More Quotes V
"Our reliance is in the love of liberty which God has planted in us. Our defense is in the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands everywhere. Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves, and, under a just God, cannot long retain it."
- Abraham Lincoln
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"It is true, the yeomanry of the country possess the lands, the weight of property,
possess arms, and are too strong a body of men to be openly offended—and, therefore, it is urged, they will take care of themselves, that men who shall govern will not dare pay any disrespect to their opinions."
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"While the people have property, arms in their hands, and only a spark of a noble spirit, the most corrupt congress must be mad to form any project of tyranny."
- Reverend Nicholas Collin, (using the pseudonym "Foreign Spectator"), Nov. 7, 1788,
Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia).
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"Every man shall carry his own provisions across, and will be completely accoutred and armed, unless, as there are muskets at Fort Adams, it should be thought more eligible to induce a number of the volunteers not to take their rifles, and to take muskets on their arrival."
- Albert Gallatin, Dept. of [the U.S.] Treasury, Oct. 28, 1803 letter to Thomas Jefferson. [The Writings of Albert Gallatin, ed. Henry Adams (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1879). 3 vols.]. Vol. 1.
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“...Unless the people are considered in these two views, we shall never be able to understand the principle on which this system was constructed. I view the states as made for the people, as well as by them, and not the people as made for the states; the people, therefore, have a right, whilst enjoying the undeniable powers of society, to form either a general government, or state governments, in what manner they please, or to accommodate them to one another, and by this means preserve them all. This, I say, is the inherent and unalienable right of the people; and as an illustration of it, I beg to read a few words from the Declaration of Independence, made by the representatives of the United States, and recognized by the whole Union.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, 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, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such forms, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness."
This is the broad basis on which our independence was placed: on the same certain and solid foundation this system is erected.”
- James Wilson, Dec. 4, 1787. The Debates in the Several State Conventions, (Pennsylvania), on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 2]
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"That the people possess the strong arm to overawe their rulers, and the best checks in their national character against the abuses of power, that the supreme power will remain in them."
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"The absolute rights of individuals may be resolved into the right of personal security, the right of personal liberty, and the right to acquire and enjoy property. These rights have been justly considered, and frequently declared, by the people of this country, to be natural, inherent, and unalienable."
"The right of self-defense in these cases is founded in the law of nature, and is not, and cannot be superceded by the law of society. In those instances, says Sir Michael Foster, the law, with great propriety, and in strict justice, considers the individual to be under the protection of the law of nature."
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"Here, let us again pause, and reflect, how admirably this division,
and distribution of legislative power is adapted to preserve the liberty,
and to promote the happiness of the people of the United States... Fifthly,
and lastly; by the separation of the judiciary from the legislative
department; and the independence of the former, of the control, or influence
of the latter, in any case where any individual may be aggrieved or oppressed,
under colour of an unconstitutional act of the legislature, or executive.
In England, on the contrary, the greatest political object may be attained,
by laws, apparently of little importance, or amounting only to a slight
domestic regulation: the game-laws, as was before observed, have been
converted into the means of disarming the body of the people:..."
"In America we may reasonably hope that the people will never cease to regard the right of keeping and bearing arms as the surest pledge of their liberty."
"If, for example, a law be passed by congress, prohibiting the free exercise
of religion, according to the dictates, or persuasions of a man's own conscience
or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people
to assemble peaceably, or to keep and bear arms; it would, in any of these cases,
be the province of the judiciary to pronounce whether any such act were
constitutional, or not; and if not, to acquit the accused from any penalty which
might be annexed to the breach of such unconstitutional act."
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"Your men have too long been accustomed to place their dependence for
safety upon spades and pickaxes. If you ever expect to establish the
independence of these States, you must teach them to place dependence
upon their firearms and courage."
- Colonel Stark, to Gen. George Washington at the Battle
of Bennington, August 1776
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"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
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The Mecklenburgh Resolutions : May 20, 1775
I. Resolved: That whosoever directly or indirectly abets, or in any way, form, or manner countenances the unchartered and dangerous invasion of our rights, as claimed by Great Britain, is an enemy to this country -- to America -- and to the inherent and inalienable rights of man.
II. Resolved: That we do hereby declare ourselves a free and independent people; are, and of right ought to be a sovereign and self-governing association, under the control of no power, other than that of our God and the General Government of the Congress: To the maintainance of which Independence we solemnly pledge to each other our mutual co-operation, our Lives, our Fortunes, and our most Sacred Honor.
III. Resolved: That as we acknowledge the existence and control of no law or legal officer, civil or military, within this county, we do hereby ordain and adopt as a rule of life, all, each, and every one of our former laws, wherein, nevertheless, the Crown of Great Britain never can be considered as holding rights, privileges, or authorities therein.
IV. Resolved: That all, each, and every Military Officer in this country is hereby reinstated in his former command and authority, he acting to their regulations, and that every Member present of this Delegation, shall henceforth be a Civil Officer, viz: a Justice of the Peace, in the character of a Committee Man, to issue process, hear and determine all matters of controversy, according to said adopted laws, and to preserve Peace, Union, and Harmony in said county, to use every exertion to spread the Love of Country and Fire of Freedom throughout America, until a more general and organized government be established in this Province.
ABRAHAM ALEXANDER, Chairman.
JOHN MCKNITT ALEXANDER, Secretary.
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"Gentlemen,
Philada.
June 7th. 1776.
