"What, gracious God, is man! that there should be such inconsistency and perfidiousness
in his conduct? It is but the other day, that we were shedding our blood to obtain the
Constitutions under which we now live; Constitutions of our own choice and making; and
now we are unsheathing the sword to overturn them. The thing is so unaccountable, that
I hardly know how to realize it, or to persuade myself that I am not under the illusion
of a dream."

- George Washington to David Humphreys, December 26, 1786. [The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741-1799].

**********

"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.

**********

"Depend upon it, that as the spirit of America has always risen with the successes of
her enemies, they will not, on this occasion, throw away their arms, and ingloriously
pass under the yoke of a nation whose conduct towards her has been marked by injustice
and oppression in peace, and by malice and wanton barbarity in war."

- John Jay, Letter to De Neufville and Son, Madrid, July 29, 1780.
[The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Volume 4].

**********

"The danger (where there is any) from armed citizens, is only to the "government", not to "society"; and 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, "Advice to the Privileged Orders", 1792-93.

**********

 “Constant apprehension of war has the same tendency to render the head too large for the body. 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, [The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, Friday, June 29. [Elliot's Debates, Volume 5].

**********

"One of the ordinary modes, by which tyrants accomplish their purposes without resistance, is, by disarming the people, and making it an offence to keep arms, and by substituting a regular army in the stead of a resort to the militia.  The friends of a free government cannot be too watchful, to overcome the dangerous tendency of the public mind to sacrifice, for the sake of mere private convenience, this powerful check upon the designs of ambitious men."

- Joseph Story, 'Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States', 1840

**********

"Liberty must at all hazards be supported.  We have a right to it,
derived from our Maker.  But if we had not, our fathers have earned
and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates,
their pleasure, and their blood."

- John Adams, A Dissertation on the Canon and Feudal Law, 1765. 
TheRevolutionary Writings of John Adams, Thompson, ed. (28).

"Our Consolation must be this, my dear, that Cities may be rebuilt,
and a People reduced to Poverty, may acquire fresh Property: But a
Constitution of Government once changed from Freedom, can never be
restored. Liberty once lost is lost forever. When the People once
surrender their share in the Legislature, and their Right of defending
the Limitations upon the Government, and of resisting every Encroachment
upon them, they can never regain it."

- John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, July 7. 1775. [Letters of
Delegates to Congress: Volume 1 AUGUST 1774 - AUGUST 1775. Library of
Congress].

**********

"An Invasion of the Civil and Religious Liberties of a People, which are in their Nature sacred, and ought to be so esteemed by all Governments, is among the worst of Crimes, and is greatly aggravated when done by one, who is bound by Duty and Oath to preserve those Blessings, and to protect the People in the Enjoyment of them."

- Robert Hunter Morris, Lieutenant Governor of Pensilvania, Jan. 3, 1755. [Copies of the Lieutenant Governor of Pensilvania his speeches to the Assembly, their addresses, in answer thereto, and several messages and answers, between them. Philadelphia, 1755].

**********

"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

**********

"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.’ (Essay, i.80 and 99–100.)."

- Adam Smith, Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence vol. 2a 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]

**********

"...Resolved, That the said committee be empowered to purchase what powder and arms arrive belonging to private persons, on the best terms they can, for the use of the United Colonies; and that they furnish with the fire arms they purchased such of the three remaining companies of the first Pensylvania batallion, ordered to Canada,who are now in the barracks and deficient in arms with good arms as may want them, in order that they may immediately proceed on their march."

- Journals of the Continental Congress, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1776.

**********

The Revolutionary Diplomatic Correspondence of the United States, Volume 2

Deane to Hancock.

Philadelphia, September 14, 1778.

"Dear Sir: I have not had the pleasure of a line from you since you left us, which I impute to your having been so much engaged in public business. I hope the articles sent you arrived safe and were found to satisfaction, and that we shall soon have the pleasure of seeing you again in Philadelphia by one means or another. The affairs which respect me have dragged on so heavily that nothing decisive has been done, though I have been constantly applying, and my patience is really worn out, and I can not and will not longer endure a treatment which carries with it marks of the deepest ingratitude; but if the Congress have not time to hear a man who they have sent for four thousand miles, solely under the pretense of receiving intelligence from him, it is time that the good people of this continent should know the manner in which their representatives conduct the public business, and how they treat their fellow-citizens, who have rendered their country the most important services.

