6-20-1856: “The Constitution of the United States secures to the people the right to bear arms: and it does this to enable them to protect themselves from violence at home as well as abroad. Self-defence is the first law of nature; and the government or the system, we care not what it is, which takes it away, is the most absolute of all possible despotisms.”

The Burlington Free Press, “The Constitution of the United States secures to the people the right to bear arms: and it does this to enable them to protect themselves from violence at home as well as abroad. Self-defence is the first law of nature; and the government or the system, we care not what it is, which takes it away, is the most absolute of all possible despotisms.”, June 20, 1856