I am commanded by Congress to transmit you the enclosed Resolves, and
to request your immediate Attention to the same.(1)
The Article of Lead is so essentially necessary to us at this Juncture,
and is withall so scarce, that no Pains should be spared to procure it.
The Situation of the United Colonies will be extremely deploreable if
we depend entirely upon the Importation of it. Every People should have,
within themselves, all the Means of Self Defence. To the Bounty of
Providence we owe it, that America has these in the greatest Plenty.
Let us not therefore be wanting to ourselves, but faithfully and
dilligently cultivate those Means; and I trust we shall, ere long,
baffle the most malicious Schemes of our enraged & implacable Enemies.
You will readily perceive the great Importance of the enclosed Resolve,
wherein the Congress earnestly recommend to you to remove every Thing out of the Way, that could enable our Enemies to prosecute their Plans of Violence agt. us. It is indeed so apparently the Advantage of
Individuals to remove their Stock & grain, that in this Instance, their
Interest, & that of the Public are one & the same.
I have the Honour to be, Gentlemen, you most obed. & very hble Svt.
J. H. Prest."
LB (DNA: PCC, item 12A).
1 See the June 3 resolves respecting lead mines and the removal of
"stocks, grain, and meal" from areas threatened by British invasion
in JCC, 4:413-14.
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"...the powers not delegated to congress by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it
to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people[quoting
the 10th Amendment]. What we are about to consider are certainly not delegated to congress, nor are they noticed in the prohibitions to states; they are therefore
reserved either to the states or to the people. Their high nature, their necessity
to the general security and happiness will be distinctly perceived."
"In the second article, it is declared, that a well regulated militia is necessary to
a free state; a proposition from which few will dissent. Although in actual war, in
the services of regular troops are confessedly more valuable; yet while peace prevails, and in the commencement of a war before a regular force can be raised, the militia form the palladium of the country. They are ready to repel invasion, to suppress insurrection, and preserve the good order and peace of government. That they should be well regulated, is judiciously added. A disorderly militia is disgraceful to itself, and dangerous not to the enemy, but to its own country. The duty of the state government is, to adopt such regulation as will tend to make good soldiers with the least interruptions of the ordinary and useful occupations of civil life. In this all the Union has a strong and visible interest."
"The corollary, from the first position, is that the right of the people to keep and
bear arms shall not be infringed."
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"Every measure which tends to greive one member of the Union,
tends to a Dissolution; for nature teaches to seek redress:
And Self preservation, among Laws, is Lord paramount."
- David Howell to Nicholas Brown, Letters of Delegates to
Congress: Volume 19, Oct. 30, 1782.
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"We took arms in defence of our persons and properties under actual
violation, we have taken up arms we took up arms; when that violence
shall be removed, when hostilities shall cease on the part of the
aggressors, hostilities shall cease on our part also."
- Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson,
[Jefferson's Draft of 'Declaration on Taking Arms', July 6, 1775].
"Liberty is a word which, according as it is used, comprehends
the most good and the most evil of any in the world. Justly
understood it is sacred next to those which we appropriate in
divine adoration; but in the mouths of some it means anything,
which enervate a necessary government; excite a jealousy of the
rulers who are our own choice, and keep society in confusion for
want of a power sufficiently concentered to promote good."
- Oliver Ellsworth (A Landholder, No. III, 19 November 1787)
Reference: Essays on the Constitution of the United States, Ford,
ed. (146); original The Connecticut Courant [Sheehan (4:4)]
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"I will venture to assert that no combination of designing men
under heaven will be capable of making a government unpopular
which is in its principles a wise and good one, and vigorous in
its operations."
- Alexander Hamilton (speech to the New York Ratifying Convention,
June 1788)
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"The amendment, like most other provisions in the Constitution, has a history. It was adopted with some modification and enlargement from the English Bill of Rights of 1688, where it stood as a protest against arbitrary action of the overturned dynasty in disarming the people, and as a pledge of the new rulers that this tyrannical action should cease. The right declared was meant to be a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers, and as a necessary and efficient means of regaining rights when temporarily
overturned by usurpation."
"The Right is General. -- It may be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent. The militia, as has been elsewhere explained, consists of those persons who, under the law, are liable to the performance of military duty, and are officered and enrolled for service when called upon. But the law may make provision for the enrollment of all who are fit to perform military duty, or of a small number only, or it may wholly omit to make any provision at all; and if the right were limited to those enrolled, the purpose of this guaranty might be defeated altogether by the action or neglect to act of the government it was meant to hold in check. The meaning of the provision, undoubtedly is, that the people, from whom the militia must be taken, shall have the right to keep and bear arms, and they need no permission or regulation of law for the purpose, but this enables the government to have a well regulated militia; for to bear arms implies something more than the mere keeping; it implies the learning to handle and use them in a way that makes
those who keep them ready for their efficient use; in other words, it implies the right to meet for voluntary discipline in arms, observing in doing so the laws of public order."
"Standing Army. -- A further purpose of this amendment is, to preclude any necessity or reasonable excuse for keeping up a standing army. A standing army is condemned by the traditions and sentiments of the people, as being as dangerous to the liberties of the people as the general preparation of the people for the defence of their institutions with arms is preservative of them."
- Thomas Cooley, Michigan Supreme Court Justice, 'Principles of Constitutional Law', (1898).
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"Once the government becomes the supplier of people's needs, there is no limit to the needs that will be claimed as a basic right."
