"The
Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms shall NOT be infringed."
“The people at large are the common superior of the state governments and the general government.”-- James Madison, June 11, 1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 3]
"Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defence? . . . If our defence be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"--Patrick Henry, Monday, June 9, 1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 3]
"The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them. The government is administered by the representatives of the people, voluntarily and freely chosen.
"Under these circumstances, should any one attempt to establish their own system, in prejudice of the rest, they would be universally detested and opposed, and easily frustrated."--Mr. Zachariah Johnson, Wednesday, June 25, 1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions [Virginia] on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 3]
"Here, then, every
man,--whether native or naturalized, whether free or bond--for
the provision comprehended every class and colour--every man
capable of shouldering a musket, was required to be trained and
armed, by our present Constitution; and the proposed to
it, designates the militia as only to be for defence, and in this
view Blackstone himself regarded the militia. The very second
amendment to the Constitution of the United States, previous to
which several of the States had refused to come into the compact,
he begged to recommend to the attention of his friend from Allegheny,
(Mr. Forward)--"a well regulated militia being necessary to the
security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed." Mark the admirable adaption of
the language. There is said (Mr. I) an argument in it more than I
could make in a year, all condensed. A regulated right of every
man, to do what? To hear arms--and the Constitution says
this right to bear arms "shall not be infringed."
This "well regulated militia," which is "necessary to
the security of a free State" is the right of every man to
bear arms, and it is a right which "shall not be
infringed." And when his friend from Allegheny said at
first, (as he had understood him,) that the federal power absorbed
all the rights of the states on this subject, he (.Mr I) confessed
that he had felt himself excited almost to pugnacity. This right
exceeded, was beyond the reach of the federal
Constitution--it was supreme, above the supremacy of
the Constitution--it was a right which the Constitution could
not touch. It was nothing less than man's right to self defence, that power which could not be impaired by
any power of government."
- Mr. Charles Jared Ingersoll, Oct. 24, 1837, PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION, COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837 VOL. IV. Reported by JOHN AGG, Stenographer: Assisted By Messrs. Wheeler, Kingman, Draks, and McKinley. HARRISBURG: PRINTED BY PACKER, BARRETT, And PARKE. 1838. (Ingersoll served twice as a United States representative, first from 1813 to 1815 and again from 1841 to 1847. In between these terms, he worked as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1815 to 1829 by appointment from President James Madison, was Pennsylvania state representative in 1830, and in 1837, was a delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention. Over the course of his governmental career, Ingersoll worked with a few U. S. presidents such as James Monroe, John Tyler, and James K. Polk).
"...Seventh. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and their own state, or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game, and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil powers.
"Eighth. The inhabitants of the several states shall have liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands they hold, and on all other lands in the United States not inclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters, and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States...."--THE ADDRESS AND REASONS OF DISSENT OF THE MINORITY of the CONVENTION, Of the State of Pennsylvania, to their Constituents. December 12, 1787.
Mr. James Wilson was one of the signers of the above address. He later stated the following:
"The defence of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of defence is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the liberty and the property of a man: it is not confined merely to his own person; it extends to the persons of all those, to whom he bears a peculiar relation -- of his wife, of his parent, of his child, of his master, of his servant: nay, it extends to the person of every one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked. It becomes humanity as well as justice."--James Wilson,'Of the Natural Rights of Individuals', 1790-1792 (Signed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Congressman, Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice).
- Mr. Charles Jared Ingersoll, Oct. 24, 1837, PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION, COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837 VOL. IV. Reported by JOHN AGG, Stenographer: Assisted By Messrs. Wheeler, Kingman, Draks, and McKinley. HARRISBURG: PRINTED BY PACKER, BARRETT, And PARKE. 1838. (Ingersoll served twice as a United States representative, first from 1813 to 1815 and again from 1841 to 1847. In between these terms, he worked as the United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania from 1815 to 1829 by appointment from President James Madison, was Pennsylvania state representative in 1830, and in 1837, was a delegate to the Pennsylvania state constitutional convention. Over the course of his governmental career, Ingersoll worked with a few U. S. presidents such as James Monroe, John Tyler, and James K. Polk).
"...Seventh. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and their own state, or the United States, or for the purpose of killing game, and no law shall be passed for disarming the people or any of them, unless for crimes committed, or real danger of public injury from individuals; and as standing armies in the time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military shall be kept under strict subordination to and be governed by the civil powers.
"Eighth. The inhabitants of the several states shall have liberty to fowl and hunt in seasonable times, on the lands they hold, and on all other lands in the United States not inclosed, and in like manner to fish in all navigable waters, and others not private property, without being restrained therein by any laws to be passed by the legislature of the United States...."--THE ADDRESS AND REASONS OF DISSENT OF THE MINORITY of the CONVENTION, Of the State of Pennsylvania, to their Constituents. December 12, 1787.
Mr. James Wilson was one of the signers of the above address. He later stated the following:
"The defence of one’s self, justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of defence is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the liberty and the property of a man: it is not confined merely to his own person; it extends to the persons of all those, to whom he bears a peculiar relation -- of his wife, of his parent, of his child, of his master, of his servant: nay, it extends to the person of every one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked. It becomes humanity as well as justice."--James Wilson,'Of the Natural Rights of Individuals', 1790-1792 (Signed the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Congressman, Delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and U.S. Supreme Court Justice).
"Self-preservation is the first
principle of our nature. When our lives and properties are at
stake, it would be foolish and unnatural to refrain from such
measures as might preserve them because they would be detrimental to
others. . . . . . that the united strength of the several members
might give stability and security to the whole body, and each
respective member; so that one part cannot encroach upon another
without becoming a common enemy, and eventually endangering the
safety and happiness of all the other parts."-- Alexander
Hamilton, The Works of Alexander Hamilton - "A FULL
VINDICATION.", Dec. 15, 1774, ed. Henry Cabot Lodge (Federal
Edition) (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904). In 12 vols. Vol. 1.
"Is it a fact that they had the liberties of their country within their grasp? that the troops then in command, even if led on by their illustrious chief, and backed by the apostates from the revolutionary cause, could have brought under the yoke the great body of their fellow-citizens, most of them with arms in their hands, no inconsiderable part fresh from the use of them, all inspired with rage at the fratricidal attempt, and not only guided by the federal head, but organized and animated by their local Governments, possessing the means of appealing to their interests as well as other motives, should such an appeal be required?"
- James Madison, Aug. 25th, 1825 letter to Henry Coleman. [LETTERS AND OTHER WRITINGS OF JAMES MADISON. FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. IN FOUR VOLUMES. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. VOL. III. 1816-1828. PHILADELPHIA: J.B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1865. Pg. 495].
"These people are either too superstitiously religious, or too cowardly for arms; they either can not or dare not defend ; their property is open to anyone who has the courage to attack them... The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves."--Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine (July 1775); signed "A Lover Of Peace".
"The Americans, generally, are accustomed from infancy to the use of fire arms; very little training will therefore be required to make them gun-men."--Senator Isaac D. Barnard, from Pennsylvania, March 1, 1830.
[REGISTER OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS, COMPRISING THE LEADING DEBATES AND INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CONGRESS: TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AND THE LAWS ENACTED DURING THE SESSION, WITH A COPIOUS INDEX TO THE WHOLE. VOLUME VI. WASHINGTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GALES AND SEATON. 1830. Pg. 222]
"It is expressly provided in the Constitution of the United States, that the States may provide for their own defence in times of imminent danger. We are bound by that Constitution and we have a right to defend ourselves in the way that is reserved in the Constitution of the United States; that is left to every State in the Union, unrestricted and in full force. He knew that the people of the United States had reserved the right of self defence; but the States have given up the right to keep ships of war or troops in time of peace. What he had said he took from the book, and he had not gone beyond that. The right of preparing for war is exclusively reserved to the Government of the United States, and the States cannot, for their own defence, keep ships of war or troops in time of peace. Now for the qualification of these remarks, he would refer to the amendment to the Constitution which had already been read as follows: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Why this was intended to convey to individuals certain personal rights. This is a personal right reserved to individuals to bear arms; this was adopted to grant to every man the shield of self defence."
- Mr. Walter Forward, Oct. 3, 1837 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV. Pages 96-97]. Mr. Forward, (January 24, 1786 – November 24, 1852), was an American lawyer and politician. Elected to the 17th Congress in 1822, and reelected to the 18th Congress. He was appointed on March 6, 1841 by President William Henry Harrison to be First Comptroller of the Treasury. Served in that post until September 13, 1841. And was then appointed 15th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury by President John Tyler). .
"Is it a fact that they had the liberties of their country within their grasp? that the troops then in command, even if led on by their illustrious chief, and backed by the apostates from the revolutionary cause, could have brought under the yoke the great body of their fellow-citizens, most of them with arms in their hands, no inconsiderable part fresh from the use of them, all inspired with rage at the fratricidal attempt, and not only guided by the federal head, but organized and animated by their local Governments, possessing the means of appealing to their interests as well as other motives, should such an appeal be required?"
- James Madison, Aug. 25th, 1825 letter to Henry Coleman. [LETTERS AND OTHER WRITINGS OF JAMES MADISON. FOURTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. IN FOUR VOLUMES. PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. VOL. III. 1816-1828. PHILADELPHIA: J.B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1865. Pg. 495].
"These people are either too superstitiously religious, or too cowardly for arms; they either can not or dare not defend ; their property is open to anyone who has the courage to attack them... The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves."--Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive War" in Pennsylvania Magazine (July 1775); signed "A Lover Of Peace".
"The Americans, generally, are accustomed from infancy to the use of fire arms; very little training will therefore be required to make them gun-men."--Senator Isaac D. Barnard, from Pennsylvania, March 1, 1830.
[REGISTER OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS, COMPRISING THE LEADING DEBATES AND INCIDENTS OF THE FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTY-FIRST CONGRESS: TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS AND THE LAWS ENACTED DURING THE SESSION, WITH A COPIOUS INDEX TO THE WHOLE. VOLUME VI. WASHINGTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GALES AND SEATON. 1830. Pg. 222]
"It is expressly provided in the Constitution of the United States, that the States may provide for their own defence in times of imminent danger. We are bound by that Constitution and we have a right to defend ourselves in the way that is reserved in the Constitution of the United States; that is left to every State in the Union, unrestricted and in full force. He knew that the people of the United States had reserved the right of self defence; but the States have given up the right to keep ships of war or troops in time of peace. What he had said he took from the book, and he had not gone beyond that. The right of preparing for war is exclusively reserved to the Government of the United States, and the States cannot, for their own defence, keep ships of war or troops in time of peace. Now for the qualification of these remarks, he would refer to the amendment to the Constitution which had already been read as follows: "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." Why this was intended to convey to individuals certain personal rights. This is a personal right reserved to individuals to bear arms; this was adopted to grant to every man the shield of self defence."
- Mr. Walter Forward, Oct. 3, 1837 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV. Pages 96-97]. Mr. Forward, (January 24, 1786 – November 24, 1852), was an American lawyer and politician. Elected to the 17th Congress in 1822, and reelected to the 18th Congress. He was appointed on March 6, 1841 by President William Henry Harrison to be First Comptroller of the Treasury. Served in that post until September 13, 1841. And was then appointed 15th U.S. Secretary of the Treasury by President John Tyler). .
"That no man should scruple, or
hesitate a moment to use arms in defense of so valuable
a blessing [as liberty], on which all the good and evil of life
depends; is clearly my opinion; yet Arms...should be the last
resort."-- George Washington, 1789 letter to George
Mason. [The True George Washington, 10th Ed. By Paul Leicester Ford.]
"5. A well regulated militia,
composed of the body of the People, being the best security of
a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed; but no one religiously scrupulous of bearing
arms, shall be compelled to render military service in
person."--Journal of the House of Representatives of the
United States, 1789-1793, FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 1789.
I. 1. Homicide is enjoined, when it is necessary for the defence of the
United States, or of Pennsylvania. At present, it is not necessary for me, and,
therefore, I decline to examine the general and very important subject
concerning the rights of war. I confine myself merely to that kind of war, which
is defensive: and even that kind I now consider solely as a municipal
regulation, established by the constitution of the nation, and that of this
commonwealth.
The constitution of the nation is ordained to “provide for the common
defence.” In order to make “provision” for that defence, congress have the power
to “provide for arming the militia,” and “for calling them forth,” “to repel
invasions:” they have power “to provide a navy,” “to raise and support armies,”
“to declare war.” Whenever the primary object, “the common defence,” renders it
necessary, the power becomes the duty of congress: and it requires no formal
deduction of logick to point to the duty, when necessity shall require, of
military bodies, “raised, supported, and armed.” In Pennsylvania, it is
explicitly declared upon the very point, that “the freemen of this commonwealth
shall be armed for its defence.”
2. Homicide is enjoined, when it is necessary for the defence of one’s
person or house.
With regard to the first, it is the great natural law of self preservation,
which, as we have seen,w cannot be repealed, or superseded, or suspended by any
human institution. This law, however, is expressly recognised in the
constitution of Pennsylvania. “The right of the citizens to bear arms in the
defence of themselves shall not be questioned.” This is one of our many renewals
of the Saxon regulations. “They were bound,” says Mr. Selden, “to keep arms for
the preservation of the kingdom, and of their own persons.”
With regard to the second; every man’s house is deemed, by the law, to be
his castle; and the law, while it invests him with the power, enjoins on him the
duty, of the commanding officer. “Every man’s house is his castle,” says my Lord
Coke, in one of his reports, “and he ought to keep and defend it at his peril;
and if any one be robbed in it, it shall be esteemed his own default and
negligence.” For this reason, one may assemble people together in order to
protect and defend his house."
- James Wilson, Lectures on Law, delivered in the College of Philadelphia,
In the years 1790, And 1791. Collected works of James Wilson Vol. 2, [Edited by
Kermit L. Hall and Mark David Hall with an Introduction by Kermit L. Hall and a
Bibliographical Essay by Mark David Hall Collected by Maynard Garrison.
Published by Liberty Fund, Inc.]
"A standing military force, with
an overgrown executive, will not long be safe companions to liberty. The means of defence against foreign
danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing
maxim, to excite a war whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout
all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have
enslaved, the people."--James Madison, Friday, June 29,
1787. [The Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution in the
Convention held at Philadelphia in 1787, vol. 5 (Debates in Congress,
Madison’s Notes, Misc. Letters) (1827).]
"Perhaps it will be asked, “Is
there no case in which a people may resist government?” Yes, there
is one such case; and that is, when rulers usurp a power oppressive
to the people, and continue to support it by military force in
contempt of every respectful remonstrance. In this case the body
of the people have a natural right to unite their strength for
the restoration of their own constitutional government. And, for the
same reason, if a part of the people attempt by arms to
controul or subvert the government, the rulers, who are the guardians
of the constitution, have a right to call in the aid of the people
to protect it. If the people may use force to suppress an
armed usurpation of unconstitutional authority, rulers may, on
the same principle, use force to suppress an armed insurrection
against constitutional authority."-- Joseph Lathrop, (1731–1820),
"A Sermon on a Day Appointed For Publick Thanksgiving"
(1787). Lathrop was born in Norwich, Connecticut, and a graduate of
Yale College (1754), he spent his life as pastor of the
Congregational Church in West Springfield, Massachusetts, where he
died at the age of eighty-nine. [Political Sermons of the American
Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols, Foreword by Ellis Sandoz (2nd ed.
Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998). Vol. 1.]
"A
bill of rights is only an acknowledgment of the preëxisting
claim to rights in the people.
They belong to us as much as if they had been inserted in the
Constitution."--
George
Nicholas, June 16, 1788, The Debates in the Several State Conventions,
(Virginia), on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution. [Elliot's
Debates, Volume 3].
"I
mean, sir, the county of Bristol; the cloud rose there, and burst
upon us, and produced a dreadful effect. It brought on a state of
anarchy, and that led to tyranny. 1 say, it brought anarchy. People
that used to live peaceably, and were before good neighbors, got
distracted, and took up arms against government."--Mr.
William Widgery, Friday, January 25, 1788. (ca. 1753 - July 31,
1822) was a U.S. Representative from Massachusetts. (Mr. Widgery
served in the Revolutionary War as a Lieutenant. Member of the
Massachusetts House of Representatives 1787-1793 and 1795-1797.
