U.S. Rep. Robert Barnwell Rhett, Sr.: “Here were personal rights secured; and so on with the rest—such as the right of bearing arms in time of peace . . . These were all great personal rights of the people, which this fundamental law declared should not be violated. . . . If the power of dictation could begin, it could go on….”

U.S. Rep. Robert Barnwell Rhett, Sr., “Here were personal rights secured; and so on with the rest—such as the right of bearing arms in time of peace . . . These were all great personal rights of the people, which this fundamental law declared should not be violated. Was it not true that, at the time the Constitution was framed, these rights had been violated? . . . If the power of dictation could begin, it could go on….”, Jan. 10, 1844