U.S. Senator [And later President] Andrew Johnson: “We ask that we may have means to defend ourselves, under that clause of the constitution which provides that every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms.”

U.S. Senator [And later President] Andrew Johnson, “We ask that we may have means to defend ourselves, under that clause of the constitution which provides that every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms.”, June 27, 1861