Delegate to the State constitutional convention in1788. He served in
the State senate in 1794. And served as member of the executive
council in 1806 and 1807. Widgery was elected as a
Democratic-Republican to the Twelfth Congress (March 4, 1811-March 3,
1813). Served as judge of the court of common pleas 1813-1821).
"If the court please, if there is any right that is dear to the citizen, it is the right to keep and bear arms, and it was secured to the citizen of the United States on the adoption of the amendments to the Constitution, had never been held directly to be a restriction, only upon Congress or upon Federal power as against the citizen, but the same argument, probably, which was used by the court in the case of the lessees of somebody against Maryland, that the amendments were intended generally to be a restriction upon the United States Congress, as against the citizen of the United States. In other words, that the citizens were not--the right of the citizen was not--to be encroached upon by Congress in this respect, and that they do not--these amendments did not--apply to the States, But, if the court please, the fourteenth amendment changes all that theory, and lays the same restriction upon the State that before lay upon the Congress of the United States, viz; That as Congress
heretofore could not interfere with the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms, now, after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, the State cannot interfere with the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. That is included in the fourteenth amendment among the privileges and immunities of the citizen that were not referred to."
--U.S. District Attorney D.T. Corbin, Trials at Columbia, South Carolina, Circuit Court of the United States, 1871. [Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States South Carolina Volume 3 1872] .
"If the court please, if there is any right that is dear to the citizen, it is the right to keep and bear arms, and it was secured to the citizen of the United States on the adoption of the amendments to the Constitution, had never been held directly to be a restriction, only upon Congress or upon Federal power as against the citizen, but the same argument, probably, which was used by the court in the case of the lessees of somebody against Maryland, that the amendments were intended generally to be a restriction upon the United States Congress, as against the citizen of the United States. In other words, that the citizens were not--the right of the citizen was not--to be encroached upon by Congress in this respect, and that they do not--these amendments did not--apply to the States, But, if the court please, the fourteenth amendment changes all that theory, and lays the same restriction upon the State that before lay upon the Congress of the United States, viz; That as Congress
heretofore could not interfere with the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms, now, after the adoption of the fourteenth amendment, the State cannot interfere with the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms. That is included in the fourteenth amendment among the privileges and immunities of the citizen that were not referred to."
--U.S. District Attorney D.T. Corbin, Trials at Columbia, South Carolina, Circuit Court of the United States, 1871. [Testimony Taken by the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States South Carolina Volume 3 1872] .
"O
sir, we should have fine times, indeed, if, to punish tyrants, it
were only sufficient to assemble the people! Your arms,
wherewith you could defend yourselves, are gone . . . Did you
ever read of any revolution in a nation, brought about by the
punishment of those in power, inflicted by those who had no power
at all? You read of a riot act in a country which is called one
of the freest in the world, where a few neighbors cannot assemble
without the risk of being shot by a hired soldiery, the engines of
despotism. We may see such an act in America."--Patrick
Henry, Thursday, June 5, 1788. (May 29, 1736 – June 6, 1799,
Mr. Henry was an attorney, planter and politician who became known as
an orator during the movement for independence in Virginia in the
1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the 1st and 6th post-colonial
Governor of Virginia, 1776-1779 and 1784-1786. And as a delegate to
the Virginia Convention). DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, ON THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL
CONSTITUTION. [Elliot's Debates, Vol 3].
"If
the whole country be in arms, the prosecutor for the commonwealth
can get a good jury, by challenging improper jurors. The right of
challenging, also, is sufficient security for the person accused. I
can see no instance where this can be abused. It will answer every
purpose of the government, and individual security."--Gov.
Edmund Jennings Randolph, Saturday, June 21, 1788. (August 10,
1753 – September 12, 1813.Gov, Randolph was an American attorney,
the seventh Governor of Virginia, 2nd Secretary of State, Delegate to
the Virginia Convention, and the first United States Attorney
General). DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA,
ON THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. [Elliot's Debates, Vol
3].
"To
argue against
the use of a thing from the abuse
of it, had long since been exploded by all sensible people."--John
Rutledge, Jan. 16, 1788. The Debates in the
Several State Conventions, (South Carolina), on the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 4]
“The
principles of this Constitution, while they are adhered to, will
perpetuate that liberty which it is the honor of Americans to have
well contended for. The
clause in the bill is calculated to support those principles; and for
this, if there was no other reason, I should be inclined to give it
my support.”--
Fisher Ames,
June 16, 1789, U.S. House of Representatives. The Debates in the
Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
[Elliot's Debates, Volume 4]
"To trust arms in the hands of the people at large has, in Europe, been believed...to be an experiment fraught only with danger. Here by a long trial it has been proved to be perfectly harmless...If the government be equitable; if it be reasonable in its exactions; if proper attention be paid to the education of children in knowledge and religion, few men will be disposed to use arms, unless for their amusement, and for the defence of themselves and their country."--Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and New York [London 1823]
"...Upon
this wretch, man, however wicked he may be, nature has unequivocally
bestowed one boon. This blessing, the hereditary system proposes to
deprive
him of; our
policy uses it as the principle of civil government;
it is the right of self
preservation.
No other government, ancient or modern, has
fairly provided for the safety of this right.
In all others, it is fettered by compounds of orders
or separate interests;
by force or by fraud. Between governments which leave to nations the
right of self preservation,
and those which destroy
it, we must take our stand, to determine on which side the preference
lies. A coincident view of happiness and misery, will presently
transform this line, into a wide gulf, on the farther side of which,
we shall behold the governed of all other nations, expressing their
agonies. Shall we go to them, because they cannot come to us? ...."
"...Let
us return from this digression, if it be one, to the comparison we
have undertaken. Mr. Adams’s system is incapable of a division of
rights between a nation and a government. This idea is incompatible
with hereditary, but conformable to responsible power. It is
incompatible with natural orders, but
conformable to natural
rights.
And it is incompatible with the opinion, that the people are no
guardians, but conformable to the opinion, that
they are the best guardians of their own liberty.
Therefore his system annihilates that
sacred
effort of our policy,
to withhold
powers useless
or pernicious;
and
to secure rights necessary for the preservation of liberty,
or without the office of governments. Among
these,
the
rights of bearing arms,
of religion, and of discussion, constitute
of themselves a measureless superiority in our policy,
over any
other, unable, by reason of different principles, to
place them beyond the reach of government;
as we shall presently endeavour to prove...."
"...To
assert, without enforcing this doctrine, would be equivalent to its
relinquishment.
Even Mr. Adams is willing nominally to admit it, in his virtual
representative quality of hereditary orders. This
idea is an admission of national rights independent of government;
but it confides them to the custody of the idea only. How far they
have been actually secured by hereditary power, in discharge of its
supposed representative duties, depends upon a fact, to which all
history testifies....
"...National
rights
and national opinion, cannot really exist, without
powers for defending the one,
and organs for expressing the other. The system of orders must shew
these or confess that they have provided for neither, and that it
uses the terms as decoy phantoms
to delude nations within its
grasp. The
policy of the United States, exhibits its militia, its
right of bearing arms,
its
rights retained,
its
right of instruction,
and
its inclusive right of abolishing the entire government...."-- John
Taylor,
Revolutionary
Soldier and U.S. Senator, (1792 – 94, 1803, 1822 – 24). An
Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the
United States, Section the Sixth, (1814).
"[The disarming of citizens] has a double effect, it palsies the hand and brutalizes the mind: a habitual disuse of physical forces totally destroys the moral [force]; and men lose at once the power of protecting themselves, and of discerning the cause of their oppression." -- Joel Barlow, "Advice to the Privileged Orders", 1792-93.
"[The disarming of citizens] has a double effect, it palsies the hand and brutalizes the mind: a habitual disuse of physical forces totally destroys the moral [force]; and men lose at once the power of protecting themselves, and of discerning the cause of their oppression." -- Joel Barlow, "Advice to the Privileged Orders", 1792-93.
“It was, he said, a
chimerical idea to suppose that a country like this could ever be
enslaved. How is an army for that purpose to be obtained from the
freemen of the United States? They certainly, said he, will know to
what object it is to be applied.
Is it possible, he asked, that an army could be raised for the
purpose of enslaving themselves and their brethren? or, if raised,
whether they could subdue a nation of freemen, who know how to prize
liberty, and
who have arms in their hands?”--
Theodore Sedgwick, Jan.,
1788. The Debates in the Several State Conventions, (Massachusetts),
on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume
2]
"Every citizen is, from the nature
of our social organization, a part of the public defense; and he is
also, in the last resort, in common with his fellow-citizens, the
safeguard of the liberties of all against the government itself.
Thus it is that amendments to the Constitution of the United States
have provided that "the right of the people to keep and bear
arms shall not be infringed." It seems indispensable to the
accomplishment of the objects referred to that every citizen
should be armed..."-- John C. Edwards, Secretary of
State, 11/15/1833. 'Military Affairs', Application of Missouri for
the establishment of a depot of arms near the northwestern boundry of
that state.
"...In what do the citizens of this country differ from the subjects of the
despots of the of world! Mainly in the fact that they possess the right
of suffrage, and the right to bear arms in its defense. It is the right of suffrage, and the right to bear arms that distinguishes the freeman from the slave. It is by means of this right that the people govern--that they legislate for themselves, and execute the laws when made, through agents of their own choice. Take this right from us, and we are no longer free. Preserve it from fraud and corruption, & we never can be slaves...."--Governor Thomas Corwin, [The Ohio Democrat, Canal Dover, Tuscarawas County, (Ohio), December 18,
1840. Volume 2. Number 67. Pg. 3 - Excerpted from the article;
"Governor's Message.", started on Pg. 1]
"...Self defence is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of society can abolish; this primæval principle, the immediate gift of the Creator, obliges every one to remonstrate against the strides of ambition, and a wanton lust of domination, and to resist the first approaches of tyranny, which at this day threaten to sweep away the rights for which the brave sons of America have fought with an heroism scarcely paralleled even in ancient republicks...."-- Elbridge Gerry, Observations On the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions. (Mr. Gerry signed the Declaration of Independence. Graduated from Harvard in 1762. Was a Delegate to the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention. Representative from Massachusetts, and later Vice-President of the U.S. under James Madison).
"...Self defence is a primary law of nature, which no subsequent law of society can abolish; this primæval principle, the immediate gift of the Creator, obliges every one to remonstrate against the strides of ambition, and a wanton lust of domination, and to resist the first approaches of tyranny, which at this day threaten to sweep away the rights for which the brave sons of America have fought with an heroism scarcely paralleled even in ancient republicks...."-- Elbridge Gerry, Observations On the new Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions. (Mr. Gerry signed the Declaration of Independence. Graduated from Harvard in 1762. Was a Delegate to the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention. Representative from Massachusetts, and later Vice-President of the U.S. under James Madison).
"The defence of one’s self,
justly called the primary law of nature, is not, nor can it be
abrogated by any regulation of municipal law. This principle of
defence is not confined merely to the person; it extends to the
liberty and the property of a man: it is not confined merely to his
own person; it extends to the persons of all those, to whom he bears
a peculiar relation -- of his wife, of his parent, of his child, of
his master, of his servant: nay, it extends to the person of every
one, who is in danger; perhaps, to the liberty of every one, whose
liberty is unjustly and forcibly attacked. It becomes humanity as
well as justice."--James Wilson, 'Of the Natural Rights
of Individuals', 1790-1792 (Signed the Declaration of Independence
and U.S. Constitution, Congressman, Delegate to the Constitutional
Convention and U.S. Supreme Court Justice).
"From among the rights retained by
our policy, we have selected those of self defence or bearing arms,
of conscience, and of free inquiry, for two purposes; one, to shew
the vast superiority of our policy, in being able to keep natural
rights necessary for liberty and happiness, out of the hands of
governments; the other, to shew that this ability is the effect of
its principles, and beyond the reach of Mr. Adams’s system, or of
any other, unable to reserve to the people, and to withhold from
governments, a variety of rights."--John Taylor,
Revolutionary Soldier and U.S. Senator, (1792 – 94, 1803, 1822 –
24). [An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of
the United States: Section the Sixth; THE GOOD MORAL PRINCIPLES OF
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES, (1814).]
"The right of self-defence never
ceases. It is among the most sacred, and alike necessary to nations
and to individuals."--President James Monroe, Nov. 16,
1818 message to the U.S. House and Senate. [Journal of the Senate of
the United States of America, November 17th, 1818.]
“To take from the people the right
of bearing arms, and put their weapons of defence in the
hands of a standing army, would be scarcely more dangerous to their
liberties, than to permit the Government to accumulate immense
amounts of treasure beyond the supplies necessary to its legitimate
wants. Such a treasure would doubtless be employed at some time, as
it has been in other countries, when opportunity tempted
ambition.”--President Andrew Jackson, Message to U.S. House
and Senate of Dec. 5, 1836.[Journal of the Senate of the United
States of America, 1789-1873. TUESDAY, December 6, 1836.]
"To preserve liberty, it is
essential that the WHOLE BODY of PEOPLE always POSSESS ARMS, and be
taught alike especially when young, how to use them."--Richard
Henry Lee, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer, 53
(1788). [Walter Bennett, ed., Letters from the Federal Farmer to the
Republican, at 21,22,124 [Univ. of Alabama Press,1975]
"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of nobilie spirit, the most corrupt Congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."-- Reverand Nicholas Collin, 10/12/1789, Fayetteville North Carolina Gazette.
"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprize, and independance to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks."--Thomas Jefferson, Aug. 19, 1785 letter to Peter Carr, [PTJ 8:406-8. Thomas Jefferson Encyclopedia, Excercise. Monticello.org]
"The
people cannot be all, & always, well informed. The part which is
wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the
facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such
misconceptions it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the
public liberty. We have had 13. states independent 11. years. There
has been one rebellion. That comes to one rebellion in a century &
a half for each state. What country before ever existed a century &
half without a rebellion? & what country can preserve it's
liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their
people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon & pacify
them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of
liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of
patriots & tyrants. It is it's natural manure. Our Convention has
been too much impressed by the insurrection of Massachusetts: and in
the spur of the moment they are setting up a kite to keep the
hen-yard in order. I hope in God this article will be rectified
before the new constitution is accepted."--Thomas Jefferson,
Nov. 13, 1787 letter to William S. Smith.
"We
established, however, some although not all its important principles.
The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is
inherent in the people; that they may exercise it by themselves, in
all cases to which they think themselves competent (as in electing
their functionaries executive and legislative, and deciding by a jury
of themselves, in all judiciary cases in which any fact is involved),
or they may act by representatives, freely and equally chosen; that it
is their right and duty to be at all times armed; that they are
entitled to freedom of person,freedom of religion, freedom of
property, and freedom of the press."--Thomas Jefferson,
To John Cartwright. vii, 356. (M., 1824.) (Jefferson Cyclopedia).
"Can
it be necessary to say that a merchant vessel is not a privateer?
That though she has arms to defend herself in time of war, in the
course of her regular commerce, this no more makes her a privateer,
than a husbandman following his plow, in time of war, with a KNIFE or
PISTOL in his pocket, is. thereby, made a soldier? The occupation of
a privateer is attack and plunder, that of a merchant vesstl is
commerce and self-preservation."--Thomas Jefferson, To
Gouerneur Morris, iv, 41. FORD ED., vi, 385. (Pa., Aug. 1793.).
(Jeffersonian Cyclopedia).
"One
loves to possess arms, though they hope never to have occasion for
them."--Thomas Jefferson, To President Washington, iv,
143. FORD ED., vii, 84. (M.,1796.). (Jeffersonian Cyclopedia).
"But
all this will show the original error of establishing a judiciary
independent of the nation, and which, from the citadel of the law,
can turn its guns on those they were meant to defend, and
control and fashion their proceedings to its own will."--Thomas
Jefferson, To John W. Eppes. FORD ED., ix, 68. (W., May 1807.).
(Jeffersonian Cyclopedia).
"To
disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave
them."--George Mason, June 14, 1788, in the Virginia
Convention on the ratification of the Constitution, [Debates in the
Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution, Jonathan Elliot, ed., v.3 p.380] Mr. Mason drafted the
Virgina Declaration of Rights, and was an ally of James Madison and
George Washington.