"I freely appeal to every man of honor and feelings, and will be content to be judged from what passes in his own breast, on supposing himself but for one moment exactly in my situation. A majority of Congress are disposed to do me justice, and complain of my being delayed in the manner I am from day to day and from week to week, but you know that in Congress a few men can put off the decision of any question by one means or other as long as they please, and you are not a stranger to what a certain triumvirate, who have been from the first members of Congress, are equal. The baseness and ingratitude of one of them you have sufficiently experienced in private life to know him capable of anything in public, and my old colleague, Roger the Jesuit, with their southern associates, have been indefatigable ever since my arrival. Roger, indeed, is at present on a tour to the army, and thence to New Haven, to stir up the pure minds of the faithful there against the next election of delegates. He is expected back in a few days, when perhaps they will be ready to take the field, after having suggested in whispers everything that could tend to hurt the man they causelessly attack. I am no way discouraged, but I am grieved to find our councils and our public deliberations conducted in the manner they are at present. The very name of Congress was a great while sacred almost as that of the Divinity in these States. You as well as I know how much weakness, to say nothing more, lay concealed from the first behind the sacred vail from the view of the public. I tremble for the consequences when Americans, who have served their country with the highest reputation at home and abroad, shall be forced by the injuries and abuse which they receive, in vindication of themselves, to draw this vail and hold up to the open view of their countrymen certain individuals who have by one circumstance or another greatly influenced the deliberations of Congress. Self-defense is the first law of nature. I hope and am sure I shall not be driven to this extremity whilst so many appear resolved to see justice done me. I will not add but that I most impatiently expect you here, and hope that you will bring Mrs. Hancock with you, to whom I pray you present my most respectful compliments.

I am, ever, with the most sincere attachment, dear sir, your most obedient and very humble
servant,

Silas Deane."

**********

"But that what I shall say may have the greater force, I beg it may be observed,
that the law of nature and nations is nothing else but the law of general reason,
or those obligations of duty from reason and conscience, on one individual to
another, antecedent to any particular law derived from the social compact, or
even actual consent. On this account, it is called the law of nature; and because
there are very rarely to be found any parties in such a free state with regard to
each other, except independent nations, therefore it is also called the law of
nations. One nation to another is just as man to man in a state of nature.....

...if I may speak so, with the other indiscretions or even frauds, if you please to call
them so, of withholding the cartouch boxes, or hiding or stealing the bayonets.
The question is not, whether this or the other thing done by the army is a breach
of the convention. I have for my part given up all these particulars, and declared
my willingness to ratify the convention, after I have heard them and believe them
to be true. But we have here the declared opinion of one of the parties, that the
public faith is broken by the other. Now, the simplest man in the world knows,
that a mutual onerous contract is always conditional; and that if the condition
fails on one side, whether from necessity or fraud, the other is free."

- John Witherspoon, Speech in Congress, January 8, 1778. reprinted from John
Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon . . ., 9 vols. (Edinburgh: J. Ogle,
1815), 9:108-16.

**********

"7 or 8 of the Traitors are under close confinement. Some of them will no doubt
be hanged. This is disagreeable business, but if we dont hang them they'll hang
us, and self preservation, you know, is the first law of nature."

- William Whipple to John Langdon, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 6, April 19, 1777

**********

"This government will commence in a moderate aristocracy: it is at present impossible
to foresee whether it will, in its operation, produce a monarchy or a corrupt oppressive
aristocracy; it will most probably vibrate some years between the two, and then terminate
in the one or the other."

- George Mason, [OBJECTIONS OF THE HON. GEORGE MASON, ONE OF THE DELEGATES FROM VIRGINIA IN THE LATE CONTINENTAL CONVENTION, TO THE PROPOSED FEDERAL CONSTITUTION; ASSIGNED AS HIS REASONS FOR NOT SIGNING THE SAME. Elliot's Debates, Volume 1].

