Armed citizens
“I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.”
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to James Madison
“The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged for among old parchments or musty records. They are written, as with a sunbeam, in the whole volume of human nature, … and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power.”
Alexander Hamilton, The Farmer Refuted
“Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American … The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but … the people.”
Tench Coxe
“Americans have the right and advantage of being armed — unlike the citizens of other countries whose governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.”
James Madison
“What country can preserve its liberties if its rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.”
Thomas Jefferson
“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.”
Thomas Paine
“That no man should scruple, or hesitate a moment, to use arms in defense of so valuable a blessing, on which all the good and evil of life depends, is clearly my opinion.”
George Washington, Letter to George Mason
“Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed, as they are in almost every country in Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because … the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of troops.”
Noah Webster
“A militia when properly formed are in fact the people themselves … and include, according to the past and general usuage of the states, all men capable of bearing arms … To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.”
Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From The Federal Farmer
“This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty … The right of self defense is the first law of nature: in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Wherever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”
St. George Tucker, Blackstone’s Commentaries
“The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them.”
Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution
“What, Sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty … Whenever Governments mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia …”
Elbridge Gerry, I Annals of Congress
“The people are not to be disarmed of their weapons. They are left in full possession of them.”
Zachariah Johnson, Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788
“Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our 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
You can make whatever argument you’d like about the Constitution being antiquated but you can NEVER change the words of our Founders. It is evidently clear they would look at this situation with pride.
This protest [in Virginia on January 20, 2020] is necessary for the preservation of liberty. End of discussion.
Source: @birdarchist via 𝕏