- Lawrence Auster
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"The defense of home, family, and country is universally recognized
as the paramount political duty of every member of society, and in a
form of government like ours, where each citizen enjoys an equality
of rights and privileges, nothing can he more invidious than an
unequal distribution of duties and obligations."
- Jefferson Davis, Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States
of America, [Volume 4], Richmond, Va., November 7, 1864
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"I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see that the end is worth more than all the means..."
- John Adams
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"Wherever the real power in a Government lies, there is the danger
of oppression."
- James Madison (letter to Thomas Jefferson, 17 October 1788)
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"To sit home, read one's favorite paper, and scoff at the misdeeds of the men who do things is easy, but it is markedly ineffective. It is what evil men count upon the good men's doing."
- Theodore Roosevelt
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"Patriotism is as much a virtue as justice, and is as necessary for the support of societies as natural affection is for the support of families."
- Benjamin Rush
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"That it will appear by the constitutions and other publick acts of
the several states, that the citizens of the United States possessed
of arms, possessed of freedom, possessed of political power to create
and direct their magistrates as they think proper, are united in their
determinations to secure to themselves and their posterity the blessings
of liberty, by supporting the independence of their governments, and
observing their treaties and publick engagements with immoveable
firmness and fidelity."
- Journals of the Continental Congress, Jan. 31st, 1780
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"The freedom of thought and action we Americans enjoy today seems as natural as the air we breathe. But there is a danger we may take this freedom for granted. We must never forget it was bought for us at a great price. The brave and resourceful Americans whose sacrifices gained our Independence and preserved it for more than 200 years against formidable foes have set an example of unflinching loyalty to the ideal of liberty and justice for all."
- Ronald Reagan
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"It is necessary to speak thus plainly of projects, the offspring of that sectional
agitation now prevailing in some of the States, which are as impracticable as they
are unconstitutional, and which, if persevered in, must and will end calamitously. It
is either disunion and civil war, or it is mere angry, idle, aimless disturbance of
public peace and tranquillity. Disunion for what? If the passionate rage of fanaticism
and partisan spirit did not force the fact upon our attention, it would be difficult to
believe that any considerable portion of the people of this enlightened country could
have so surrendered themselves to a fanatical devotion to the supposed interests of the relatively few.....in the United States, as totally to abandon and disregard the
interests of the twenty-five millions of Americans; to trample under foot the injunctions
of moral and constitutional obligation, and to engage in plans of vindictive hostility
against those who are associated with them in the enjoyment of the common heritage of
our national institutions.
"Nor is it hostility against their fellow-citizens of one section of the Union alone.
The interests, the honor, the duty, the peace, and the prosperity of the people of all sections are equally involved and imperilled in this question. And are patriotic men in any part of the Union prepared, on such issue, thus madly to invite all the consequences of the forfeiture of their constitutional engagements? It is impossible. The storm of phrensy and faction must inevitably dash itself in vain against the unshaken rock of the Constitution. I shall never doubt it. I know that the Union is stronger a thousand times than all the wild and chimerical schemes of social change, which are generated, one after another, in the unstable minds of visionary sophists and interested agitators. I rely confidently on the patriotism of the people, on the dignity and self-respect of the States, on the wisdom of Congress, and, above all, on the continued gracious favor of Almighty God, to maintain, against all enemies, whether at home or abroad, the sanctity of the constitution and the integrity of the Union."
- President Franklin Pierce, Washington, Message of Dec. 31, 1855,
Journal of the Senate of the United States of America.
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"Our greatest Enemies are within ourselves & not among those Men who oppose
us by Arms or who honestly & openly profess themselves averse from our measures
& politics. You would be astonished were you here to see the number & influence
of the property Men. I call them so because almost every Man of them were the
most Vigorous in opposing the measures of the British Ministry until they
perceived that opposition, proceeding to a serious War, then fear of the Loss of
Life & Estate shocked their faith. they wished to remain neuter, they still
acknowledged that America had been greatly aggreived but withdrew from the
Councils & Society of their former Colleagues under pretences, some that
Independence had been declared too soon, others that it had never been their
design to be Independent. A few such we have in Carolina, observe them, they are
Men of property called sensible & good Sort of Men. They are cunning Men, & their
cunning is exceedingly baneful to a cause which in their hearts they wish well.
If we lose that Cause it will be the effect of their timidity & their pernicious
examples. Whether their wishes to enjoy their Estates in quiet will succeed I know
not-I rather beleive they will drag a few years of life through painful reproaches
& reflections- but I say, Such Men in this State & that of New York abound-& unless
the progress of Burgoyne & his junction with Sir William Howe is Speedily prevented
they will have room to expand to join the Enemy & to reduce the friends of Freedom to the utmost hazards & difficulties."
- Henry Laurens, Letter to John Lewis Gervais, Aug. 5, 1777.
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"The tyrant must have a retinue of partisans who obey his orders of their own accord. Their spontaneous obedience provides him with the apparatus he needs for the conquest of other people. Whether or not he succeeds in making his sway last depends on the numerical relation of the two groups, those who support him voluntarily and those whom he beats into submission. Though a tyrant may temporarily rule through a minority if this minority is armed and the
majority is not, in the long run a minority cannot keep the majority in subservience. The oppressed will rise in rebellion and cast off the yoke of tyranny."
- Ludwig von Mises, Human Action: A Treatise on Economics, in 4 Vols., Vol. 1; 3: Might, ed. Bettina Bien Greaves (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007).