**********

"It is the duty of the courts to be watchful for the Constitutional rights of the
citizen and against any stealthy encroachments thereon."

-Boyd vs. United States, 116 US 616
 
**********

"The provision in the Constitution granting the right to all persons to bear arms is a limitation upon the power of the Legislature to enact any law to the contrary. The exercise of a right guaranteed by the Constitution cannot be made subject to the will of the sheriff."

- People vs. Zerillo, 219 Mich. 635, 189 N.W. 927, at 928 (1922)

**********

"It is well settled that the Constitutional Rights protected from invasion by the
police power, include Rights safeguarded both by express and implied prohibitions
in the Constitutions."

- Tiche vs. Osborne, 131 A. 60

**********

"Disobedience or evasion of a Constitutional Mandate cannot be tolerated, even though
such disobedience may, at least temporarily, promote in some respects the best interests
of the public."

- Slote vs. Examination, 112 ALR 660
 
**********

"As a rule, fundamental limitations of regulations under the police power are found
in the spirit of the Constitutions, not in the letter, although they are just as
efficient as if expressed in the clearest language."

- Mehlos vs. Milwaukee, 146 NW 882

**********

"The claim and exercise of a Constitutional right cannot be converted into a crime."

- Miller v. U.S. 230 F 2nd 486, 489.

**********

"Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or
legislation which would abrogate them."

- Miranda vs. Arizona, 384 US 436, 491

**********

"There should be no arbitrary deprivation of Life or Liberty..."

- Barbour vs. Connolly, 113 US 27, 31; Yick Wo vs. Hopkins, 118 US 356

**********

"There can be no sanction or penalty imposed upon one because of this exercise of
constitutional Rights."

- Snerer vs. Cullen, 481 F. 946

**********

"With regard particularly to the U.S. Constitution, it is elementary that a Right secured
or protected by that document cannot be overthrown or impaired by any state police authority."

- Connolly vs. Union Sewer Pipe Co., 184 US 540; Lafarier vs. Grand Trunk R.R. Co., 24 A. 848;
- O'Neil vs. Providence Amusement Co., 108 A. 887

**********

"Constitutional Rights cannot be denied simply because of hostility to their assertions and
exercise; vindication of conceded Constitutional Rights cannot be made dependent upon any
theory that it is less expensive to deny them than to afford them."

- Watson vs. Memphis, 375 US 526

**********

"The police power of the state must be exercised in subordination to the provisions of the
U.S. Constitution."

- Bacahanan vs. Wanley, 245 US 60; Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Co. vs. State Highway Commission,
294 US 613

**********

"We find it intolerable that one Constitutional Right should have to be surrendered in order
to assert another."

- Simons vs. United States, 390 US 389

**********

"The state cannot diminish Rights of the people."

- Hurtado vs. California, 110 US 516

**********

"No public policy of a state can be allowed to override the positive guarantees of the U.S.
Constitution."

- 16 Am.Jur. (2nd), Const. Law, Sect. 70

**********
 
"The courts are not bound by mere form, nor are they to be misled by mere pretenses. They are
at liberty -- indeed they are under a solemn duty -- to look at the substance of things,
whenever they enter upon the inquiry whether the legislature has transcended the limits of its
authority. If, therefore, a statute purported to have been enacted to protect ... the public
safety, has no real or substantial relation to those objects or is a palpable invasion of
Rights secured by the fundamental law, it is the duty of the courts to so adjudge, and thereby
give effect to the Constitution."