"There is no danger of our forgetting the use of arms, while are strangers to game laws. A youth of sixteen years of age, who has trained by necessity or choice, to amusement of hunting in our American woods, has a better foundation laid for his becoming an effective soldier, than a whole nation of farmers who have been educated (from the operation of game laws) in an of fire arms." POMPILIUS. Philadelphia, July 26, 1788. [Pg. 225]
"Address to the printers of throughout the United States: written by Tench Coxe, esq...."
"...You are to consider whether freedom of publication, extending to blasphemy, immorality, treason, sedition, malice, or scandal, does not destroy the inestimable benefits which result from the liberty of the press, This privilege is certainly essential to the existence of a free government; but it consists in avoiding to impose any previous restraints on publication, and not in refraining to censure or punish such things, as produce private or public injuries. Every freeman has a right to the use of the press: so he has to the use of his arms. But if his publications give an unmerited or deadly stroke to private reputation, or sap the foundations of just government, he abuses his privilege as unquestionably as if he were to plunge his sword into the bosom of a fellow citizen: and the good of society requires that each offence should be punished...." PHILODEMOS. [Tench Coxe] [Pg. 181]
[THE AMERICAN MUSEUM: OR REPOSITORY OF ANCIENT AND MODERH FUGITIVE PIECES, &c. PROSE AND POETICAL. Volume IV. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY MATHE CAREY. M.DCC.LXXXVIII. 1788.]
"There is no danger of our forgetting the use of arms, while are strangers to game laws. A youth of sixteen years of age, who has trained by necessity or choice, to amusement of hunting in our American woods, has a better foundation laid for his becoming an effective soldier, than a whole nation of farmers who have been educated (from the operation of game laws) in an of fire arms." POMPILIUS. Philadelphia, July 26, 1788. [Pg. 225]
"Address to the printers of throughout the United States: written by Tench Coxe, esq...."
"...You are to consider whether freedom of publication, extending to blasphemy, immorality, treason, sedition, malice, or scandal, does not destroy the inestimable benefits which result from the liberty of the press, This privilege is certainly essential to the existence of a free government; but it consists in avoiding to impose any previous restraints on publication, and not in refraining to censure or punish such things, as produce private or public injuries. Every freeman has a right to the use of the press: so he has to the use of his arms. But if his publications give an unmerited or deadly stroke to private reputation, or sap the foundations of just government, he abuses his privilege as unquestionably as if he were to plunge his sword into the bosom of a fellow citizen: and the good of society requires that each offence should be punished...." PHILODEMOS. [Tench Coxe] [Pg. 181]
[THE AMERICAN MUSEUM: OR REPOSITORY OF ANCIENT AND MODERH FUGITIVE PIECES, &c. PROSE AND POETICAL. Volume IV. PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED BY MATHE CAREY. M.DCC.LXXXVIII. 1788.]
"If
a time of public contention shall hereafter arrive, the firm and
ardent friends to liberty may know the length to which they can push
their noble opposition, on the foundation of the laws. Should their
country's cause impel them further, they will be acquainted with the
hazard, and using those arms which Providence has put into their
hands, will make a solemn appeal to "the power above."--Tench
Coxe, An American Citizen IV, PHILA. INDEP. GAZETTEER, Oct. 21,
1787, reprinted in 13 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY, supra note 57, at 431,
433. (Mr. Coxe was a leading proponent of the Constitution and Bill
of Rights and an American political economist and a delegate for
Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1788-1789. He was
appointed revenue commissioner by President George Washington on June
30, 1792).
"Congress
have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and EVERY OTHER
TERRIBLE IMPLEMENT of the soldier, are the BIRTHRIGHT of an
American .... The UNLIMITED power of the sword is NOT in the
hands of EITHER the federal or state government, but, where I trust
in God it will ever remain, in the HANDS OF THE PEOPLE."--Tench
Coxe, Pennsylvania Gazette, February 1788.(Mr. Coxe was a leading
proponent of the Constitution and Bill of Rights and an American
political economist and a delegate for Pennsylvania to the
Continental Congress in 1788-1789. He was appointed revenue
commissioner by President George Washington on June 30, 1792).
"Whereas
civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them,
may attempt to tyrannize, and as military forces, which must be
occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power
to the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by
the article [the Second Amendment] in their right to keep and bear
their private arms."--Tench Coxe, under pseudonym "A
Pennsylvanian," Philadelphia Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789.
(Mr. Coxe was a leading proponent of the Constitution and Bill of
Rights and an American political economist and a delegate for
Pennsylvania to the Continental Congress in 1788-1789. He was
appointed revenue commissioner by President George Washington on June
30, 1792).
"The
danger (where there is any) from armed citizens, is only to the
government, not to the society; as long as they have nothing to
revenge in the government (which they cannot have while it is in
their own hands) there are many advantages in their being accustomed
to the use of arms and no possible disadvantage."--Joel
Barlow, Equality in America, "Advice to the Privileged
Orders" 1792.
"Did
it become necessary for me to arm against an enemy, either foreign or
domestic, and the laws of my country would permit me, I would select
my troops from my own slaves; I would put arms into their hands, and
tell them to defend me—and they would do it; not from the timid
fears of abject slaves, but from their devotion and attachment to me,
as their benefactor and protector."--William Smith, of
South Carolina,Speech of February 25,1830. [Daniel Webster, The
Webster-Hayne Debate on the Nature of the Constitution: Selected
Documents (1830).
“Are
we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation,
that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the
difference between having our arms in our own possession and under
our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress?
If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose
hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us,
as in our own hands?--Patrick Henry,
June 9, 1788, Virginia Convention on the ratification of the
Constitution
"The
great object is, that every man be armed. [...] Every one who is able
may have a gun."--Patrick Henry, speech of June 14 1788
"That
the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress
to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of
conscience; or to prevent the people of the United states who are
peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms..."--Samuel
Adams, in "Phila. Independent Gazetteer", August 20,
1789.
"Another
source of power in government is a military force. But this, to be
efficient, must be superior to any force that exists among the
people, or which they can command: for otherwise this force would be
annihilated, on the first exercise of acts of oppression. Before a
standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in
almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot
enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the WHOLE BODY OF PEOPLE
ARE ARMED, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular
troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States. A
military force, at the command of Congress, can execute no laws, but
such as the people perceive to be just and constitutional; for they
will possess the power, and jealousy will instantly inspire the
inclination, to resist the execution of a law which appears to them
unjust and oppressive."--Noah Webster, Oct. 10, 1787, An
Examination into the leading principles of the Federal Constitution,
(Written under the pseudonym "By a Citizen of America").
"...There
ought to be a bill of rights, in order that those in power may not
step over the boundary between the powers of government and the
rights of the people, which they may do when there is nothing to
prevent them. They may do so without a bill of rights; notice will
not be readily taken of the encroachments of rulers, and they may go
a great length before the people are alarmed. Oppression may
therefore take place by degrees; but if there were express terms and
bounds laid down, when these were passed by, the people would take
notice of them, and oppressions would not be carried on to such a
length. I look upon it, therefore, that there ought to be something
to confine the power of this government within its proper
boundaries...."
"...A
bill of rights would be necessary here to guard against our rulers. I
wish to have a bill of rights, to secure those unalienable rights,
which are called by some respectable writers the residuum of human
rights, which are never to be given up. At the same time that it
would give security to individuals, it would add to the general
strength. It might not be so necessary to have a bill of rights in
the government of the United States, if such means had not been made
use of as endanger a consolidation of all the states; but at any
event, it would be proper to have one, because, though it might not
be of any other service, it would at least satisfy the minds of the
people...."
"...There
are certain human rights that ought not to be given up, and which
ought in some manner to be secured. With respect to these great
essential rights, no latitude ought to be left. They are the most
inestimable gifts of the great Creator, and therefore ought not to be
destroyed, but ought to be secured. They ought to be secured to
individuals in consideration of the other rights which they give up
to support society."--Samuel Spencer, July 21, 1788,
Delegate for North Carolina, Superior Court Judge in North Carolina.
The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the
Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 4]. DEBATES IN THE
CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, ON THE ADOPTION OF THE
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
"When
we consider the great powers of Congress, there is great cause of
alarm. They can disarm the militia. If they were armed, they
would be a resource against great oppressions. The laws of a great
empire are difficult to be executed. If the laws of the Union were
oppressive, they could not carry them into effect, if the people
were possessed of proper means of defence.
"It
was cried out that we were in a most desperate situation, and that
Congress could not discharge any of their most sacred contracts. I
believe it to be the ease. But why give more power than is necessary?
The men who went to the Federal Convention went for the express
purpose of amending the government, by giving it such additional
powers as were necessary. If we should accede to this system, it may
be thought proper, by a few designing persons, to destroy it, in a
future age, in the same manner that the old system is laid aside. The
Confederation was binding on all the states. It could not be
destroyed but with the consent of all the states. There was an
express article to that purpose. The men who were deputed to the
Convention, instead of amending the old, as they were solely
empowered and directed to do, proposed a new system. If the best
characters departed so far from their authority, what may not be
apprehended from others, who may be agents in the new government?
"It
is natural for men to aspire to power--it is the nature of mankind to
be tyrannical; therefore it is necessary for us to secure our rights
and liberties as far as we can. But it is asked why we should suspect
men who are to be chosen by ourselves, while it is their interest to
act justly, and while men have self-interest at heart. I think the
reasons which I have given are sufficient to answer that question. We
ought to consider the depravity of human nature, the predominant
thirst of power which is in the breast of every one, the temptations
our rulers may have, and the unlimited confidence placed in them by
this system. These are the foundation of my fears, They would be so
long in the general government that they would forget the grievances
of the people of the states."--William Lenoir, Delegate,
North Carolina State Senator, July 21, 1788, The Debates in the
Several State Conventions on the Adoption ofthe
Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 4]. DEBATES IN THE
CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, ON THE ADOPTION OF THE
FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
"Resolved,
That a declaration of rights, asserting and securing from
encroachment the great principles of civil and religious liberty, and
the unalienable rights of the people, together with amendments to the
most ambiguous and exceptionable parts of the said Constitution of
government, ought to be laid before Congress, and the convention of
the states that shall or may be called for the purpose of amending
the said Constitution, for their consideration, previous to the
ratification of the Constitution aforesaid on the part of the state
of North Carolina."
"DECLARATION
OF RIGHTS.
"1.
That there are certain natural rights, of which men, when they form a
social compact, cannot deprive or divest their posterity, among which
are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring,
possessing, and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining
happiness and safety.
"2.
That all power is naturally vested in, and consequently derived from,
the people; that magistrates, therefore, are their trustees and
agents, and at all times amenable to them.
"17.
That the people have a right to keep and bear arms; that a
well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained
to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state;
that standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, and
therefore ought to be avoided, as far as the circumstances and
protection of the community will admit; and that. in all cases, the
military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by,
the civil power.
-
July 21, 1788, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the
Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 4].
DEBATES IN THE CONVENTION OF THE STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, ON THE
ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION.
"I will attempt to illustrate this, by putting one or two cases.--Every man has a right to possess military arms, of every sort and kind, and to furnish his rooms with them. . . . Shall you draw from the fact, of his having a pistol, for the just and lawful purpose of defence, against one sort of violence, and using it to another, equally just and lawful, an argument to turn a justifiable homicide into the crime of murder? Surely a doctrine, which leads to such absurd consequences, cannot be founded in truth and justice, and it is on these principles, that this cause must be decided."
- Mr. Christopher Gore, Attorney for the Defense, TRIAL OF T.O. SELFRIDGE, ESQ. Aug., 1806. [TRIAL Of THOMAS O. SELFRIDGE, COUNSELLOR AT LAW, BEFORE THE HON. ISAAC PARKER, ESQUIRE. FOR KILLING CHARLES AUSTIN, ON THE PUBLIC EXCHANGE, IN BOSTON, AUGUST 4th, 1806. TAKEN IN SHORT HAND BY T. LLOYD, ESQ. REPORTER OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS, AND GEO. CAINES, ESQ. LATE REPORTER TO THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. AND SANCTIONED BY THE COURT, AND REPORTER TO THE STATE. SECOND EDITION. PUBLISHED BY RUSSELL AND CUTLER, BELCHER AND ARMSTRONG, AND OLIVER AND MUNROE. SOLD BY THEM, BY W.M BLAGROVE, NO. 5, SCHOOL-STREET, AND BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE UNION. Pgs. 41-42]
"I will attempt to illustrate this, by putting one or two cases.--Every man has a right to possess military arms, of every sort and kind, and to furnish his rooms with them. . . . Shall you draw from the fact, of his having a pistol, for the just and lawful purpose of defence, against one sort of violence, and using it to another, equally just and lawful, an argument to turn a justifiable homicide into the crime of murder? Surely a doctrine, which leads to such absurd consequences, cannot be founded in truth and justice, and it is on these principles, that this cause must be decided."
- Mr. Christopher Gore, Attorney for the Defense, TRIAL OF T.O. SELFRIDGE, ESQ. Aug., 1806. [TRIAL Of THOMAS O. SELFRIDGE, COUNSELLOR AT LAW, BEFORE THE HON. ISAAC PARKER, ESQUIRE. FOR KILLING CHARLES AUSTIN, ON THE PUBLIC EXCHANGE, IN BOSTON, AUGUST 4th, 1806. TAKEN IN SHORT HAND BY T. LLOYD, ESQ. REPORTER OF THE DEBATES OF CONGRESS, AND GEO. CAINES, ESQ. LATE REPORTER TO THE STATE OF NEW-YORK. AND SANCTIONED BY THE COURT, AND REPORTER TO THE STATE. SECOND EDITION. PUBLISHED BY RUSSELL AND CUTLER, BELCHER AND ARMSTRONG, AND OLIVER AND MUNROE. SOLD BY THEM, BY W.M BLAGROVE, NO. 5, SCHOOL-STREET, AND BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE UNION. Pgs. 41-42]
"The
conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording
of the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as
well as its interpretation by every major commentator and court in
the first half-century after its ratification, indicates that what is
protected is an individual right of a private citizen to own and
carry firearms in a peaceful manner."--U.S. Senate,
Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on
the Judiciary, 97th Congress, second session (February, 1982), SuDoc#
Y4.J 89/2: Ar 5/5.
"And
instead of checks in the formation of the government, to secure the
rights of the people against the usurpations of those they appoint to
govern, we are to understand the equal division of lands among our
people, and the strong arm furnished them by nature and situation,
are to secure them against those usurpations. If there are advantages
in the equal division of our lands, and the strong and manly habits
of our people, we ought to establish governments calculated to give
duration to them, and not governments which never can work naturally,
till that equality of property, and those free and manly habits shall
be destroyed; these evidently are not the natural basis of the
proposed constitution.--
John Dickenson, Oct. 13, 1787, (using the pseudonym "The
Federal Farmer"), The Federal Farmer. letter v.
"The
whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the
people at large or considered as individuals...
It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which
consequently, no majority
has a right to deprive them of."--Albert Gallatin,
October 7, 1789. Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin
was a Swiss-American ethnologist, linguist, politician, diplomat,
congressman, and the longest-serving
United States Secretary of the Treasury
"Reflect on the recent period, when, in a sister state, a numerous body of her frantic citizens appeared armed for the destruction of a government, framed by the people. When that unhappy state was devoted to the miseries of a civil war, did congress even dare to interpose? Conscious of its inability to protect, it could only await the result, in silence and in terror."--Alexander Contee Hanson, Remarks on the Proposed Plan of a Federal Government, Addressed to the Citizens of the United States of America, And Particularly to the People of Maryland, By Aristides. (Hanson was a member of the Maryland State Convention, and Chancellor of Maryland from 1789 till his death in 18O6). [PAMPHLETS ON THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES, PUBLISHED DURING ITS DISCUSSION BY THE PEOPLE 1787-1788. EDITED WITH NOTES AND A BIBLIOGRAPHY BY PAUL LEICESTER FORD.]
"The
right of the people to keep and bear arms has been recognized by the
General Government; but the best security of that right after all is,
the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has
always distinguished the free citizens of these States....Such men
form the best barrier to the liberties
of America"--Gazette of the United States, October 14,
1789.