"You, Sir, triumph in the supposed illegality of this body; but,
granting your supposition were true, it would be a matter of no
real importance. When the first principles of civil society are
violated, and the rights of a whole people are invaded, the common
forms of municipal law are not to be regarded. Men may then betake
themselves to the law of nature; and, if they but conform their
actions, to that standard, all cavils against them, betray either
ignorance or dishonesty. There are some events in society, to
which human laws cannot extend; but when applied to them lose
all their force and efficacy. In short, when human laws contradict
or discountenance the means, which are necessary to preserve the
essential rights of any society, they defeat the proper end of
all laws, and so become null and void."
23 Feb. 1775 Papers 1:86--89, 121--22, 135--36
"May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us in all our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy."
- George Washington
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"All men having power ought to be distrusted to a certain degree."
- James Madison (speech at the Constitutional Convention,
7/11/1787)
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"The Speaker presented a memorial of the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Territory of Wisconsin, praying that three thousand stand of arms may be deposited in said Territory, for the use of the citizens thereof, in protecting themselves against the incursions of the Indians."
- Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,
(...."Ordered, That said memorials be referred to the
Committee on the Territories.")
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"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations."
- James Madison
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"I trust it may not be deemed inappropriate to the occasion for me to
dwell for a moment on the memory of the most eminent citizen of our
country, who, during the summer that is gone by, has descended to the
tomb. The enjoyment of contemplating, at the advanced age of near
fourscore years, the happy condition of his county, cheered the last
hours of Andrew Jackson, who departed this life in the tranquil hope
of a blessed immortality. His death was happy, as his life had been
eminently useful. He had an unfaltering confidence in the virtue and
capacity of the people, and in the permanence of that free government
which he had largely contributed to establish and defend. His great
deeds had secured to him the affections of his fellow-citizens, and it
was his happiness to witness the growth and glory of his country which
he loved so well. He departed amidst the benedictions of millions of
freemen. The nation paid its tribute to his memory at his tomb. Coming
generations will learn from his example the love of country and the
rights of man. In his language on a similar occasion to the present,
"I now commend you, fellow-citizens, to the guidance of Almighty God,
with a full reliance on His merciful providence for the maintenance of
our free institutions; and with an earnest supplication, that whatever
errors it may be my lot to commit in discharging the arduous duties
which have devolved on me, will find a remedy in the harmony and wisdom
of your counsels."
- President James K. Polk, Message to the U.S. Senate, Dec. 2, 1845
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"The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."
- Patrick Henry
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"I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands, and the Republic is destroyed.
- Abraham Lincoln, 1864
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"That government is free to the people under it, where the laws rule and
the people are a party to those laws; and all the rest is tyranny,
oligarchy and confusion."
- William Penn
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"...I am persuaded that the Congress will give no Encouragement
to any to molest your People on Account of their Religious
Principles; and tho' much is not in my Power, I shall on every
Occasion exert my self to discountenance and prevent such
infamous Practices. Permit me however to give a little Hint in
point of Prudence. I remember that you put yourselves into a
good Posture of Defence at the Beginning of the last War when
I was at Bethlehem; and I then understood from my much respected
Friend Bp. Spangenberg, that there were among the Brethren many
who did not hold it unlawful to arm in a defensive War. If there
still [are] any such among your young Men, perhaps it would not
be amiss to permit them to learn the military Discipline among
their Neighbours, as this might conciliate those who at present
express some Resentment; and having Arms in Readiness for all
who may be able and willing to use them, will be a general Means
of Protection against Enemies of all kinds. But a Declaration of
your Society, that tho' they cannot in conscience compell their
young Men to learn the use of Arms, yet they do not restrain such
as are so disposed, will operate in the Minds of People very
greatly in your Favour. Excuse my Presumption in offering Advice,
which indeed may be of little Value, but proceeds from a Heart
fill'd with Affection and Respect for a Society I have long highly
esteem'd, and among whom I have many valuable Friends.
I am with great Regard & Veneration, Revd. Sir, Your most
obedient humble Servant B Franklin"
- Benjamin Franklin, Letter to Nathaniel Seidel, June 2. 1775
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"However incredible it may appear, that, at this enlightned period, the leaders
of a nation, which in every age has sacrificed hecatombs of her bravest patriots
on the altar of liberty, should presume gravely to assert, and, by force of arms,
attempt to establish an arbitrary sway over the lives, liberties, and property of
their fellow subjects in America, it is, nevertheless, a most deplorable and
indisputable truth....
"Compelled, therefore, to behold thousands of our Countrymen imprisoned, and
men, women and children involved in promiscuous and unmerited misery! When we
find all faith at an end, and sacred treaties turned into tricks of state;
When we perceive our friends and kinsmen massacred, our habitations plundred,
our houses in flames, and their once happy inhabitants fed only by the hand of
charity; Who can blame us for endeavouring to restrain the progress of
desolation! Who can censure our repeling the attacks of such a barbarous band!
Who, in such circumstances, would not obey the great, the universal, the divine
law of self-preservation?"
- John Hancock, President United Colonies, July 28, 1775
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"Though originally the first ten Amendments were adopted as limitations on Federal power, yet in so far as they secure and recognize fundamental rights -- common law rights -- of the man, they make them privileges and immunities of the man as citizen of the United States..."