- Mulger vs. Kansas, 123 US 623, 661

- Quoted from The Lawful Path

**********

"Whereas notwithstanding the humble and dutiful petition of the last Congress
to the King, and other wise and pacific measures taken for obtaining a happy
reconciliation between Great Britain and the Colonies, the ministry lost to
every sentiment of justice, liberty and humanity continue to send troops and
ships of war into America, which destroy our trade, plunder and burn our towns
and murder the good people of these colonies. Resolved, That this Colony most
ardently wishes to see the former friendship, harmony and intercourse between
Britain and these Colonies restored, and a happy and lasting connection
established between both countries upon terms of just and equal liberty and
will concur with the other colonies in all proper measures for obtaining those
desirable blessings; and as every principle divine and human requires us to
obey that great and fundamental law of nature, self preservation, until peace
shall be restored upon constitutional principles; this colony will most heartily
exert the whole power of government in conjunction with the other colonies for
carrying on this just and necessary war, and bringing the same to a happy issue,
and amongst other measures for obtaining this most desirable purpose, this
Assembly is persunded, that the building and equipping an American fleet, as
soon as possible, would greatly and essentially conduce to the preservation of
the lives, liberty and property of the good people of these Colonies and
therefore instruct their delegates to use their whole influence at the ensuing
congress for building at the Continental expence a fleet of sufficient force for
the protection of these colonies, and for employing them in such manner and
places as will most effectually annoy our enemies, and contribute to the common
defence of these colonies, and they are also instructed to use all their
influence for carrying on the war in the most vigorous manner, until peace,
liberty and safety are restored and secured to these Colonies upon an equitable
and permanent basis."

- One of the Delegates for Rhode Island laid before the Congress a part of the
Instructions given them by the House of Magistrates, Aug.26,1775. As entered
into the Journals of the Continental Congress, Oct. 3, 1775.

**********

From Daniel F. Coffey to John G. Nicolay, February 8, 1863

Griggsville Ill February 8th 1863

Friend Nichally Sir

it has now Become a Settled fact that we are to have a Blooddy Revolution in old pike & through the central & Southern portions of the State, unless prompt measures are adopted to prevent the Same, our own County as you are aware have turned out allmost to a man Such as would be accepted by the Government to fight its Battles & Sustain its Laws, I mean the union portion, the disloyal are at Home and out number us two to one and have been largely ReEnforced by Sevearl Hundred from Missouri Bushwhackers & Bridge Burners that ware Driven from that State & took Refuge here they together with the coperhead Democrats have many Lodges of the K. G. C.s¹ with a membership of over 2000, well armed and have Resolved to resist the Government, disarm Union men & Claim the right to appropriate the property of Union men, and are now discussing in their secrit meeting the pallicy of Rising in mass at an Early day, Say (Feb 22d) all of the above facts can be fully proven to you or in a court of Justice; We are organizing and arming our old men & Boys & Such as are not in the army and are determined to resist them to the death this of course is without authority of Law other than the Law of Nature, as thare is no law of the State to meet the amergency & we have nothing to Hope from our Ledgislature; now Sir what Shall we doe, can we have our County declared to be under Martial law with a Military Government, or can we be Supported with armes &c in Short what must we doe, what is done must be done Quickly, but rest assured that we will, come, what may, we will do our duty & hope by the Help of God to triumph Even it costs the last life. please lay this matter before before the president. the pressing necessity of the case must be my excuse for claiming a moment of your allreddy overtaxed time may God Bless you, the president, and our Country, Excuse the bad writing as it is done in Hury & confusion but without undue Excite[mnt?]

yours D F Coffey capt Griggsville

Guards & Former Capt Co B 68 Ill

P S - you can wright to me or to W. A. Grimshaw of pittsfield

[Note 1 This is an abbreviation for the Knights of the Golden Circle--a clandestine, pro-Confederate organization in the North.]

- Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.

**********

"They are the most armed — and most free people in Europe."

- Niccolo Machiavelli, (comment about the Swiss).

**********

"It is a rule of law that, in order to ascertain the import of a contract, the
evident intention of the parties, at the time of forming it, is principally to
be regarded. Previous to the formation of this Constitution, there existed
certain principles of the law of nature and nations, consecrated by time and
experience, in conformity to which the Constitution was formed."