"That
nothing could at any time be imposed upon the people but by their
consent," that is, by the consent of themselves, or of such as
were by them intrusted. "As Aristotle tells us, in his fourth
book of Politics, the Grecian states ever had special care to place
the use and exercise of arms in the people, because the commonwealth
is theirs who held the arms. The sword and sovereignty ever walk hand
in hand together." This is perfectly just. "Rome, and the
territories about it, were trained up perpetually in arms, and the
whole commonwealth, by this means, became one formal militia. There
was no difference in order between the citizen, the husbandman, and
the soldier." This was the "usual course, even before they
had gained their tribunes and assemblies; that is, in the infancy of
the senate, immediately after the expulsion of their kings."--John
Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United
States: with a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations, by his
Grandson Charles
Francis Adams (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1856). 10 volumes. Vol.
6.
"Twelve
amendments, or, as they are commonly called, amended articles, have
been added since its adoption. They provide against passing laws
respecting the establishment of religion, or abridging its free
exercise; for the freedom of speech and of the press; for the right
of petition; for the right of the people to bear arms; and
against quartering soldiers in any house against the consent of the
owner; against unreasonable searches, or seizures of persons, papers,
and effects; against issuing warrants, but on oath or affirmation;
against holding persons to answer for a capital, or other infamous
crime, except on presentment or indictment of a grand jury; for a
public and speedy trial in all criminal prosecutions, by an impartial
jury of the State and district where the offence is charged to have
been committed; for the right of jury trial in controversies
exceeding twenty dollars; against excessive bail and fmes, and
against cruel and unusual punishments; against so construing the
constitution as that the enumeration of certain powers should be made
to disparage or deny those not enumerated; against extending the
judicial power of the United States to any suit, in law or equity,
against one of the United States, by citizens of another State, or
citizens or subjects of a foreign state; and for the amendment of the
constitution in reference to the election of the President and
Vice-President. In addition, the amended article, already cited,
provides that the powers not delegated to the United States, nor
prohibited to the States, are reserved to the States respectively or
to the people.
“It
will be manifest, on a review of all the provisions, including those
embraced by the amendments, that none of them have any direct
relation to the immediate objects for which the union was formed; and
that, with few exceptions, they are intended to guard against
improper constructions of the constitution, or the abuse of the
delegated powers by the government--or, to protect the government
itself in the exercise of its proper functions."--John C.
Calhoun, Union and Liberty: The Political Philosophy of John C.
Calhoun [1811]. (Mr. Calhoun was the 7th U.S. Vice President,
Representative and a Senator from South Carolina).
"But by what provision of the constitution is that right conferred which does not equally apply to the amendment in question? The plain truth is, that a law authorising the people of a territory to form a constitution and state government, partakes of the nature of propositions to form with them a treaty or compact. The citizens of Missouri have certain rights, of which congress cannot deprive them. The following are examples: a right of protection in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion; a right of trial by jury; of the writ of habeas corpus; of freedom of speech and a free press, of petitioning government for a redress of grievances; of keeping and bearing arms; of security in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures; and many more that might be mentioned. Possessing these rights of which we cannot deprive them, they petition for a grant of others. In deciding on their application, we are bound to consider the subject in relation to the general welfare, embracing that of the particular territory. We grant the application upon specified conditions, not inconsistent with the principles of the constitution. The people of the territory examine these conditions and decide thereon; if approved they ratify the treaty, and succeed to its advantages; if rejected, they continue in the enjoyment of all the rights previously possessed."--U.S. Representative Mr. John W. Taylor, from New York, Thursday, January 27, 1820 Debate In The United States House Of Representatives, [Niles' Weekly Register, FROM MARCH TO SEPTEMBER, 1820--VOL. XVIII. OR, VOLUME VI.--NEW SERIES Supplementary To No. 1--Volume VI..--New Series. March 4, 1820, Missouri Question. Baltimore: Printed For The Editor By William Ogden Niles, At The Franklin Press, Water-Street, East Of South-Street. Pg. 19]
"To resist oppression is the natural right of man. Oppression comes from government--it forges shackles and fastens them on the limbs. I am more jealous of a government possessing the purse and the sword, than I am of the governed."--Senator John Tyler, APRIL 20, 1833--PUBLIC DINNER TO MR. TYLER. NILES' WEEKLY REGISTER, H. NILES EDITOR. FROM MARCH, 1833, TO SEPTEMBER, 1833--VOL. XLIV. OR, VOLUME VIII.--FOURTH SERIES. BALTIMORE: PRINTED BY THE EDITOR. AT THE FRANKLIN PRESS, WATER-STREET, EAST OF SOUTH-STREET. Pg. 123. (Senator Tyler later became the 10th President of the U.S.).
"Why he asked in a time of profound peace should we keep up an oppression--a practice known to operate as an oppression? After fifty years experience, not one solitary instance of good could be shown to have been produced by it. He had nothing to say against making it obligatory for men to be organized and enrolled--to be armed for their own defence. It was perfectly right that all free citizens should be armed for that purpose. Who doubted it?"
- Benjamin Martin, Oct. 25, 1837, delegate from Philadelphia county. [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV.]
"He had, he said a deep and abiding impression that the liberties of no people could be maintained unless their yeomanry were armed and disciplined This principle was at the foundation of national independence and national freedom. It was important in reference to national defence from foreign aggression and still more so for the support of the liberties of the people against domestic invasion. All history showed that no nation could retain its liberty in opposition to the ambition of its own rulers unless the people were armed and disciplined for their own defence. . . ."
" . . .I do not regard this duty of taking up arms as a tax. I recognize in it a privilege, of which no citizen is to be deprived--the high privilege of a freeman--the privilege to bear arms. This we are not to regard as a tax or a burden. It is a duty to the public and a right appertaining to the character of a freeman; and in the old Constitution, which was framed at a time when men scrupulously criticised every word they used in such an instrument, the word equivalent is employed from a knowledge that the term tax would be inadequate for the idea intended to be conveyed."--Mr. Scott, Oct. 26 1837, [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV.]
"But by what provision of the constitution is that right conferred which does not equally apply to the amendment in question? The plain truth is, that a law authorising the people of a territory to form a constitution and state government, partakes of the nature of propositions to form with them a treaty or compact. The citizens of Missouri have certain rights, of which congress cannot deprive them. The following are examples: a right of protection in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion; a right of trial by jury; of the writ of habeas corpus; of freedom of speech and a free press, of petitioning government for a redress of grievances; of keeping and bearing arms; of security in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures; and many more that might be mentioned. Possessing these rights of which we cannot deprive them, they petition for a grant of others. In deciding on their application, we are bound to consider the subject in relation to the general welfare, embracing that of the particular territory. We grant the application upon specified conditions, not inconsistent with the principles of the constitution. The people of the territory examine these conditions and decide thereon; if approved they ratify the treaty, and succeed to its advantages; if rejected, they continue in the enjoyment of all the rights previously possessed."--U.S. Representative Mr. John W. Taylor, from New York, Thursday, January 27, 1820 Debate In The United States House Of Representatives, [Niles' Weekly Register, FROM MARCH TO SEPTEMBER, 1820--VOL. XVIII. OR, VOLUME VI.--NEW SERIES Supplementary To No. 1--Volume VI..--New Series. March 4, 1820, Missouri Question. Baltimore: Printed For The Editor By William Ogden Niles, At The Franklin Press, Water-Street, East Of South-Street. Pg. 19]
"To resist oppression is the natural right of man. Oppression comes from government--it forges shackles and fastens them on the limbs. I am more jealous of a government possessing the purse and the sword, than I am of the governed."--Senator John Tyler, APRIL 20, 1833--PUBLIC DINNER TO MR. TYLER. NILES' WEEKLY REGISTER, H. NILES EDITOR. FROM MARCH, 1833, TO SEPTEMBER, 1833--VOL. XLIV. OR, VOLUME VIII.--FOURTH SERIES. BALTIMORE: PRINTED BY THE EDITOR. AT THE FRANKLIN PRESS, WATER-STREET, EAST OF SOUTH-STREET. Pg. 123. (Senator Tyler later became the 10th President of the U.S.).
"Why he asked in a time of profound peace should we keep up an oppression--a practice known to operate as an oppression? After fifty years experience, not one solitary instance of good could be shown to have been produced by it. He had nothing to say against making it obligatory for men to be organized and enrolled--to be armed for their own defence. It was perfectly right that all free citizens should be armed for that purpose. Who doubted it?"
- Benjamin Martin, Oct. 25, 1837, delegate from Philadelphia county. [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV.]
"He had, he said a deep and abiding impression that the liberties of no people could be maintained unless their yeomanry were armed and disciplined This principle was at the foundation of national independence and national freedom. It was important in reference to national defence from foreign aggression and still more so for the support of the liberties of the people against domestic invasion. All history showed that no nation could retain its liberty in opposition to the ambition of its own rulers unless the people were armed and disciplined for their own defence. . . ."
" . . .I do not regard this duty of taking up arms as a tax. I recognize in it a privilege, of which no citizen is to be deprived--the high privilege of a freeman--the privilege to bear arms. This we are not to regard as a tax or a burden. It is a duty to the public and a right appertaining to the character of a freeman; and in the old Constitution, which was framed at a time when men scrupulously criticised every word they used in such an instrument, the word equivalent is employed from a knowledge that the term tax would be inadequate for the idea intended to be conveyed."--Mr. Scott, Oct. 26 1837, [THE CONVENTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA TO PROPOSE AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION COMMENCED AT HARRISBURG MAY 2 1837, VOL IV.]
"Nevertheless,
with all these defects, the colony was admirably governed in the
main. One great right of freemen, the right of bearing arms, a highly
necessary right to men planted suddenly among wild beasts and
savages, was certainly not taken from the people. On the contrary,
the government took care that all should be duly trained to
self-defence. There is no man who bears a head, says Wood, (New
Englands Prospect, 1639,) but bears military arms; even boys of
fourteen years of age are practised with men in military discipline
every three weeks. And they practised to some effect, as the records
of the time prove, and as the Pequods learned to their cost."--John
Lothrop Motley, (1814–1897). 'Polity of the Puritans'.
(Concerning early colonial times).[The North American review. Vol.
69, Issue 145, Oct. 1849]. Son of Thomas Motley, born in Dorchester,
Mass. Graduated Harvard in 1831. American historian, and briefly a
Secretary of Legation to Russia.
Constitution of 1816, Indiana:
Sect. 20. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves, and the state; and that the military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power.
Sect. 24. To guard against any encroachments on the rights herein retained, we declare, that every thing in this article, is excepted out of the general powers of Government, and shall forever remain inviolable"
Constitution of 1851, Indiana:
Article 1.
Bill of Rights
Section 1. We Declare, That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life; liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that all power is inherent in the People; and that all free governments are, and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and well being. For the advancement of these ends, The People have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter and reform their government.
Section 32. The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.
- Constitution making in Indiana: a source book of constitutional documents, with historical introduction and critical notes John A. Bremer, Indiana Historical Commission.
"My excellent friend from Boylston, (Mr. Whitney,) has uttered, in the speech he has just made, many noble sentiments of love among men and peace on earth. I love peace not less ardently than my friend from Boylston. The bloodless victories of peace are as dear to me as to him. But I am not one of those men who cry peace, when there is no peace without slavery, injustice and wrong. My friend from North Brookfield, (Mr Walker,) and others, have spoken of the peace movements in England and on the continent, and of Richard Cobden and others of its leading spirits. I may be in error, but I have sometimes thought that the song which the peace movement has hymned into the ear of Europe during the past five years has made far easier the march of the legions Russia and Austria upon Hungary and Italy, and the march of the legions of France--of apostate republican France--upon Rome. While the people have listened with softened hearts to the songs of peace, their masters have disarmed them, and sent forth their increasing standing armies to crush every manifestation of freedom, progress, and popular rights. When tyranny is overthrown and freedom established; when standing armies are disbanded and the people armed for their own protection against arbitrary power; then I would write "peace" on the banners of the people and send them forth to make the tour of the world. My motto is "Liberty first--peace afterwards."
- Mr. Henry Wilson, June 21, 1853, [OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS IN The State Convention ASSEMBLED MAY 4TH, 1853, TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VOLUME SECOND. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS TO THE CONVENTION, 1853.] (Mr. Wilson, (Feb. 16, 1812 – Nov. 22, 1875), was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1853. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1855. He was reelected as a Republican in 1859, 1865 and 1871, and served from Jan. 31, 1855 to March 4, 1873, when he resigned to become Vice President. He was the 18th Vice President of the United States (1873–1875). During the Civil War, he was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and the Committee on Military Affairs).
"Really, sir, has it come to this? The rifle has ever been the companion of the pioneer, and, under God, his tutelary protector against the red man and the beast of the forest. Never was this efficient weapon more needed in just self-defence, than now in Kansas, and at least one article in our National Constitution must be blotted out, before the complete rights to it can in any way be impeached. And yet such is the madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the of the solemn guaranty, embodied in the Amendments to the Constitution, that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," the people of Kansas have been arraigned for keeping and bearing them, and the Senator from South Carolina has had the face to say openly, on this floor, that they should be disarmed--of course, that the fanatics of Slavery, his allies and constituents, may meet no impediment."--U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Speech in the Senate of the United States, May 19th and 20th, 1856. [Belmont Chronicle, St. Clairsville, Ohio, Thursday, July 3, 1856. New Series, Vol. VIII, No 39. Whole No. 934, Pg. 1 - Excerpted from the article; "The Crime Against Kansas. The Apologies for the Crime. The True Remedy...."].
Constitution of 1816, Indiana:
Sect. 20. That the people have a right to bear arms for the defense of themselves, and the state; and that the military shall be kept in strict subordination to the civil power.
Sect. 24. To guard against any encroachments on the rights herein retained, we declare, that every thing in this article, is excepted out of the general powers of Government, and shall forever remain inviolable"
Constitution of 1851, Indiana:
Article 1.
Bill of Rights
Section 1. We Declare, That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life; liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that all power is inherent in the People; and that all free governments are, and of right ought to be, founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and well being. For the advancement of these ends, The People have, at all times, an indefeasible right to alter and reform their government.
Section 32. The people shall have a right to bear arms, for the defense of themselves and the State.
- Constitution making in Indiana: a source book of constitutional documents, with historical introduction and critical notes John A. Bremer, Indiana Historical Commission.
"My excellent friend from Boylston, (Mr. Whitney,) has uttered, in the speech he has just made, many noble sentiments of love among men and peace on earth. I love peace not less ardently than my friend from Boylston. The bloodless victories of peace are as dear to me as to him. But I am not one of those men who cry peace, when there is no peace without slavery, injustice and wrong. My friend from North Brookfield, (Mr Walker,) and others, have spoken of the peace movements in England and on the continent, and of Richard Cobden and others of its leading spirits. I may be in error, but I have sometimes thought that the song which the peace movement has hymned into the ear of Europe during the past five years has made far easier the march of the legions Russia and Austria upon Hungary and Italy, and the march of the legions of France--of apostate republican France--upon Rome. While the people have listened with softened hearts to the songs of peace, their masters have disarmed them, and sent forth their increasing standing armies to crush every manifestation of freedom, progress, and popular rights. When tyranny is overthrown and freedom established; when standing armies are disbanded and the people armed for their own protection against arbitrary power; then I would write "peace" on the banners of the people and send them forth to make the tour of the world. My motto is "Liberty first--peace afterwards."
- Mr. Henry Wilson, June 21, 1853, [OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE DEBATES AND PROCEEDINGS IN The State Convention ASSEMBLED MAY 4TH, 1853, TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF THE Commonwealth of Massachusetts. VOLUME SECOND. BOSTON: WHITE & POTTER, PRINTERS TO THE CONVENTION, 1853.] (Mr. Wilson, (Feb. 16, 1812 – Nov. 22, 1875), was a delegate to the state constitutional convention in 1853. He was elected to the United States Senate in 1855. He was reelected as a Republican in 1859, 1865 and 1871, and served from Jan. 31, 1855 to March 4, 1873, when he resigned to become Vice President. He was the 18th Vice President of the United States (1873–1875). During the Civil War, he was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs and the Militia, and the Committee on Military Affairs).