- John Randolph Tucker, Haymarket Riot case - Spies v. Illinois
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"The history of the late wars....furnishes a complete demonstration that no system
of conduct, however correct in principle, can protect neutral powers from injury
from any party; that a defenceless position, and distinguished love of peace, are
the surest invitations to war; and that there is no way to avoid it, other than by
being always prepared, and willing, for just cause, to meet it. If there be a people
on earth whose more especial duty it is to be at all times prepared to defend the
rights with which they are blessed, and to surpass all others in sustaining the
necessary , and in submitting to sacrifices to make such preparations, it is
undoubtedly the people of these states.....
"....The United States owe to the world a great example, and, by means thereof, to the
cause of liberty and humanity, a generous support. They have so far succeeded, to the
satisfaction of the virtuous and enlightened of every country. There is no reason to
doubt, that their whole movement will be regulated by a sacred regard to principle,
all our institutions being founded on that basis. The ability to support our own cause,
under any trial to which it may be exposed, is the great point on which the public
solicitude rests. It has been often charged against free governments, that they have
neither the foresight, nor the virtue, to provide, at the proper season, for great
emergencies; that their course is improvident and expensive; that war will always find
them unprepared, and whatever may be its calamities, that its terrible warnings will be
disregarded and forgotten as soon as peace returns. I have full confidence that this
charge, so far as relates to the United States, will be shewn to be utterly destitute of
truth."
- James Monroe, President, Washington, Dec. 3, 1822
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"The first difficulty in barter is to find two persons whose disposable possessions mutually suit each other’s wants. There may be many people wanting, and many possessing those things wanted; but to allow of an act of barter, there must be a double coincidence, which will rarely happen. A hunter having returned from a successful chase has plenty of game, and may want arms and ammunition to renew the chase. But those who have arms may happen to be well supplied with game, so that no direct exchange is possible."
- William Stanley Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange, Want of Coincidence in Barter. (New York: D. Appleton and Co. 1876).
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"Must the patient die before it is right to apply the remedy? Will nothing satisfy you of the necessity of taking arms against the evil, but having those arms wrenched from you?"
- John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume VI - Essays on England, Ireland, and the Empire, Parties and the Ministry 1837 ed. John M. Robson, Introduction by Joseph Hamburger (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1982).
Circular Letter of the Boston Committee of Correspondence; May 13, 1774
We have just received the copy of an Act of the British Parliament passed in the present session whereby the town of Boston is treated in a manner the most ignominious, cruel, and unjust. The Parliament have taken upon them, from the representations of our governor and other persons inimical to and deeply prejudiced against the inhabitants, to try, condemn, and by an Act to punish them, unheard; which would have been in violation of natural justice even if they had an acknowledged jurisdiction. They have ordered our port to be entirely shut up, leaving us barely so much of the means of subsistence as to keep us from perishing with cold and hunger; and it is said that [a] fleet of British ships of war is to block up our harbour until we shall make restitution to the East India Company for the loss of their tea, which was destroyed therein the winter past, obedience is paid to the laws and authority of Great Britain, and the revenue is duly collected. This Act fills the inhabitants with indignation. The more thinking part of those who have hitherto been in favour of the measures of the British government look upon it as not to have been expected even from a barbarous state. This attack, though made immediately upon us, is doubtless designed for every other colony who will not surrender their sacred rights and liberties into the hands of an infamous ministry. Now therefore is the time when all should be united in opposition to this violation of the liberties of all. Their grand object is to divide the colonies. We are well informed that another bill is to be brought into Parliament to distinguish this from the other colonies by repealing some of the Acts which have been complained of and ease the American trade; but be assured, you will be called upon to surrender your rights if ever they should succeed in their attempts to suppress the spirit of liberty here. The single question then is, whether you consider Boston as now suffering in the common cause, and sensibly feel and resent the injury and affront offered to here If you do (and we cannot believe otherwise), may we not from your approbation of our former conduct in defense of American liberty, rely on your suspending your trade with Great Britain at least, which it is acknowledged, will be a great but necessary sacrifice to the cause of liberty and will effectually defeat the design of this act of revenge. If this should be done, you will please to consider it will be, though a voluntary suffering, greatly short of what we are called to endure under the immediate hand of tyranny.
We desire your answer by the bearer; and after assuring you that, not in the least intimidated by this inhumane treatment, we are still determined to maintain to the utmost of our abilities the rights of America, we are, gentlemen,
Your friends and fellow countrymen.
Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams, Collected and ed. by Harry Alonzo Cushing, New York [etc.] G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1904-08.
**********
"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,
SATURDAY, MARCH 10, 1804
**********
"Their whole Force will be pourd into New England, for they take
it for granted that having once subdued those stubborn States, the
rest will give up without a Struggle. They will take occasion from
what has happend in Jersey to inculcate this opinion. How necessary
is it then for our Countrymen to strain every Nerve to defeat their
Design. The Time is short. Let this be the only Subject of our
Thought and Consultation..... Let us do our Duty and defend the fair
Inheritance which our Fathers have left us-our pious forefathers who
mindful of Posterity fought and bled that they might transmit to them
the Blessing of Liberty."
- Samuel Adams, Letter to James Warren, Dec. 25, 1776
**********
"The distance of the United States from Europe, and the well known promptitude,
ardor, and courage, of the People in defence of their country, happily diminish
the probability of invasion..."
- John Adams, Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,
May 16, 1797
**********
"Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear..."