- Mr. Elliot, Debate in U.S. House of Representatives, Oct. 25, 1803
(The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal
Constitution), [Elliot's Debates, Volume 4]

**********

“...For every purpose essential to the defence of these states in the progress of the present war, and necessary to the attainment of the objects of it, these states now are as fully, legally, and absolutely confederated as it is possible for them to be. Read the credentials of the different delegates who composed the Congress in 1774, 1775, and part of 1776. You will find that they establish an union for the express purpose of opposing the oppressions of Britain, and obtaining redress of grievances. On the 4th of July, 1776, your representatives in Congress, perceiving that nothing less than unconditional submission would satisfy our enemies, did, in the name of the people of the thirteen United Colonies, declare them to be free and independent states, and "for the SUPPORT of that declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, did mutually pledge to each other their LIVES, their FORTUNES, and their SACRED HONOR." Was ever confederation more formal, more solemn, or explicit? It has been expressly assented to and ratified by every state in the union. Accordingly, for the direct SUPPORT of this declaration, that is, for the support of the independence of these states, armies have been raised, and bills of credit emitted and loans made to pay and supply them. The redemption, therefore, of these bills, the payment of these debts, and the settlement of the accounts of the several states for expenditures or services for the common benefit, and in this common cause, are among the objects of this confederation; and consequently, while all or any of its objects remain unattained, it cannot, so far as it may respect such objects, be dissolved, consistent with the laws of God or man....

“...Humanity as well as justice makes this demand upon you, the complaints of ruined widows, and the cries of fatherless children, whose whole support has been placed in your hands and melted away, have doubtless reached you: take care that they ascend no higher. Rouse, therefore, strive who shall do most for his country; re-kindle that flame of patriotism which at the mention of disgrace and slavery blazed throughout America, and animated all her citizens. Determine to finish the contest as you began it, honestly and gloriously. Let it never be said that America had no sooner become independent than she became insolvent, or that her infant glories and growing fame were obscured and tarnished by broken contracts and violated faith, in the very hour when all the nations of the earth were admiring and almost adoring the splendor of her rising.”

By the unanimous order of Congress,

John Jay, President.

Philadelphia, September 13th, 1779

 **********

 "The history of nations demonstrates that involuntary servitude not only plunges the
slave into the depths of misery, but renders a great proportion of community dependant and wretched, and the remainder tyrannic and indolent.

"Opulence, acquired by the slavery of others, degenerates its possessors, and destroys the physical powers of government. Principles so degrading are inconsistent with the primitive dignity of man, and his natural rights.

"Slavery is incompatible with the vital principles of all free governments, and tends to their ruin. It paralizes industry, the greatest source of national wealth, stifles the love of freedom, and endangers the safety of the nation.

"It is prohibited by the laws of nature, which are equally binding on governments and individuals. The right to introduce and establish slavery in a free government does not exist.

- Journal of the U.S. Senate, Dec. 9, 1820

**********

"I hope and beleive that future Congresses will be as Wise and good as the present (I speak not thus in derogation of the present Congress) but We shall do our Duty, if We become the happy means of defending this Country from external Violence, secure (while in Place) by our Recommendations and advice, and neither ourselves nor advise others to introduce Principles which by Reason of their Rigidity or Laxity, will produce unhappiness. Indeed if We Maintain and secure the Liberty, Peace and Safety of the Country while in Place and do not introduce false Maxims, We shall do well. One great unhappiness which has almost always attended Civil Contentions is that those engaged in them have hastily and while the human Passions were up either adopted tyrannical Maxims without consideration, or in their Passion drove every Thing Amiable out of the World and but pretty rarely have gained half the good they fought for. While Passion is awake, Wisdom sleeps.... May they listen only to the Voice of Reason, never take a hasty step. Many Men and Communities have been ruined by it....

I am sir, with esteem, your humble and obedient Servant,

- Oliver Wolcott to Samuel Lyman, April 17, 1776, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume: 3

**********

"When we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary."

- Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776

**********

"If all men were wise & good there would be no necessity for government or law.
But the folly & the vice of human nature renders government & laws necessary for
the Many, and restraints indispensable to prevent oppression from those who are
entrusted with the administration of one & the dispensation of the other."