"Really, sir, has it come to this? The rifle has ever been the companion of the pioneer, and, under God, his tutelary protector against the red man and the beast of the forest. Never was this efficient weapon more needed in just self-defence, than now in Kansas, and at least one article in our National Constitution must be blotted out, before the complete rights to it can in any way be impeached. And yet such is the madness of the hour, that, in defiance of the of the solemn guaranty, embodied in the Amendments to the Constitution, that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," the people of Kansas have been arraigned for keeping and bearing them, and the Senator from South Carolina has had the face to say openly, on this floor, that they should be disarmed--of course, that the fanatics of Slavery, his allies and constituents, may meet no impediment."--U.S. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, Speech in the Senate of the United States, May 19th and 20th, 1856. [Belmont Chronicle, St. Clairsville, Ohio, Thursday, July 3, 1856. New Series, Vol. VIII, No 39. Whole No. 934, Pg. 1 - Excerpted from the article; "The Crime Against Kansas. The Apologies for the Crime. The True Remedy...."].
"Instances
of the licentious and outrageous behavior of the military
conservators of the peace still multiply upon us, some of which are
of such nature, and have been carried to such lengths, as must serve
fully to evince that a late vote of this town, calling upon its
inhabitants to provide themselves with arms for their defense, was a
measure as prudent as it was legal: such violences are always to be
apprehended from military troops, when quartered in the body of a
populous city; but more especially so, when they are led to believe
that they are become necessary to awe a spirit of rebellion,
injuriously said to be existing therein. It is a natural right which
the people have reserved to themselves, confirmed by the Bill of
Rights, to keep arms for their own defence; and as Mr. Blackstone
observes, it is to be made use of when the sanctions of society and
law are found insufficient to restrain the violence of oppression."--
Boston, March 17, in New York Journal, Supplement, April 13,1796 at
1, Col.3, quoted in Stephen Halbrook, A Right to Bear Arms: State and
Federal Bills of Rights and Constitutional Guarantees".
But, sir, ours is a law-abiding, constitution loving people. They have learned from their fathers that no people have ever been deprived of their arms except the Russian serfs, the down trodden Irish, the Mexican peasant, and the Southern negro. They have been told by their fathers that so important did they consider this bulwark of liberty, this great right of self-defence, that the very second article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States solemnly declares "that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."--A Farmer over Forty-five., [Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, W. Va. Thursday Morning, April 21, 1864. Vol. XII. No. 179. Pg. 2]
. "Now, there was not the slightest desire, as you seem to think, of interfering with the constitutional right of black and white "to keep and bear arms," or to have Republican meetings--as many and as long as they desire. We only desired to prevent military drills, and organizations not authorized by law, and armed assemblages calculated to break the peace; and these we desired to prevent by legal authority, executed by the civil officer."--U.S. Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, September 24, 1868. [Staunton Spectator, Staunton, VA., Tuesday, October 6, 1868. Volume XLVI. Number V. Pg. 1].
"There are some injuries which, once committed, cannot be adequately redressed. The taking of life is an extreme case of this kind. Against the commission of such injuries, therefore, every person should not only have the protection of government, when practicable, but should also have a right to defend himself. The right of self-defence would of course exist in a state of nature, and the social compact does not take it away; but the right of avenging an injury already committed is taken away. This is a fundamental distinction. You may prevent an injury from being done, by all proper means; but when done, you may not take redress in your own hands. The social compact provides a tribunal to which you are bound to resort; and abundant provision is made for securing the redress to which you may be entitled. Thus the right of self-defence and the right of redress are two distinct things; but both are equally guaranteed by the constitution. We have already seen that "the enjoying and defending life and liberty," is declared to be an inalienable right. Also, "that the people have a right to bear arms for their defence and security." (b) In England, this right is qualified by the condition, that the arms must be suitable to the condition and degree of the bearer; but here, there is no qualification."
(WALKER, Timothy, jurist, born in Wilmington, Massachusetts, 1 December, 1806 ; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 15 January, 1856. He was graduated at Harvard in 1826, taught mathematics at the Round Hill school, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1826-'9, studied at Harvard law-school in the latter year and in 1830, and removed to Cincinnati in 1831, where he was admitted to the bar and settled in practice. With Judge John C. Wright he established the Cincinnati law-school in 1833, and when in 1835 it was united with Cincinnati college he assumed entire charge of that department, and was professor of law there till 1844. He was president-judge of Hamilton county court of common pleas in 1842-'3, founded the "Western Law Journal" in 1843, and was its editor for several years, at the same time practising his profession. Harvard gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1854.)
"What says the Constitution? The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed, and the right to keep arms implies the right to buy arms, and the right to buy ammunition for those arms, and lead and percussion caps included."--U.S. Representative Clement L. Vallandigham from Ohio, [The McArthur Democrat, M'Arthur, Vinton County, Ohio, April 9, 1863. Vol. 11. No. 34. Pg. 1 - Excerpted from article "10,000 Democrats in Council on the 21st, at Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio"]
"...But while giving you this explanation, I wish you to distinctly understand that I claim and assert the right to sell or dispose of arms to any citizen or citizens resident in the States now in the Union, who recognize the obligations of the Constitution. In the second amendment of that Constitution I read, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
"Lincoln loyalty would interpret this to mean--such people only as Lincoln pleases to permit. I do not subscribe to this interpretation, never having belonged to a Loyal League or shared the profits of a war contract. The right "to keep and bear arms," I take it, carries with it the right to sell and to purchase.
"Our fathers seem to have set great store by the amendment, for they place it among the first of those not unaptly called "The Ten Commandments of American Freemen." It stands next to the right of an unmolested religion, a free press, free speech, and the right to assemble to petition for redress of grievances. If these were not written upon tables of stone, and delivered mid the lightnings of Sinai, they were traced by the finger of the Almighty on the hearts of freemen; and the man who would deprive the citizen of them is a tyrant, and the people who would submit to such deprivation without a struggle only fit to be slaves."
"Yours, respectfully,
"James W. Wall."
[Daily State Sentinel, Indianapolis, IND., Wednesday Morning, September 07, 1864. Volume XII. Number 4,333. Pg. 2 - Excerpted from the article; "The Indiana Conspiracy Story--The Humbug Exposed. Letter From Hon. Jas. W. Hall."] (James Walter Wall, (May 26, 1820 – June 9, 1872), was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. He was the son of U.S. Senator Garret Dorset Wall).
"But on this point I do not mean to be misunderstood. I fully endorse the constitutional right of the people to bear arms for their self defense. . . . . Democrats have all the rights which Republicans have, and among those which they share in common is the right to bear arms for their defense and protection."--U.S. Senator D.W. Voorhees, Terre Haute, Aug. 23, 1864, letter to Brig. Gen. Henry B. Carrington. [Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg General Advertiser, Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Penn'a., Saturday, September 17, 1864. Vol. 18.--No. 29. Volume 28 Pg. 2]
But, sir, ours is a law-abiding, constitution loving people. They have learned from their fathers that no people have ever been deprived of their arms except the Russian serfs, the down trodden Irish, the Mexican peasant, and the Southern negro. They have been told by their fathers that so important did they consider this bulwark of liberty, this great right of self-defence, that the very second article of the amendments to the Constitution of the United States solemnly declares "that the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."--A Farmer over Forty-five., [Daily Intelligencer, Wheeling, W. Va. Thursday Morning, April 21, 1864. Vol. XII. No. 179. Pg. 2]
. "Now, there was not the slightest desire, as you seem to think, of interfering with the constitutional right of black and white "to keep and bear arms," or to have Republican meetings--as many and as long as they desire. We only desired to prevent military drills, and organizations not authorized by law, and armed assemblages calculated to break the peace; and these we desired to prevent by legal authority, executed by the civil officer."--U.S. Senator Benjamin Harvey Hill, September 24, 1868. [Staunton Spectator, Staunton, VA., Tuesday, October 6, 1868. Volume XLVI. Number V. Pg. 1].
"There are some injuries which, once committed, cannot be adequately redressed. The taking of life is an extreme case of this kind. Against the commission of such injuries, therefore, every person should not only have the protection of government, when practicable, but should also have a right to defend himself. The right of self-defence would of course exist in a state of nature, and the social compact does not take it away; but the right of avenging an injury already committed is taken away. This is a fundamental distinction. You may prevent an injury from being done, by all proper means; but when done, you may not take redress in your own hands. The social compact provides a tribunal to which you are bound to resort; and abundant provision is made for securing the redress to which you may be entitled. Thus the right of self-defence and the right of redress are two distinct things; but both are equally guaranteed by the constitution. We have already seen that "the enjoying and defending life and liberty," is declared to be an inalienable right. Also, "that the people have a right to bear arms for their defence and security." (b) In England, this right is qualified by the condition, that the arms must be suitable to the condition and degree of the bearer; but here, there is no qualification."
(a) See 2 Story, Const. 1896; 1 Black. Com. 148. [A party may use reasonable force to defend the possession of his property, but he cannot use force against the person in regaining or obtaining the possession of property to which he is entitled. 3 Black. Com. 4, 179; Sampson v. Henry, 11 Pick. 387; 1 Bishop, Crim. Law, 397; 1 Hilliard on Torts, ch. v. ss 12, pp 196, 197.]- Timothy Walker, LL.D, [INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LAW. DESIGNED AS A FIRST BOOK FOR STUDENTS. BY TIMOTHY WALKER LL.D. LATE PROFESSOR OF LAW IN THE CINCINATTI COLLEGE. FIFTH EDITION, REVISED BY J. BRYANT WALKER, OF THE CINCINNATI BAR. BOSTON: LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1869.]
(b) [This provision is not infringed by a statute prohibiting the carrying of concealed weapons. State v. Jumel, 13 La. An. 399.]
(WALKER, Timothy, jurist, born in Wilmington, Massachusetts, 1 December, 1806 ; died in Cincinnati, Ohio, 15 January, 1856. He was graduated at Harvard in 1826, taught mathematics at the Round Hill school, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1826-'9, studied at Harvard law-school in the latter year and in 1830, and removed to Cincinnati in 1831, where he was admitted to the bar and settled in practice. With Judge John C. Wright he established the Cincinnati law-school in 1833, and when in 1835 it was united with Cincinnati college he assumed entire charge of that department, and was professor of law there till 1844. He was president-judge of Hamilton county court of common pleas in 1842-'3, founded the "Western Law Journal" in 1843, and was its editor for several years, at the same time practising his profession. Harvard gave him the degree of LL. D. in 1854.)
"What says the Constitution? The right of the people to bear arms shall not be infringed, and the right to keep arms implies the right to buy arms, and the right to buy ammunition for those arms, and lead and percussion caps included."--U.S. Representative Clement L. Vallandigham from Ohio, [The McArthur Democrat, M'Arthur, Vinton County, Ohio, April 9, 1863. Vol. 11. No. 34. Pg. 1 - Excerpted from article "10,000 Democrats in Council on the 21st, at Hamilton, Butler Co., Ohio"]
"...But while giving you this explanation, I wish you to distinctly understand that I claim and assert the right to sell or dispose of arms to any citizen or citizens resident in the States now in the Union, who recognize the obligations of the Constitution. In the second amendment of that Constitution I read, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
"Lincoln loyalty would interpret this to mean--such people only as Lincoln pleases to permit. I do not subscribe to this interpretation, never having belonged to a Loyal League or shared the profits of a war contract. The right "to keep and bear arms," I take it, carries with it the right to sell and to purchase.
"Our fathers seem to have set great store by the amendment, for they place it among the first of those not unaptly called "The Ten Commandments of American Freemen." It stands next to the right of an unmolested religion, a free press, free speech, and the right to assemble to petition for redress of grievances. If these were not written upon tables of stone, and delivered mid the lightnings of Sinai, they were traced by the finger of the Almighty on the hearts of freemen; and the man who would deprive the citizen of them is a tyrant, and the people who would submit to such deprivation without a struggle only fit to be slaves."
"Yours, respectfully,
"James W. Wall."
[Daily State Sentinel, Indianapolis, IND., Wednesday Morning, September 07, 1864. Volume XII. Number 4,333. Pg. 2 - Excerpted from the article; "The Indiana Conspiracy Story--The Humbug Exposed. Letter From Hon. Jas. W. Hall."] (James Walter Wall, (May 26, 1820 – June 9, 1872), was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. He was the son of U.S. Senator Garret Dorset Wall).
"But on this point I do not mean to be misunderstood. I fully endorse the constitutional right of the people to bear arms for their self defense. . . . . Democrats have all the rights which Republicans have, and among those which they share in common is the right to bear arms for their defense and protection."--U.S. Senator D.W. Voorhees, Terre Haute, Aug. 23, 1864, letter to Brig. Gen. Henry B. Carrington. [Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg General Advertiser, Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Penn'a., Saturday, September 17, 1864. Vol. 18.--No. 29. Volume 28 Pg. 2]
“If the guarantees of the
Constitution can be broken provisionally to serve a temporary
purpose, and in a part only of the country, we can destroy them
everywhere and for all time. Arbitrary measures often change, but
they generally change for the worse. It is the curse of despotism
that it has no halting place. The intermitted exercise of its power
brings no sense of security to its subjects, for they can never know
what more they will be called to endure when its red right hand is
armed to plague them again. Nor is it possible to conjecture how or
where power, unrestrained by law, may seek its next victims. The
States that are still free may be enslaved at any moment; for if the
Constitution does not protect all, it protects none. . . . .This, to
the minds of some persons, is so important that a violation of the
Constitution is justified as a means of bringing it about. The
morality is always false which excuses a wrong because it proposes to
accomplish a desirable end. We are not permitted to do evil that good
may come. But in this case the end itself is evil. as well as the
means.”--President Andrew Johnson, Message to the U.S.
Senate, Washington, December 3, 1867.
"What are the inalienable and inherent rights that belong to the individual? The first and nearest one is what? The right of enjoying and defending his life. Whether he be saint or sinner, Protestant or Catholic, or what not, the first inalienable right he has, and ought to be protected in, is that of enjoying and defending his life. The next in importance is the right of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of his conscience. The third, the right of seeking and pursuing his safety and happiness. The fourth, the right of communicating his thought and his opinions. Fifth, the right to acquire and protect property. Sixth, the right to meet and consult with his fellows as to what will promote the common welfare. Seventh--and while enjoying all these rights, these six that I have just mentioned, he has the right to bear arms in defense of himself, his family and his state, and no man can take it away. There are seven inalienable and inherent rights of the individual man."--Mr. C.T. Allen, Oct. 9, 1890. [Official Report of the Proceedings and Debates in the Convention, Kentucky]
"What are the inalienable and inherent rights that belong to the individual? The first and nearest one is what? The right of enjoying and defending his life. Whether he be saint or sinner, Protestant or Catholic, or what not, the first inalienable right he has, and ought to be protected in, is that of enjoying and defending his life. The next in importance is the right of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of his conscience. The third, the right of seeking and pursuing his safety and happiness. The fourth, the right of communicating his thought and his opinions. Fifth, the right to acquire and protect property. Sixth, the right to meet and consult with his fellows as to what will promote the common welfare. Seventh--and while enjoying all these rights, these six that I have just mentioned, he has the right to bear arms in defense of himself, his family and his state, and no man can take it away. There are seven inalienable and inherent rights of the individual man."--Mr. C.T. Allen, Oct. 9, 1890. [Official Report of the Proceedings and Debates in the Convention, Kentucky]
"There are other things so clearly
out of the power of Congress, that the bare recital of them is
sufficient. I mean "rights of conscience, or religious liberty ―
the rights of bearing arms for defence, or for killing game ― the
liberty of fowling, hunting and fishing."--Winchester
Gazette, (Virginia), Feb. 22, 1788.
"In the intervals of toil their amusements consist chiefly of hunting and shooting, in the woods, or on the mountains; whence they acquire prodigious muscular activity and strength. We have no game laws, such as exist in Europe, to prohibit the possession and use of firearms to the great body of the people. Our boys carry a gun almost as soon as they can walk; and the habitual practice of shooting at a target, with the rifle, renders the Americans the most unerring marksmen, and the most deadly musketry in the world; as was singularly evidenced at Bunker's Hill, in the commencement of the revolutionary conflict, and at New-Orleans, at the close of the last war."--John Bristed, [THE RESOURCES OF THE OF AMERICA; OR, A VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, MANUFACTURING, FINANCIAL, POLITICAL, LITERARY, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CAPACITY AND CHARACTER or THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. BY JOHN BRISTED, COUNSELLOR AT LAW. AUTHOR OF THE RESOURCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE New-York: PUBLISHED BY JAMES EASTBURN & CO. AT THE LITERARY ROOMS, BROADWAY, CORNER OF PINE STREET. Abraham Paul, printer. 1818.]