- Mark Twain
**********
"But our quondam Friend Jonathan used to quote from Mat. Prior
"when it is to combat Evil, Tis lawfull to employ the Devil."
There is no greater Evil on Earth or under it than the War that
is made upon Us. And We have a Right, and it is our Duty to
defend our selves, by such Means as We have."
- John Adams, letter to David Sewall, June 12 1776
**********
The maintenance of the right to bear arms is a most essential one to every free
people and should not be whittled down by technical constructions.
- State vs. Kerner, [181 N.C. 574, 107 S.E. 222, at 224 (1921)]
**********
"Should this apprehension of domestic danger, whether real or
imaginary, extend, and intensify itself, until it shall pervade
the masses of the southern people, then disunion will become
inevitable. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and
has been implanted in the heart of man by his Creator, for the
wisest purpose; and no political union, however fraught with
blessings and benefits in all other respects, can long continue,
if the necessary consequence be to render the homes and the
firesides of nearly half the parties to it habitually and
hopelessly insecure."
- James Buchanan, Washington City, December 3, 1860, Journal
of the Senate of the United States of America, Dec. 4, 1860.
**********
"Those who announce abstract doctrines subversive of the Constitution and the
Union must not be surprised should their heated partizans advance one step
further and attempt by violence to carry these doctrines into practical effect.
In this view of the subject it ought never to be forgotten that however great
may have been the political advantages resulting from the Union to every portion
of our common country, these would all prove to be as nothing should the time
ever arrive when they cannot be enjoyed without serious danger to the personal
safety of the people of fifteen members of the confederacy. If the peace of the
domestic fireside throughout these States should ever be invaded--if the mothers
of families within this extensive region should not be able to retire to rest at
night without suffering dreadful apprehensions of what may be their own fate and
that of their children before the morning--it would be vain to recount to such a
people the political benefits which result to them from the Union.
Self-preservation is the first instinct of nature, and therefore any state of
society in which the sword is all the time suspended over the heads of the people
must at last become intolerable."
- President James Buchanan, Message to the U.S. Senate, Dec, 19, 1859
**********
"The American system of government is entirely different from that of Europe.
Jealousy among the different sovereigns of Europe, lest any one of them might
become too powerful for the rest, has caused them anxiously to desire the
establishment of what they term the "balance of power." It cannot be permitted
to have any application on the North American continent, and especially to the
United States. We must ever maintain the principle, that the people of this
continent alone have the right to decide their own destiny."
- James K. Polk - President, Washington, Dec. 2, 1845
**********
"In order to justify a resort to revolutionary resistance the federal government
must be guilty of "a deliberate, palpable, and dangerous exercise" of powers not
granted by the Constitution....How, then, can the result justify a revolution to
destroy this very Constitution? Reason, justice, a regard for the Constitution,
all require that we shall wait for some overt and dangerous act on the part of
the President elect, before resorting to such a remedy."
"In any event, our government is BOUND TO PROTECT THE RIGHTS of our naturalized
citizens everywhere, to the SAME EXTENT as though they had drawn their first
breath in this country. We can recognize no distinction Between our native and
naturalized citizens."
- James Buchanan - President, Washington, Dec. 3, 1860
**********
"Under our happy system, the people are the sole and exclusive fountain of power.
Each government originates from them, and to them alone, each to its propel'
constituents, are they respectively and solely responsible, for the faithful
discharge of their duties, within their constitutional limits. And that the people
will confine their public agents, of every station, to the strict line of their
constitutional duties, there is no cause to doubt."
"If there be a people on earth whose morn especial duty it is to he at all times
prepared to defend the rights with which they are blessed, and to surpass all others
in sustaining the necessary burthens, and in submitting to sacrifices to make such
preparations, it is undoubtedly the people of these states."
"The United States owe to the world a great example, and, by means thereof, to the
cause of liberty and humanity, a generous support. They have so far succeeded, to
the satisfaction of the virtuous and enlightened of every country. There is no reason
to doubt, that their whole movement will be regulated by a sacred regard to principle,
all our institutions being founded on that basis. The ability to support our own cause,
under any trial to which it may be exposed, is the great point on which the public
solicitude rests. It has been often charged against free governments, that they leave
neither the foresight, nor the virtue, to provide, at the proper season, for great
emergencies; that their course is improvident and expensive; that war will always find
them unprepared, and whatever may be its calamities, that its terrible warnings will be
disregarded and forgotten as soon as peace returns. I have full confidence that this
charge, so far as relates to the United States, will be shown to be utterly destitute
of truth."
- James Monroe - President, Washington, December 3, 1822.
**********
"The state, under either the contractarian or the Marxist hypothesis, has got all the guns. Those who armed it by disarming themselves, are at its mercy. The state’s sovereignty means that there is no appeal against its will, no higher instance which could possibly make it do one thing rather than another."
- Anthony de Jasay, "The State", If States Did Not Exist, Should They Be Invented?, (Liberty Fund, 1998).
"The capacity of the people for self-government, and their willingness, from a high
sense of duty, and without those exhibitions of coercive power so generally employed
in other countries, to submit to all needful restraints and exactions of the municipal
law, have also been favorably exemplified in the history of the American States.
