"They bear arms, in accordance with their constitutional right to do so"

"...The blacks and whites, indiscriminately, have, it seems, acquired the bad habit of carrying arms to political meetings, and also when they are moving from point to point in the country. But they do not bear arms as organized military bodies, under military discipline and drill. They bear arms, in accordance with their constitutional right to do so--a right the Executive of the State has no power to abridge..."--Governor R.K. Scott, Sept. 1, 1868, reply to "citizens of Spartanburg". [The Daily Phoenix, Columbia, S.C., Friday Morning, September 11, 1868. Volume IV--No. 149. Pg. 1]