"For more than a century the Americans had claimed that by their charters they were empowered to protect themselves--an idea out of which evolved the political doctrine set forth in the declarations of rights, that the natural and safe defence of a free state is its militia, composed of the body of its people trained to arms. The doctrine is the application to the state of the individual's right of self defence."
- Francis Newton Thorpe, [A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE Illustrated with Maps IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME ONE NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1898. Pg. 52] (Mr. Thorpe, (1857 - 1926), was an American legal scholar, historian, political scientist,and Professor of Constitutional History at the University of Penn.).
"In the intervals of toil their amusements consist chiefly of hunting and shooting, in the woods, or on the mountains; whence they acquire prodigious muscular activity and strength. We have no game laws, such as exist in Europe, to prohibit the possession and use of firearms to the great body of the people. Our boys carry a gun almost as soon as they can walk; and the habitual practice of shooting at a target, with the rifle, renders the Americans the most unerring marksmen, and the most deadly musketry in the world; as was singularly evidenced at Bunker's Hill, in the commencement of the revolutionary conflict, and at New-Orleans, at the close of the last war."--John Bristed, [THE RESOURCES OF THE OF AMERICA; OR, A VIEW OF THE AGRICULTURAL, COMMERCIAL, MANUFACTURING, FINANCIAL, POLITICAL, LITERARY, MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CAPACITY AND CHARACTER or THE AMERICAN PEOPLE. BY JOHN BRISTED, COUNSELLOR AT LAW. AUTHOR OF THE RESOURCES OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE New-York: PUBLISHED BY JAMES EASTBURN & CO. AT THE LITERARY ROOMS, BROADWAY, CORNER OF PINE STREET. Abraham Paul, printer. 1818.]
"For more than a century the Americans had claimed that by their charters they were empowered to protect themselves--an idea out of which evolved the political doctrine set forth in the declarations of rights, that the natural and safe defence of a free state is its militia, composed of the body of its people trained to arms. The doctrine is the application to the state of the individual's right of self defence."
- Francis Newton Thorpe, [A CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY FRANCIS NEWTON THORPE Illustrated with Maps IN TWO VOLUMES VOLUME ONE NEW YORK AND LONDON HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1898. Pg. 52] (Mr. Thorpe, (1857 - 1926), was an American legal scholar, historian, political scientist,and Professor of Constitutional History at the University of Penn.).
"17th. That the people have a
right to keep and bear arms; that a well regulated militia,
including the body of the people capable of bearing arms, is
the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state; that the
militia shall not be subject to martial law, except in time of war,
rebellion, or insurrection; that standing armies, in time of peace,
are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be kept up, except in
eases of necessity; and that at all times, the military should be
under strict subordination to the civil power....18th. That any
person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms ought to be
exempted..."-- Page 160 - Journal of The Senate, Ratification of
the constitution by the convention of the state of Rhode-Island and
Providence Plantations. (Rhode-Island,Newport, June 9, 1790).
"The
possession of arms is the distinction between a free man and a slave:
he who has nothing, and belongs to another, must be defended by him
and needs no arms; but he who thinks he is his own master, and has
anything he may call his own, ought to have arms to defend himself
and what he possesses or else he lives precariously and at
discretion. And though for a while, those who have the sword in their
power [the government] abstain from doing him injury; yet, by
degrees, he will be awed into submission to every arbitrary command.
Our ancestors [the Caledonians and Picts], by being always armed and
frequently in action, defended themselves against the Romans, Danes
and English and maintained their liberty against encroachments of
their own princes."--
Andrew
Fletcher,
(1653 - 1716), A Discourse of Government with Relation to Militias in
Political Works, 1698, p.47
“The exercise of despotic power is
the unrelenting war of an armed tyrant upon his unarmed subjects.”
– Cato’s Letters # 25 (April 15, 1721).
“It is a maxim of the law that whatever we do in the way and for the ends of self defense, we lawfully do. It is wickedness not to destroy a destroyer, and all the ill consequences of self defense are chargeable upon him who occasioned them.” – Cato’s Letters # 42 (August 26, 1721).
“Those governments which are founded upon oppression, always find it necessary to engage interests enough in their tyranny to overcome all opposition from those who are tyrannized over, by giving separate and unequal privileges to the instruments and accomplices of their oppression, by letting them share the advantages of it, by putting arms in their hands, and by taking away all the means of self defense from those who have more right to use them.” – Cato’s Letters # 97 (October 6, 1722).
“And yet in some cases a man may not only use force and arms, but assemble company also. As any may assemble his friends and neighbors, to keep his house against those that come to rob, or kill him, or to offer him violence in it, and is by construction excepted out of this Act; and Sheriff, etc., ought not to deal with him upon this Act; for a man’s house is his Castle, and a person’s own house is his ultimate refuge; for where shall a man be safe, if it be not in his house. And in this sense it truly said, and the laws permit the taking up of arms against armed persons.” --Sir Edward Coke, Institutes of the Laws of England, 1628).
"But by what provision of the constitution is that right conferred which does not equally apply to the amendment in question? The plain truth is, that a law authorising the people of a territory to form a constitution and state government, partakes of the nature of propositions to form with them a treaty or compact. The citizens of Missouri have certain rights, of which congress cannot deprive them. The following are examples: a right of protection in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion; a right of trial by jury; of the writ of habeas corpus; of freedom of speech and a free press, of petitioning government for a redress of grievances; of keeping and bearing arms; of security in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures; and many more that might be mentioned. Possessing these rights of which we cannot deprive them, they petition for a grant of others. In deciding on their application, we are bound to consider the subject in relation to the general welfare, embracing that of the particular territory. We grant the application upon specified conditions, not inconsistent with the principles of the constitution. The people of the territory examine these conditions and decide thereon; if approved they ratify the treaty, and succeed to its advantages; if rejected, they continue in the enjoyment of all the rights previously possessed."--U.S. Representative Mr. John W. Taylor*, Thursday, January 27, 1820 Debate In The United States House Of Representatives, [Niles' Weekly Register, FROM MARCH TO SEPTEMBER, 1820--VOL. XVIII. OR, VOLUME VI.--NEW SERIES Supplementary To No. 1--Volume VI..--New Series. March 4, 1820, Missouri Question. Baltimore: Printed For The Editor By William Ogden Niles, At The Franklin Press, Water-Street, East Of South-Street. Pg. 19]
"Had I voted against the bill, believing this modern doctrine, should have felt myself bound, as a consistent man, to have gone home and told my constituents that a proposition was made in Congress to relieve them from two millions of their burdens, which I had rejected with scorn, but that I had brought them the glorious remedy of nullification. I knew the temper of that people too well; I knew they were devotedly attached to the Union of these States, as the last hope of liberty upon earth, and that they were not inclined to jeopard it upon a doubtful point of political economy. Whenever sir, I persuade the people whom I represent, to resist the laws of this Government, it will be such resistance as freemen should make, with arms in their hands, and not a pettifogging chicanery through the courts."-- Mr. WILLIAM B. SHEPARD, Jan. 29, 1833, Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives on the Tariff Bill, [REGISTER OF DEBATES IN CONGRESS COMPRISING THE LEADING DEBATES AND INCIDENTS OF THE SECOND SESSION OF THE TWENTY-SECOND CONGRESS: TOGETHER WITH AN APPENDIX, CONTAINING IMPORTANT STATE PAPERS AND PUBLIC DOCUMENTS, AND THE LAWS, OF A PUBLIC NATURE, ENACTED DURING THE SESSION: WITH A COPIOUS INDEX TO THE WHOLE. VOLUME IX. WASHINGTON: PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GALES AND SEATON. 1833. Pg. 1440]
“A Law of Nature is a precept, or
general rule, found out by reason, by which a man is forbidden to do
that which destructive of his life, or take away the means of
preserving the same; and to omit that by which he thinks it may be
best preserved. … Consequently it is a precept, or general rule of
reason, that every man ought to endeavor peace, as far as he has hope
of obtaining it; and when he cannot obtain it, that he may seek, and
use, all helps and advantages of war.”
“A covenant not to defend myself from force, by force, is always void. For no man can transfer, or lay down his right, to save himself from death, wounds, and imprisonment.”
“The right men have by Nature to protect themselves, when none else can protect them, can by no Covenant [the agreement between individuals to form a government, and the laws enacted thereby] be relinquished.”--Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, 1651.
“Must men
alone be debarred the common privilege of opposing force with force,
which nature allows so freely to all other creatures for their
preservation from injury? I answer: self defense is a part of the law
of nature, nor can it be denied the community, even against the king
himself...”.
"...It is scarcely necessary to say, that the right of the people thus to bear arms is the foundation of their liberties; for, without it, they would be without power of resistance against the existing government."
[The Political Grammar of the United States: Or, A Complete View of the Theory and Practice of the GENERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS, WITH THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THEM. DEDICATED AND ADAPTED TO THE YOUNG MEN OF THE UNITED STATES. BY EDWARD D. MANSFIELD COUNSELLOR AT LAW, CINCINNATI. PUBLISHED BY WILEY AND LONG, NEW-YORK; RUSSELL, ODIORNE & Co., BOSTON; H.F. SUMMER & Co., HARTFORD, CT.; DESILVER, THOMAS & Co., PHILADELPHIA; CUSHING & SONS, BALTIMORE; S. BABCOCK & SONS, CHARLESTON, S.C. AND COREY & WEBSTER, CINCINNATI. 1835. Pg. 161]
“It is a
false idea of utility to sacrifice a thousand real advantages for the
sake of one disadvantage which is either imaginary or of little
consequence; this would take fire away from men because it burns and
water because it drowns people; this is to have no remedy for evils
except destruction. Laws forbidding people to bear arms are of this
nature; they only disarm those who are neither inclined nor
determined to commit crimes. On the other hand, how can someone who
has the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity and the
most important ones in the statute books be expected to respect the
most trifling and purely arbitrary regulations that can be broken
with ease and impunity and that, were
they enforced, would put an end to personal liberty -- so dear to
each man, so dear to the enlightened legislator -- and subject the
innocent to all the vexations that the guilty deserve? Such laws
place the assaulted at a disadvantage and the assailant at an
advantage, and they multiply rather than decrease the number of
murders, since an unarmed person may be attacked with greater
confidence than someone who is armed. These laws should not be deemed
preventive, but rather inspired by a fear of crime. They originate
with the tumultuous impact of a few isolated facts, not with a
rational consideration of the drawbacks and advantages of a universal
decree.”--Cesare
Beccaria,
On Crimes and Punishment, Chapter XL: False Ideas of Utility; 1764.
(Cesare Beccaria was quoted by Thomas Jefferson).
"That war has demonstrated, that
upon the breaking out of hostilities not anticipated, and for which
no previous preparation had been made, a volunteer army of citizen
soldiers equal to veteran troops, and in numbers equal to any
emergency, can in a short period be brought into the field. Unlike
what would have occurred in any other country, we were under no
necessity of resorting to draughts or conscriptions. On the contrary,
such was the number of volunteers who patriotically tendered their services, that the chief
difficulty was in making selections and determining who should be
disappointed and compelled to remain at home. Our citizen-soldiers
are unlike those drawn from the population of any other country. They
are composed indiscriminately of all professions and pursuits: of
farmers, lawyers, physicians, merchants, manufacturers, mechanics,
and laborers; and this, not only among the officers, but the private
soldiers in the ranks. Our citizen-soldiers are unlike those of any
other country in other respects. They are armed, and have
been accustomed from their youth up to handle and use fire-arms;
and a large proportion of them, especially in the western and more
newly-settled States, are expert marksmen."--President James
K. Polk, Washington, Message to the House and Senate, December 5,
1848, Journal of the Senate of the United States of America.
"I will not go to the gentleman's State, or to any other gentleman's State, to find laws that I do not approve. We have plenty of them in my own State. And the gentleman ought to feel highly blessed if he has none in Indiana that he disapproves. We have a great many in Georgia I do not approve. There is one in particular which I fought in the legislature and opposed before the courts with all the power that I had. It was a law making it penal to bear concealed deadly weapons. I am individually opposed to bearing such weapons. I never bear weapons of any sort; but I believed that it was the constitutional right of every American citizen to bear arms if he chooses, and just such arms, and in just such way, as he chooses. I thought that it was the birthright of every Georgian to do it. I was defeated in our legislature. I was defeated before our courts. The question went up to the highest judicial tribunal in our State, the Supreme Court*, which sustained the law." [*Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243 (1846).]
- Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, June 28, 1856, U.S. House of Representatives. (Mr. Stephens served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, (before and after the Civil War). He was also Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883).
"I will not go to the gentleman's State, or to any other gentleman's State, to find laws that I do not approve. We have plenty of them in my own State. And the gentleman ought to feel highly blessed if he has none in Indiana that he disapproves. We have a great many in Georgia I do not approve. There is one in particular which I fought in the legislature and opposed before the courts with all the power that I had. It was a law making it penal to bear concealed deadly weapons. I am individually opposed to bearing such weapons. I never bear weapons of any sort; but I believed that it was the constitutional right of every American citizen to bear arms if he chooses, and just such arms, and in just such way, as he chooses. I thought that it was the birthright of every Georgian to do it. I was defeated in our legislature. I was defeated before our courts. The question went up to the highest judicial tribunal in our State, the Supreme Court*, which sustained the law." [*Nunn v. State, 1 Ga. (1 Kel.) 243 (1846).]
- Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, June 28, 1856, U.S. House of Representatives. (Mr. Stephens served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, (before and after the Civil War). He was also Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883).
"He that would make his own
liberty secure, must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he
violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to
himself."--Thomas Paine, Dissertation on First Principles
of Government, The Writings of Thomas Paine, ed. Moncure D. Conway,
vol. 3, p. 277 . Originally published in 1795.
"When once a republic is
corrupted, there is no possibility of remedying any of the growing
evils, but by removing the corruption and restoring its lost
principles; every other correction is either useless or a new
evil."--Charles Montesquieu, The Spirit of Laws: Book
VIII - Of the Corruption of the Principles of the Three Governments.
Hemphill, [John] Ch[ief] J.[ustice] The appellant alleges that his rifle gun, being the only gun owned by him, has been levied upon; and the only question of any importance in the case is, whether the gun is exempt from execution.
It is very extraordinary that there has not been express provision by statute to secure the arms of individuals against all claims of every description. It has been comparatively but a few years since the first settlements of Americans were made [581] in Texas. The whole country was then infested by savages. Subsequently there were hostilities with Mexicans, and the frontiers are still exposed to the incursions of Indians. The country has been settled, and still is settling, by, in a great measure, the force of arms. The people of Texas are now, and ever have been emphatically an armed population.
The right to bear arms has always been considered by a free people, as of almost priceless value; so much so, that it is secured by an express provision of the constitution. The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the state or republic, is declared by the constitution of Texas. And by the constitution of the United States it is declared, that a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. If militia laws were enforced, a citizen appearing without arms on the muster ground, would be fined for his delinquency.
But, though the right to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed by legislation, yet, strange as it may be, it must succumb before the power of a creditor; at least it is not expressly protected by statute.
There may be circumstances, perhaps, under which a man's rifle may be regarded as an article of household and kitchen furniture, or rather of the furniture of his tent or cabin, on the frontier. Formerly, when men went from the house to labor, with their servants or slaves, a gun was an implement as necessary as the axe, the scythe or the hoe.
If a merchant's books, his iron chests and officc furniture, are exempt, as being the necessary apparatus of his trade, I see no reason why the gun of a hunter or frontiersman, essential to his defense, and necessary in procuring subsistence for himself and family, should not also be exempt from execution.
The case before us does not present such circumstances as to bring it within the scope, purview and spirit of the statute of [582] 1839; and we therefore feel constrained and do adjudge that the judgment of the district court be afiirmed.