Occasionally, it is true, the ardor of public sentiment, outrunning the regular progress
of the judicial tribunals, or seeking to reach cases not denounced as criminal by the
existing law, has displayed itself in a manner calculated to give pain to the friends of
free government, and to encourage the hopes of those who wish for its overthrow. These
occurrences, however, have been far less frequent in our country than in any other of
equal population on the globe; and with the diffusion of intelligence, it may well be
hoped that they will constantly diminish in frequency and violence. The generous
patriotism and sound common sense of the great mass of our fellow-citizens will assuredly,
in time, produce this result; for, as every assumption of illegal power not only wounds the
majesty of the law, but furnishes a pretext for abridging the liberties of the people, the
latter have the most direct and permanent interest in preserving the landmarks of social
order, and maintaining, on all occasions, the inviolability of those constitutional and
legal provisions which they themselves have made."
- Martin Van Buren - President, Inaugural Address to the Senate of the United States of
America, March 4, 1837
**********
"Mr. President, I do not expect to throw any new light on a subject
which has been so fully discussed. Yet I cannot content myself without
giving my opinion more explicitly than by a silent vote. It is generally
agreed that the present Confederation is inadequate to the exigencies of
our national affairs. We must therefore adopt this plan of government,
or some other, or risk the consequences of disunion. As the present
Articles of Confederation are inadequate, we ought to consider whether
this Constitution be as good as can be agreed on by so many different
states, or whether it be a dangerous system; whether it secures the
liberties of the people, or whether its tendency be unfavorable to the
rights of a free people. I have given it all the consideration in my
power, and I have, a considerable time since, made up my mind on the
subject, and think it my duty to give my voice in favor of adopting it.
It is founded upon the election of the people. If it varies kern the
former system, or if it is to be altered hereafter, it must be with the
consent of the people. This is all the security in favor of liberty that
can be expected. Mankind may become corrupt, and give up the cause of
freedom; but I believe that love of liberty which prevails among the
people of this country will prevent such a direful calamity.
"The Constitution effectually secures the states in their several rights.
It must secure them for its own sake; for they are the pillars which uphold
the general system. The Senate, a constituent branch of the general
legislature, without whose assent no public act can be made, are appointed
by the states, and will secure the rights of the several states. The other
branch of the legislature, the Representatives, are to be elected by the
people at large. They will therefore be the guardians of the rights of the
great body of the citizens. So well guarded is this Constitution throughout,
that it seems impossible that the rights either of the states or of the
people should be destroyed.
"I do not see the necessity of such a test as some gentlemen wish for. The
Constitution enjoins an oath upon all the officers of the United States.
This is a direct appeal to that God who is the avenger of perjury. Such an
appeal to him is a full acknowledgment of his being and providence. An
acknowledgment of these great truths is all that the gentleman contends for.
For myself, I should be content either with or without that clause in the
Constitution which excludes test laws. Knowledge and liberty are so prevalent
in this country, that I do not believe that the United States would ever be
disposed to establish one religious sect, and lay all others under legal
disabilities. But as we know not what may take place hereafter, and any such
test would be exceedingly injurious to the rights of free citizens, I cannot
think it altogether superfluous to have added a clause, which secures us from
the possibility of such oppression. I shall only add, that I give my assent
to this Constitution, and am happy to see the states in a fair way to adopt
a Constitution which will protect their rights and promote their welfare."
- Hon. Oliver Wolcott, Jan. 9, 1788, The Debates in the Several State Conventions,
Connecticut, on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution.
[Elliot's Debates, Volume 2]
**********
"Amidst much great every distress that they have yet experienced may
befal them, it will be their consolation to appeal to Heaven for the
rectitude of their measures; since they have her influence they have
had recourse to arms, not from ambition or the lust of power, but to
resist actual invasion and boundless rapine, and to secure to themselves
and to their Posterity the common rights and privileges of human nature:
the blessings of freedom and safety that they have had recourse to arms."
- Journals of the Continental Congress, Nov. 22, 1777
**********
"While men inhabiting different parts of this vast continent can no
more be expected to hold the same opinions, or entertain the same
sentiments, than every variety of climate or soil can be expected to
furnish the same agricultural products, they can unite in a common
object and sustain common principles essential to the maintenance of
that object. The gallant men of the south and the north could stand
together during the struggle of the Revolution; they could stand
together in the more trying period which succeeded the clangor of arms.
As their united valor was adequate to all the trials of the camp and
dangers of the field, so their united wisdom proved equal to the
greater task of founding, upon a deep and broad basis, institutions,
which it has been our privilege to enjoy, and will ever be our most
sacred duty to sustain. It is but the feeble expression of a faith
strong and universal, to say that their sons, whose blood mingled so
often upon the same field, during the war of 1812, and who have more
recently borne in triumph the flag of the country upon a foreign soil,
will never permit alienation of feeling to weaken the power of their
united efforts, nor internal dissensions to paralyze the great arm of
freedom, uplifted for the vindication of self-government."
- Franklin Pierce, Message to the U.S. House of Representatives,
Washington, D. C., December 5, 1853
**********
"People here almost universally agree with you . . . that the Moment we
determin'd to defend ourselves by Arms against the most injurious Violence
of Britain we declar'd for Independence."
- Samuel Cooper to Samuel Adams, Letter April 18, 1776
"...I am disposd to believe that every thing is orderd for the best,
and if I do not find my self chargeable with Neglect I am not greatly
chagrind when things do not go on exactly according to my mind. Indeed
I have the Happiness of believing that what I most earnestly wish for
will in due time be effected. We cannot make Events. Our Business is
merely to improve them. There has been much to do to confirm doubting
Friends & fortify the Timid. It requires time to bring honest Men to
think & determine alike even in important Matters. Mankind are governd
more by their feelings than by reason. Events which excite those feelings
will produce wonderful Effects...."
