"By the principles of the American revolution, arbitrary power may, and ought to, be resisted even by arms, if necessary."

   "By the third section of this article, it is declared that treason against the United States shall consist in levying war against them, or in adhering to their enemies, giving them aid or comfort.

   "By the principles of the American revolution, arbitrary power may, and ought to, be resisted even by arms, if necessary. The time may come when it shall be the duty of a state, in order to preserve itself from oppression of the general government, to have recourse to the sword; in which case, the proposed form of government declares, that the state, and every one of its citizens who acts under its authority, are guilty of a direct act of treason; reducing, by this provision, the different states to this alternative,--that they must tamely and passively yield to despotism, or their citizens must oppose it at the hazard of the halter, if unsuccessful; and reducing the citizens of the state which shall take arms to a situation in which they must be exposed to punishment, let them act as they will-- since, if they obey the authority of their state government, they will guilty of treason against the United States; if they join the general government, they will be guilty of treason against their own state...."[Pg. 382]

"...The state of Georgia is larger in extent than the whole island of Great Britain, extending from its sea-coast to the Mississippi, a distance of eight hundred miles or more: its breadth, for the most part, about three hundred miles. The states of North Carolina and Virginia, in the same manner, reach from the sea-coast unto the Mississippi.

   "The hardship, the inconvenience, and the injustice, of compelling the inhabitants of those states who may dwell on the western side of the mountains, and along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to remain connected with the inhabitants of those states respectively on the Atlantic side of the mountains, and subject to the same state governments, would be such as would, in my opinion, justify even recourse to arms, to free themselves from, and to shake off, so ignominious a yoke."[Pg. 383]

[The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, AS RECOMMENDED BY THE GENERAL CONVENTION AT PHILADELPHIA, IN 1787. TOGETHER WITH THE JOURNAL OF THE FEDERAL CONVENTION, LUTHER MARTIN'S LETTER, YATES'S MINUTES, CONGRESSIONAL OPINIONS, Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of '98-'99, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE CONSTITUTION IN FIVE VOLUMES. VOL. I. SECOND EDITION, WITH CONSIDERABLE ADDITIONS. COLLECTED AND REVISED FROM CONTEMPORARY PUBLICATIONS, By JONATHAN ELLIOT. PUBLISHED UNDER THE SANCTION OF CONGRESS. PHILADELPHIA: J.B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 189l. "Luther Martin's Letter"]