Judgment afiirmed
[Reports of Cases Argued And Decided In The Supreme Court of The State of Texas, During The Latter Part of Austin Session, 1856 And The Whole Of Galveston Session, 1857. By O.C. & R.K. Hartley. With Notes To Other Decisions. Vol. XVIII. St. Louis, MO.: The Gilbert Book Company. 1883.] (John Hemphill (December 18, 1803 – January 4, 1862) was Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and a U.S. Senator).
"This is all that the constitution or laws can do, the balance is for ourselves. Let us then be prepared, eternal vigilance and sacrifice is the price of liberty; no people ever can long be free who are not military in their habits, and ever ready to defend their institutions and laws. We as a people enjoy the peculiar privilege of bearing arms, and being the defender of our own rights and liberties. If we should ever he deprived of the one, or lose the other, it will be because we were unworthy of them, and had not the courage to defend them."--Gov. McWillie, of Mississippi, inaugural address.[Daily Nashville Patriot, Nashville Tenn., Tuesday, December 08, 1857. Vol. XXI. New Series.--No. 634. Pg. 2.]
"Were the muskets of the freemen of this country indicted as nuisances? I have not heard that they were I read in the highest law of the land that the right to bear and keep arms shall not be infringed. There is no pretense of any law for this outrage. No law exists or can exist in these United States which will authorize a Sheriff--admitting now that he is the valid Sheriff--or a Marshal, to go to a town and demand from its citizens their arms."--Senator Trumbull, June 9, 1856 Speech in the U.S. Senate. [New-York Daily Tribune, New-York, Saturday, June 14, 1856. Vol. XVI......No. 4,729. Pgs. 9 & 10] (Senator Lyman Trumbull from Illinois was a member of State house of representatives 1840-1841; secretary of State of Illinois in 1841 and 1843; justice of the supreme court of Illinois 1848-1853; elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress in 1854, but before the beginning of the Congress was elected to the United States Senate; reelected in 1861 and again in 1867, and served from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1873.)
Hemphill, [John] Ch[ief] J.[ustice] The appellant alleges that his rifle gun, being the only gun owned by him, has been levied upon; and the only question of any importance in the case is, whether the gun is exempt from execution.
It is very extraordinary that there has not been express provision by statute to secure the arms of individuals against all claims of every description. It has been comparatively but a few years since the first settlements of Americans were made [581] in Texas. The whole country was then infested by savages. Subsequently there were hostilities with Mexicans, and the frontiers are still exposed to the incursions of Indians. The country has been settled, and still is settling, by, in a great measure, the force of arms. The people of Texas are now, and ever have been emphatically an armed population.
The right to bear arms has always been considered by a free people, as of almost priceless value; so much so, that it is secured by an express provision of the constitution. The right of citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and of the state or republic, is declared by the constitution of Texas. And by the constitution of the United States it is declared, that a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. If militia laws were enforced, a citizen appearing without arms on the muster ground, would be fined for his delinquency.
But, though the right to keep and bear arms cannot be infringed by legislation, yet, strange as it may be, it must succumb before the power of a creditor; at least it is not expressly protected by statute.
There may be circumstances, perhaps, under which a man's rifle may be regarded as an article of household and kitchen furniture, or rather of the furniture of his tent or cabin, on the frontier. Formerly, when men went from the house to labor, with their servants or slaves, a gun was an implement as necessary as the axe, the scythe or the hoe.
If a merchant's books, his iron chests and officc furniture, are exempt, as being the necessary apparatus of his trade, I see no reason why the gun of a hunter or frontiersman, essential to his defense, and necessary in procuring subsistence for himself and family, should not also be exempt from execution.
The case before us does not present such circumstances as to bring it within the scope, purview and spirit of the statute of [582] 1839; and we therefore feel constrained and do adjudge that the judgment of the district court be afiirmed.
Judgment afiirmed
[Reports of Cases Argued And Decided In The Supreme Court of The State of Texas, During The Latter Part of Austin Session, 1856 And The Whole Of Galveston Session, 1857. By O.C. & R.K. Hartley. With Notes To Other Decisions. Vol. XVIII. St. Louis, MO.: The Gilbert Book Company. 1883.] (John Hemphill (December 18, 1803 – January 4, 1862) was Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court, and a U.S. Senator).
"This is all that the constitution or laws can do, the balance is for ourselves. Let us then be prepared, eternal vigilance and sacrifice is the price of liberty; no people ever can long be free who are not military in their habits, and ever ready to defend their institutions and laws. We as a people enjoy the peculiar privilege of bearing arms, and being the defender of our own rights and liberties. If we should ever he deprived of the one, or lose the other, it will be because we were unworthy of them, and had not the courage to defend them."--Gov. McWillie, of Mississippi, inaugural address.[Daily Nashville Patriot, Nashville Tenn., Tuesday, December 08, 1857. Vol. XXI. New Series.--No. 634. Pg. 2.]
"Were the muskets of the freemen of this country indicted as nuisances? I have not heard that they were I read in the highest law of the land that the right to bear and keep arms shall not be infringed. There is no pretense of any law for this outrage. No law exists or can exist in these United States which will authorize a Sheriff--admitting now that he is the valid Sheriff--or a Marshal, to go to a town and demand from its citizens their arms."--Senator Trumbull, June 9, 1856 Speech in the U.S. Senate. [New-York Daily Tribune, New-York, Saturday, June 14, 1856. Vol. XVI......No. 4,729. Pgs. 9 & 10] (Senator Lyman Trumbull from Illinois was a member of State house of representatives 1840-1841; secretary of State of Illinois in 1841 and 1843; justice of the supreme court of Illinois 1848-1853; elected to the Thirty-fourth Congress in 1854, but before the beginning of the Congress was elected to the United States Senate; reelected in 1861 and again in 1867, and served from March 4, 1855, to March 3, 1873.)
"I
have a right to defend myself against persons who come against me,
let them come from whence they will."-- Rev.
John Joachim Zubly,
Georgia Delegate, Oct. 7, 1775, [Journals of the Continental
Congress, 1774-1789]. (First pastor of the Presbyterian Church in
Savannah, GA., planter, and statesman during the American
Revolution).
"Harris
admitted: ‘In a country having no foreign commerce, any quantity of
money will, in a manner, be sufficient for all purposes; and any
increase or diminution of the original stock, if it be but gradual
and slow, will scarce be attended with any consequence of moment.’
But later he wrote: ‘In the days of prosperity … it would be
prudent to lay up a kind of dead stock of the precious metals,
against any emergencies that might happen … He that is ready armed,
is less liable to be assailed; and silver and gold are keen and
destructive weapons.’"--Adam
Smith,
Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence vol. 2a, (Essay, i.80
and 99–100.), An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth
of Nations, Vol. 1: Chap. I: Of the Principle of the commercial, or
mercantile System 1. [1776]
"Nevertheless,
with all these defects, the colony was admirably governed in the
main. One
great right of freemen, the right of bearing arms,
a highly necessary right to men planted suddenly among wild
beasts and savages, was certainly not taken from the people. On
the contrary, the
government took care that all should be duly trained to self-defence.
There is no man who bears a head, says Wood, (New Englands Prospect,
1639,) but bears military arms; even boys of fourteen years of age
are practised with men in military discipline every three weeks. And
they practised to some effect, as the records of the time prove,
and as the Pequods learned to their cost."--
John
Lothrop Motley,
(1814–1897). 'Polity
of the Puritans'.
(Concerning early colonial times).[The North American review. Vol.
69, Issue 145, Oct. 1849]. Son of Thomas Motley, born in Dorchester,
Mass. Graduated Harvard in 1831. American historian, and briefly a
Secretary of Legation to Russia.
"Sir, the obligations of man in his social state are two-fold; to bear arms, and to pay taxes for the support of Government. The obligation to bear arms, results from the duty which society owes him, to protect his rights of person. The society which protects me, I am bound to protect in return. The obligation to pay taxes, results from the protection extended to property. Not a protection against foreign enemies; not a protection by swords and bayonets merely; but a protection derived from a prompt and correct administration of justice; a protection against the violence, the fraud, or the injustice of my neighbor. In this protection, the owner of property is alone interested. Here, then, is the plain agreement between Government on the one hand, and the tax-paying citizen on the other. It is an agreement which results, of necessity, from the social compact; and when the consideration is fairly paid, how can you honestly withhold the equivalent?"
- Judge Upshur, Oct. 27, 1829, (Present at the start of the proceedings were; Mr. James Madison, Mr. John Marshall, and Mr. James Monroe who was nominated by Mr. Madison to be President of the Convention, and elcted nem. con.) [Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State Convention, of 1829-30. To which are subjoined, The New Constitution of Virginia, and the Votes of the People. Richmond: Printed by Samuel, Shepard & Co. For Ritchie & Cook. 1830.] (Judge Abel Parker Upshur, (June 17, 1790 – February 28, 1844), was an American lawyer, judge, and politician from Virginia. Active in Virginia state politics, he later served as Secretary of the Navy. As well as Secretary of State during the Whig administration of President John Tyler. Upshur was instrumental in negotiating the secret treaty that led to the annexation of Texas to the United States. Playing a key role in ensuring that Texas was admitted into the the Union of the United States.
"Sir, the obligations of man in his social state are two-fold; to bear arms, and to pay taxes for the support of Government. The obligation to bear arms, results from the duty which society owes him, to protect his rights of person. The society which protects me, I am bound to protect in return. The obligation to pay taxes, results from the protection extended to property. Not a protection against foreign enemies; not a protection by swords and bayonets merely; but a protection derived from a prompt and correct administration of justice; a protection against the violence, the fraud, or the injustice of my neighbor. In this protection, the owner of property is alone interested. Here, then, is the plain agreement between Government on the one hand, and the tax-paying citizen on the other. It is an agreement which results, of necessity, from the social compact; and when the consideration is fairly paid, how can you honestly withhold the equivalent?"
- Judge Upshur, Oct. 27, 1829, (Present at the start of the proceedings were; Mr. James Madison, Mr. John Marshall, and Mr. James Monroe who was nominated by Mr. Madison to be President of the Convention, and elcted nem. con.) [Proceedings and Debates of the Virginia State Convention, of 1829-30. To which are subjoined, The New Constitution of Virginia, and the Votes of the People. Richmond: Printed by Samuel, Shepard & Co. For Ritchie & Cook. 1830.] (Judge Abel Parker Upshur, (June 17, 1790 – February 28, 1844), was an American lawyer, judge, and politician from Virginia. Active in Virginia state politics, he later served as Secretary of the Navy. As well as Secretary of State during the Whig administration of President John Tyler. Upshur was instrumental in negotiating the secret treaty that led to the annexation of Texas to the United States. Playing a key role in ensuring that Texas was admitted into the the Union of the United States.
“Resolved
. . . . That, when the governors of any people shall have betrayed
the confidence reposed in them, and shall have exercised that
authority with which they have been clothed for the general welfare,
to promote their own private ends, under the basest motives, and to
the public detriment,
it
is the unalienable right of a People, so circumstanced, to revoke the
authority thus abused, to resume the rights thus attempted to be
bartered, and to abrogate the act thus endeavoring to betray
them....”
--
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States, Feb.
20, 1804. (Concerning an act done by the Legislature of the State of
Georgia).
"3. The people have a right to keep and bear arms, and this for the security of freedom. The citizen is thus ever armed against foreign aggression, and prepared to encounter civil war, and becomes the sleepless sentinel of his liberties."
- A CONCISE TREATISE UPON THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRINCIPAL STATE, COUNTY, AND TOWN OFFICERS. For the use of Schools. BY A GENTLEMAN OF THE BAR. UTICA, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, PUBLISHER AND PRINTER, No. 60 Genesee street 1831. Pg. 23..
"3. The people have a right to keep and bear arms, and this for the security of freedom. The citizen is thus ever armed against foreign aggression, and prepared to encounter civil war, and becomes the sleepless sentinel of his liberties."
- A CONCISE TREATISE UPON THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF THE PRINCIPAL STATE, COUNTY, AND TOWN OFFICERS. For the use of Schools. BY A GENTLEMAN OF THE BAR. UTICA, WILLIAM WILLIAMS, PUBLISHER AND PRINTER, No. 60 Genesee street 1831. Pg. 23..
“I cannot
bring myself to depict the humiliation to which this Government and
people might be sooner or later reduced,
if the means for defending their rights are to be made dependant upon
those who may have the most powerful of motives to impair them.”--
President Martin Van Buren,
Dec. 2, 1839 message to U.S. House and Senate. [Journal of the Senate
of the United States of America, Dec. 24, 1839.]
"...I
have, therefore, authorized the colonel in command there, as soon as
he shall deem it expedient, to declare that hostilities against the
Indians have ceased, and that they will not be renewed unless
provoked and rendered indispensable by new outrages on their part;
but that neither
citizens
nor
troops are to be restrained from any necessary and proper acts of
self-defence
against
any
attempts to molest them. He is instructed to open communications with
those yet remaining, and endeavor by all peaceable means to persuade
them to consult their true interests by joining their brethren at the
west. And directions have been given for establishing a cordon or
line of protection for the inhabitants by the necessary number of
troops.”
"But,
to render this system of protection effectual, it is essential
that settlements of
our
citizens
should
be made within the line so established, and
that they should be armed,
so as to be ready to repel any
attack.
In order to afford inducements to such settlements, I submit to the
consideration of Congress the propriety of allowing a reasonable
quantity of land to the head of each family that shall permanently
occupy it, and of extending the existing provisions on that subject,
so as to permit the issue of rations for the subsistence of the
settlers for one year. And as few of them will probably be provided
with arms,
it
would be expedient to authorize
the
loan of muskets,
and the delivery of a proper quantity of cartridges, or of powder and
ball. By
such means it is to be hoped that a hardy
population will
soon occupy the rich soil of the frontiers of Florida, who
will be as capable as willing to defend
themselves
and
their
houses,
and thus relieve the Government from further anxiety or expense for
their protection."--
President John Tyler, Washington,
May 10, 1842.
"...The Constitution declares that every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms. Not only is Lincoln guilty of these clear violations of the Constitution which he has sworn to support with an oath that is registered in high Heaven, but a Colonel of his declared the act of the Missouri Legislature, arming her own citizens, an unlawful one! What have escaped? If these things be done in the green tree, what in the dry?"--A.H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States speech in Atlanta, Ga., May 23, 1861. [Nashville Union and American, Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, May 28, 1861. Vol. XXVI. Number 50 Pg. 2] (Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, (before and after the Civil War). He was also Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883).
"...But while giving you this explanation, I wish you to distinctly understand that I claim and assert the right to sell or dispose of arms to any citizen or citizens resident in the States now in the Union, who recognize the obligations of the Constitution. In the second amendment of that Constitution I read, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
"Lincoln loyalty would interpret this to mean--such people only as Lincoln pleases to permit. I do not subscribe to this interpretation, never having belonged to a Loyal League or shared the profits of a war contract. The right "to keep and bear arms," I take it, carries with it the right to sell and to purchase.
"Our fathers seem to have set great store by the amendment, for they place it among the first of those not unaptly called "The Ten Commandments of American Freemen." It stands next to the right of an unmolested religion, a free press, free speech, and the right to assemble to petition for redress of grievances. If these were not written upon tables of stone, and delivered mid the lightnings of Sinai, they were traced by the finger of the Almighty on the hearts of freemen; and the man who would deprive the citizen of them is a tyrant, and the people who would submit to such deprivation without a struggle only fit to be slaves."
"Yours, respectfully,
"James W. Wall."
[Daily State Sentinel, Indianapolis, IND., Wednesday Morning, September 07, 1864. Volume XII. Number 4,333. Pg. 2 - Excerpted from the article; "The Indiana Conspiracy Story--The Humbug Exposed. Letter From Hon. Jas. W. Hall."]
(James Walter Wall, (May 26, 1820 – June 9, 1872), was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. He was the son of U.S. Senator Garret Dorset Wall).