- Samuel Adams to Samuel Cooper, letter April 30, 1776
**********
"The rights of government are as essential to be defended
as the rights of individuals. The security of the one is
inseparable from that of the other."
- Alexander Hamilton to John Dickinson, September, 1783,
Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 20
**********
"The Union and the Constitution are inseparable. As long as one is obeyed by all parties, the other will be preserved; and if one is destroyed, both must perish together. The destruction of the Constitution will be followed by other and still greater calamities. It was ordained not only to form a more perfect union between the States, but to "establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity." Nothing but implicit obedience to its requirements in all parts of the country will accomplish these great ends. Without that obedience, we can look forward only to continual outrages upon individual rights, incessant breaches of the public peace, national weakness, financial dishonor, the total loss of our prosperity, the general corruption of morals, and the final extinction of popular freedom. To save our country from evils so appalling as these, we should renew our efforts again and again....
"....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 cud itself is evil, as well as the means....
"A little reflection on this subject will probably satisfy all who have the good of the country at heart that our best course is to take the Constitution for our guide, walk in the path marked out by the founders of the republic, and obey the rules made sacred by the observance of our great predecessors."
- President Andrew Johnson, Washington, December 3, 1867
**********
"Our forefathers of the thirteen United Colonies, in acquiring their independence,
and in founding this republic of the United States of America, have devolved upon
us, their descendants, the greatest and the most noble trust ever committed to the
hands of man, imposing upon all, and especially such as the public will may have
invested, for the time being, with political functions, the most sacred obligations.
We have to maintain inviolate the great doctrine of the inherent right of popular
self-government; to reconcile the largest liberty of the individual citizen, with
complete security of the public order; to render cheerful obedience to the laws of
the land, to unite in enforcing their execution, and to frown indignantly on all
combinations to resist them; to harmonise a sincere and ardent devotion to the
institutions of religious faith with the most universal religious toleration; to
preserve the rights of all by causing each to respect those of the other; to carry
forward every social improvement to the uttermost limit of human perfectibility, by
the free action of mind upon mind, not by the obtrusive intervention of misplaced
force; to uphold the integrity and guard the limitations of our organic law; to
preserve sacred from all touch of usurpation, as the very palladium of our political salvation, the reserved rights and powers of the several States and of the people; to cherish, with loyal fealty and devoted affection, this Union, as the only sure
foundation on which the hopes of civil liberty rest; to administer government with
vigilant integrity and rigid economy; to cultivate peace and friendship with foreign
nations, and to demand and exact equal justice from all, but to do wrong to none; to
eschew intermeddling with the national policy and the domestic repose of other
governments, and to repel it from our own; never to shrink from war when the rights
and the honor of the country call us to arms, but to cultivate in preference the arts
of peace, seek enlargement of the rights of neutrality, and elevate and liberalize the
intercourse of nations; and by such just and honorable means, and such only, whilst
exalting the condition of the republic, to assure to it the legitimate influence and
the benign authority of a great example amongst all the powers of Christendom.
"Under the solemnity of these convictions, the blessing of Almighty God is earnestly
invoked to attend upon your deliberations, and upon all the counsels and acts of the
government, to the end that, with common zeal and common efforts, we may, in humble
submission to the Divine will, co-operate for the promotion of the supreme good of
these United States."
- President Franklin Pierce, to the U.S. Senate, Washington, Dec. 4, 1854.
**********
"It may be safely assumed, as an axiom in the government of States, that
the greatest wrongs inflicted upon a people are caused by unjust and
arbitrary legislation, or by the unrelenting decrees of despotic rulers,
and that the timely revocation of injurious and oppressive measures is the
greatest good that can be conferred upon a nation. The legislator or ruler
who has the wisdom and magnanimity to retrace his steps, when convinced of
error, will sooner or later be rewarded with the respect and gratitude of
an intelligent and patriotic people."
- Andrew Jackson, Fourth Annual Message, Dec. 9th, 1868
**********
"Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."
- George Santayana
**********
"Had they done so, would our most powerful newspapers be able to argue the question as if the right to rebel in defence of the power to tyrannize, were as sacred as the right of resisting by arms a tyranny practised over ourselves? . . . to prevent it from carrying this scourge through the whole of the American continent, were a society just like any other—having the same moral rights of every kind, & as fit to take its place in the community of nations, as any body of human beings whatever."
- John Stuart Mill, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill, Volume XV - The Later Letters of John Stuart Mill 1849-1873 Part II, 1861. ed. Francis E. Mineka and Dwight N. Lindley (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972).
**********
"What experience and history teach is this -- that people and governments
never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles."
- George Wilhelm Hegel
**********
Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States,
WEDNESDAY, July 17, 1861.
“...Mr. Vallandigham gave notice, under the rule, of his intention to move for leave to introduce bills, as follows, viz:
-
A bill to regulate and enforce the writ of habeas corpus, and for the better securing the liberty of the citizens;
-
Also, a bill to enforce the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures;
-
Also, a bill to secure to the people the right to keep and to bear arms for their defence;
-
Also, a bill to prescribe the manner of quartering soldiers in private houses in time of war;
-
Also, a bill to secure the freedom of speech and of the press.”
(One can only assume that the onset of the Civil War had been the cause of some concern, by Mr. Vallandigham, for the rights of the people).
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