reason a resort to force is always inexcusable under republican institutions, so long as the elections are fairly conducted. But if, by a change in public sentiment, the minority have control of the government at the time of an election, and keep themselves in power by refusing to count the votes by which they are defeated, the very case arises for which the constitution guarantees the right of all citizens to bear arms. The power of forcible resistance by a swindled majority is, in the last resort, the only security of republican institutions. Deny the right and you give full license to any unscrupulous minority, which happens to be in power, to render its
authority perpetual...."--New York World, July 15, [Speech of  General Wade Hampton, (U.S. Senator from South Carolina, who also served as the 77th Governor of that state.)]

- The Charleston Daily News, Charleston, S.C. Saturday Morning, July 18, 1868. Volume VI.--Number 900. Pg. 4.