"It declared that when the constitutional rights of Vermont were invaded it was the duty of Massachusetts and all other States to rally to the support of Vermont in sustaining her constitutional rights. "That State was then wrong. She was not only wrong but she was felo de se, as will yet be proved in the future. In this terrible war of ours, when the standard of rebellion was raised, when States like Maryland and Delaware and Kentucky stood upon their constitutional rights, it was our duty and our right to defend them, even by force of arms against the aggressions of the President and the Congress of the United States. It was the right and it was tbe duty of every State of every friend of reserved State rights, of every friend of constitutional liberty, of every friend of popular government to rally to the support of Delaware and Maryland and Kentucky and every other State whose rights were invaded aud trampled upon by the usurping United States Government. Sir when Seymour was Governor of New York he was at the of an imperium in imperio. He might have called in the aid of hundreds of thousands of armed freemen to stand up for the maintenance of the rights of the people of his State in their government and in their persons against the aggressions of the United States. It his duty and it ought to have been the last act of his life, if he perished in the act, to stood in their defense."--Senator Lot M. Morrill, Feb. 1st, 1872, [The Congressional Globe, Volume 66, Part 1 By United States. Congress,(Page 766).]
"I should like to an amendment to this bill to the effect that quantity of arms say $1,000,000 worth or so should be given to these Indians...."
"...Now, I speak with the utmost in this matter. I know the value of an Indian's life. I know how sacred it has been with us, and how careful we have been to supply them with all arms of the best quality. I know that we have sought to give them Remington rifles and improved breech-loaders, and all the best guns we have invented, in order that we might the satisfaction of having a good square with them."--Rep. Robert Roosevelt, Jan. 30, 1872, [The Congressional Globe, Volume 66, Part 1 By United States. Congress,(Pg. 716-7)].
"It is useless to talk about keeping a people free when they cannot use the jewelry of freedom, when they cannot fight force with force, when they cannot plead their cause on the battlefield with gunpowder and bayonets. Our fathers secured to us the right to keep and bear arms so that no power in the Union can take it from us. In case the government shall become a despotism the arms of the freeman is the last resort of the people for the preservation of their liberties. They have said that no power shall disarm the people of the United States...."--Senator Roger Quarles Mills, from Texas. [The Salt Lake Herald, Salt Lake City, Utah, Monday, February 18, 1895. Number 257 Pg. 4]
"...The Constitution declares that every citizen shall have the right to keep and bear arms. Not only is Lincoln guilty of these clear violations of the Constitution which he has sworn to support with an oath that is registered in high Heaven, but a Colonel of his declared the act of the Missouri Legislature, arming her own citizens, an unlawful one! What have escaped? If these things be done in the green tree, what in the dry?"--A.H. Stephens, Vice-President of the Confederate States speech in Atlanta, Ga., May 23, 1861. [Nashville Union and American, Nashville, Tenn., Tuesday, May 28, 1861. Vol. XXVI. Number 50 Pg. 2] (Hon. Alexander H. Stephens, served as a U.S. Representative from Georgia, (before and after the Civil War). He was also Vice President of the Confederate States of America, and the 50th Governor of Georgia from 1882 until his death in 1883).
"...But while giving you this explanation, I wish you to distinctly understand that I claim and assert the right to sell or dispose of arms to any citizen or citizens resident in the States now in the Union, who recognize the obligations of the Constitution. In the second amendment of that Constitution I read, "The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
"Lincoln loyalty would interpret this to mean--such people only as Lincoln pleases to permit. I do not subscribe to this interpretation, never having belonged to a Loyal League or shared the profits of a war contract. The right "to keep and bear arms," I take it, carries with it the right to sell and to purchase.
"Our fathers seem to have set great store by the amendment, for they place it among the first of those not unaptly called "The Ten Commandments of American Freemen." It stands next to the right of an unmolested religion, a free press, free speech, and the right to assemble to petition for redress of grievances. If these were not written upon tables of stone, and delivered mid the lightnings of Sinai, they were traced by the finger of the Almighty on the hearts of freemen; and the man who would deprive the citizen of them is a tyrant, and the people who would submit to such deprivation without a struggle only fit to be slaves."
"Yours, respectfully,
"James W. Wall."
[Daily State Sentinel, Indianapolis, IND., Wednesday Morning, September 07, 1864. Volume XII. Number 4,333. Pg. 2 - Excerpted from the article; "The Indiana Conspiracy Story--The Humbug Exposed. Letter From Hon. Jas. W. Hall."]
(James Walter Wall, (May 26, 1820 – June 9, 1872), was a U.S. Senator from New Jersey during the American Civil War. He was the son of U.S. Senator Garret Dorset Wall).
"It declared that when the constitutional rights of Vermont were invaded it was the duty of Massachusetts and all other States to rally to the support of Vermont in sustaining her constitutional rights. "That State was then wrong. She was not only wrong but she was felo de se, as will yet be proved in the future. In this terrible war of ours, when the standard of rebellion was raised, when States like Maryland and Delaware and Kentucky stood upon their constitutional rights, it was our duty and our right to defend them, even by force of arms against the aggressions of the President and the Congress of the United States. It was the right and it was tbe duty of every State of every friend of reserved State rights, of every friend of constitutional liberty, of every friend of popular government to rally to the support of Delaware and Maryland and Kentucky and every other State whose rights were invaded aud trampled upon by the usurping United States Government. Sir when Seymour was Governor of New York he was at the of an imperium in imperio. He might have called in the aid of hundreds of thousands of armed freemen to stand up for the maintenance of the rights of the people of his State in their government and in their persons against the aggressions of the United States. It his duty and it ought to have been the last act of his life, if he perished in the act, to stood in their defense."--Senator Lot M. Morrill, Feb. 1st, 1872, [The Congressional Globe, Volume 66, Part 1 By United States. Congress,(Page 766).]
"I should like to an amendment to this bill to the effect that quantity of arms say $1,000,000 worth or so should be given to these Indians...."
"...Now, I speak with the utmost in this matter. I know the value of an Indian's life. I know how sacred it has been with us, and how careful we have been to supply them with all arms of the best quality. I know that we have sought to give them Remington rifles and improved breech-loaders, and all the best guns we have invented, in order that we might the satisfaction of having a good square with them."--Rep. Robert Roosevelt, Jan. 30, 1872, [The Congressional Globe, Volume 66, Part 1 By United States. Congress,(Pg. 716-7)].
"It is useless to talk about keeping a people free when they cannot use the jewelry of freedom, when they cannot fight force with force, when they cannot plead their cause on the battlefield with gunpowder and bayonets. Our fathers secured to us the right to keep and bear arms so that no power in the Union can take it from us. In case the government shall become a despotism the arms of the freeman is the last resort of the people for the preservation of their liberties. They have said that no power shall disarm the people of the United States...."--Senator Roger Quarles Mills, from Texas. [The Salt Lake Herald, Salt Lake City, Utah, Monday, February 18, 1895. Number 257 Pg. 4]
"The declaration of rights in this constitution, essentially the same in the other States, sets forth the civil rights of the citizens. Free and equal by birth, all men have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights: to life and liberty; to property and to happiness; to freedom in the worship of God; to free elections and the impartial administration of the laws; to jury trial and exemption from unreasonable searches searches and seizures; to liberty of the press; to keep and bear arms; to peaceable assembling and to petition; to freedom of debate in legislatures; to immunity from ex post facto laws--that is, from "laws made to punish actions done before the existence of such laws and which have not been declared crimes by preceding law;" to freedom from excessive bail or sureties, from excessive fines, or cruel or unusual punishments; to exemption from the quartering of soldiers in private houses without the owner's consent in time of peace, or in time of war save as the law may prescribe. These fundamental notions in government are set forth in all the State constitutions and are to be traced in enactments by colonial assemblies, to provisions in the English Bill of Rights of 1689, to the Great Charter, or to the unwritten law of England; and many of them to a time in Anglo-Saxon history beyond the memory of man."-- Francis Newton Thorpe, The Story of the Constitution of the United States, 1891. (Francis Newton Thorpe was an American legal scholar, historian, political scientist,and Professor of Constitutional History at the University of Pennsylvania).
"The
second amendment to the federal constitution, as well as the
constitutions of many of the states,
guaranty to the people the right to bear arms. This is a natural
right,
not
created or granted by the constitutions."
--
Henry
Campbell Black,
Handbook of American Constitutional Law, 1895.
"The
"arms"
here meant are those of a soldier ... The
citizen has at all times the right to keep arms of modern warfare,
if without danger to others, and for purposes of training and
efficiency in their use, but not such weapons as are only intended to
be the instruments of private feuds or vengeance."--
Henry
Campbell Black,
Handbook of American Constitutional Law, 1895. (Mr.
Black was the founder of Black's Law Dictionary, the definitive legal
dictionary first published in 1891. And used extensively by judges
and justices, including the U.S. Supreme Court).
"...Among the Germans every free man went armed. "They transact no public nor private business," says Tacitus, "without being armed." When a youth arrived at the age of manhood he was brought before the assembled warriors of his tribe, and one of the chiefs in the name of the tribe presented him with a shield and a spear. It was his badge of citizenship and proof of his freedom. He became at the same time a citizen and a warrior. Taking his seat among other freemen, he heard questions of policy discussed and cast his first vote. He voted by rattling his spear against his shield. He was exercising the two great privileges essential to constitutional government--the right to vote and the right to fight. The right of the people to bear arms is essential to liberty. It is a right that tyrants have always tried to destroy. When the patriots of the American revolution were making the charter of our liberties they inscribed in it the declaration that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." It is written in the constitution of the Union and of several States, but the law was born in the hearts of our savage forefathers in the forests of Germany...."--President George T. Winston of the University of Texas. Excerpted from: "An address delivered before the Sam Houston Normal Institute at Huntsville, Texas, May 30, 1898." [The Houston Daily Post, June 6, 1898. Pg 8]
"It is useless to talk about keeping a people free when they cannot use the jewelry of freedom, when they cannot fight force with force, when they cannot plead their cause on the battlefield with gunpowder and bayonets. Our fathers secured to us the right to keep and bear arms so that no power in the Union can take it from us. In case the government shall become a despotism the arms of the freeman is the last resort of the people for the preservation of their liberties. They have said that no power shall disarm the people of the United States...."--Senator Roger Quarles Mills from Texas, [The Salt Lake Herald, Salt Lake City, Utah, Monday, February 18, 1895. Number 257 Pg. 4]
"...Among the Germans every free man went armed. "They transact no public nor private business," says Tacitus, "without being armed." When a youth arrived at the age of manhood he was brought before the assembled warriors of his tribe, and one of the chiefs in the name of the tribe presented him with a shield and a spear. It was his badge of citizenship and proof of his freedom. He became at the same time a citizen and a warrior. Taking his seat among other freemen, he heard questions of policy discussed and cast his first vote. He voted by rattling his spear against his shield. He was exercising the two great privileges essential to constitutional government--the right to vote and the right to fight. The right of the people to bear arms is essential to liberty. It is a right that tyrants have always tried to destroy. When the patriots of the American revolution were making the charter of our liberties they inscribed in it the declaration that "the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." It is written in the constitution of the Union and of several States, but the law was born in the hearts of our savage forefathers in the forests of Germany...."--President George T. Winston of the University of Texas. Excerpted from: "An address delivered before the Sam Houston Normal Institute at Huntsville, Texas, May 30, 1898." [The Houston Daily Post, June 6, 1898. Pg 8]
"It is useless to talk about keeping a people free when they cannot use the jewelry of freedom, when they cannot fight force with force, when they cannot plead their cause on the battlefield with gunpowder and bayonets. Our fathers secured to us the right to keep and bear arms so that no power in the Union can take it from us. In case the government shall become a despotism the arms of the freeman is the last resort of the people for the preservation of their liberties. They have said that no power shall disarm the people of the United States...."--Senator Roger Quarles Mills from Texas, [The Salt Lake Herald, Salt Lake City, Utah, Monday, February 18, 1895. Number 257 Pg. 4]
"Ex-Gov. Liewellyn Powers, however, opposed the proposal very strongly. "I believe," he said, "that the right of the people to bear arms is guaranteed by the Constitution, and I doubt very much the wisdom of attempting to prohibit it. It has been shown that forest fires are are rarely, if ever started from this cause, and I believe very little harm is done in the way of killing game."
"Major Victor W. MacFarlane, formerly of Chicago, but now residing at Greenville, following Gov. Powers with an impassioned argument.
"It is time to stop," he said. "This association has gone far enough at present. It is time to have the present laws enforced and to see if they are proper and just. To my mind this question borders on what is known as individual rights and it means but one thing: the man who would go into the woods and would not kill would be barred out and that man who intends to kill would slaughter ruthlessly. Let this agitation which has been going on year after year, and which culminated last year in what is to my mind the extreme limit, the hunter's license stop. I believe this present movement should be opposed with all the force and energy we can bring to bear."
"Major MacFarlane's address was enthusiastically applauded by visitors from outside the state."--The Sun, New York, Sunday, July 19, 1903, Second Section, Vol. LXX.--No. 322. Pg. 10.
"But to prevent all inconvenience from this quarter the congress have power to raise and support armies. This is the second thing necessary to render government independent. The creatures who compose these armies are a species of animals, wholly at the disposal of government; what others call their natural rights they resign into the hands of their superiors-even the right of self-preservation (so precious to all other beings) they entirely surrender, and put their very lives in the power of their masters. Having no rights of their own to care for, they become naturally jealous and envious of those possessed by others. They are therefore proper instruments in the hands of government to divest the people of their usurped rights."--ARISTOCROTIS, Carlisle, PA, 1788, Antifederalist No. 51.
The words from Article II., amendments to the Constitution of the United States, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of free people, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," evidently have a community meaning; but they also carry along with them the right of the individual to safeguard himself and his house by keeping himself armed with the necessary means of defense. The law against carrying concealed weapons, now on the statute books of most of the states, is a matter quite foreign to the broad principles of the right of keeping and bearing arms.
"Major Victor W. MacFarlane, formerly of Chicago, but now residing at Greenville, following Gov. Powers with an impassioned argument.
"It is time to stop," he said. "This association has gone far enough at present. It is time to have the present laws enforced and to see if they are proper and just. To my mind this question borders on what is known as individual rights and it means but one thing: the man who would go into the woods and would not kill would be barred out and that man who intends to kill would slaughter ruthlessly. Let this agitation which has been going on year after year, and which culminated last year in what is to my mind the extreme limit, the hunter's license stop. I believe this present movement should be opposed with all the force and energy we can bring to bear."
"Major MacFarlane's address was enthusiastically applauded by visitors from outside the state."--The Sun, New York, Sunday, July 19, 1903, Second Section, Vol. LXX.--No. 322. Pg. 10.
"But to prevent all inconvenience from this quarter the congress have power to raise and support armies. This is the second thing necessary to render government independent. The creatures who compose these armies are a species of animals, wholly at the disposal of government; what others call their natural rights they resign into the hands of their superiors-even the right of self-preservation (so precious to all other beings) they entirely surrender, and put their very lives in the power of their masters. Having no rights of their own to care for, they become naturally jealous and envious of those possessed by others. They are therefore proper instruments in the hands of government to divest the people of their usurped rights."--ARISTOCROTIS, Carlisle, PA, 1788, Antifederalist No. 51.
Right to Bear Arms.
The words from Article II., amendments to the Constitution of the United States, "A well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of free people, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed," evidently have a community meaning; but they also carry along with them the right of the individual to safeguard himself and his house by keeping himself armed with the necessary means of defense. The law against carrying concealed weapons, now on the statute books of most of the states, is a matter quite foreign to the broad principles of the right of keeping and bearing arms.
[The Pickens Sentinel, Pickens, S.C., June 18, 1914. Volume 44 Number 6 Pg. 2]
"In the United States our people have acted of a higher and better principle, that every man is a sovereign citizen having the right to bear arms
and that only a small percentage of the physical force is required in
practical military service. Our principle has been to maintain only a
small standing army, and to rely on the militia of the several states as
a grand reserve that could be utilized, and within a short time
efficiently organized for use in time of war. Yet all men between the
ages of eighteen and forty-five could be made available in case of a
serious war, such as the invasion of the country."--Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles, Excerpted from the article;
"The Most Efficient Army For Our Nation "The Existence of a Free Government Depends Upon the Principles and Character of Its National Defenders" - under the subheading; The Plan of the People. [New-York Tribune, New-York, Sunday, February 17, 1907. Vol. LXVI....No. 22,008. Pg. 27]
"Quod ab initio injustum est nullo potest fieri modo aut usu justum aut rectum."
(That is whatever is originally wrong in its own Nature cannot be sanctifyed or made right by Repetition & Use.)
No comments:
Post a Comment