- Richard Henry Lee to William Shippen, Jr., Oct. 2, 1787. Letters of Delegates
to Congress: Volume 24

**********

"All Accounts from England seem to agree that we shall have a dreadfull Storm bursting on our heads thro' all America in the Spring. We must not shrink from it, we ought not to shew any simptoms of fear, the nearer it approaches and the greater the sound the more fortitude and calm, steady firmness we ought to possess. If we mean to defend our liberties, our dearest rights and privileges against the power of Britain to the last extremity we ought to bring ourselves to such a temper of mind as to stand unmoved at the bursting of an Earthquake. Altho the storm thickens I feel my self quite composed. I have furnished my self with a good Musket & Bayonet and when I can no longer be usefull in Council I hope I shall be willing to take the field. I think I had rather fall there than be carried off by a lingering illness. In this I am pretty much of the same opinion with the French General, who, confined a long time by sickness to his bed, on hearing the Duke of Berwick was killed by a cannon Ball exclaimed, Great God, how unfortunate I am, Berwick was always a lucky fellow."

- Joseph Hewes to Samuel Johnston, Feb. 11, 1776. Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume: 3

**********

"From a firm persuasion that a Militia was the proper military force, & Arms and Ammunition the only Means, to defend & secure our Liberties; From a Conviction that to be prepared for a Civil War, is the finest & most effectual Means to prevent one, and for many other Reasons, our provincial Convention passed the Resolutions, which I enclosed You in my last Letter. We must either resist or infamously submit. If We are resolved to resist, & to defend our Liberties at the Risque of our Lives, a military force & Arms and Ammunition are the only Means. To resolve to resist, without making the necessary Preparations for Resistance, appears to Me to be weak, & a Deception to ourselves & our Friends."

- Samuel Chase to James Duane, Feb. 5, 1775. Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 1

**********

"But as states are a collection of individual men, which ought we to respect most, the rights of the people composing them, or of the artificial beings resulting from the composition? Nothing could be more preposterous or absurd than to sacrifice the former to the latter. It has been said that, if the smaller states renounce their equality, they renounce, at the same time, their liberty. The truth is, it is a contest for power, not for liberty."

- Alexander Hamilton, The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution [Elliot's Debates, Volume 5]. Friday, June 29. 1787-88?, (no year given).

**********

"The great and rich should by no means have it in their power to set a price on the security of the weak and indigent; for then riches, which, under the protection of the laws, are the reward of industry, would become the aliment of tyranny. Liberty is at an end whenever the laws permit that, in certain cases, a man may cease to be a person, and become a thing. Then will the powerful employ their address to select from the various combinations of civil society all that is in their own favour. This is that magic art which transforms subjects into beasts of burden, and which, in the hands of the strong, is the chain that binds the weak and incautious. Thus it is that in some governments, where there is all the appearance of Liberty, tyranny lies concealed, and insinuates itself into some neglected corner of the constitution, where it gathers strength insensibly. Mankind generally oppose, with resolution, the assaults of barefaced and open tyranny, but disregard the little insect that gnaws through the dike, and opens a sure though secret passage to inundation."

- Cesare Beccaria, 'Of Crimes and Punishments - Of Acts of violence'

**********

“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.”

- Andrew Johnson, Message to the U.S. Senate, Washington, December 3, 1867

**********

"You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am." 

- Clarence Darrow (1857-1938)

**********

Gentlemen,

Philadelphia

12th Feby 1776

The arrival of Troops at New York, the importance of that place to the Welfare of America, & the Necessity of throwing up a Number of Works to prevent our Enemies from Landing and Taking post there, render it necessary that a Number of Troops should immediately Join General Lee. I am therefore Desir'd to apply to you, and Request you, would with all possible Expedition send Detachments of your Minute Men equal to a Battalion under proper officers, & well Arm'd & Accoutred to New York, there to be under the Command of Genl. Lee.
Your approved Zeal in the Cause of your Country gives me the strongest Assurances that you will with Alacrity embrace this Oppory. of Giving Aid to your Neighbours, and that your People will chearfully Engage in a Service by which they will not only render a very essential Service to their Country, but also have an Oppory. of Acquiring Military Skill & knowledge in the Construction of Field Works & the Method of Fortifying & retrenching Camps, by which they will be the better able when occasion Calls to Defend their Rights & Liberties.
(1)
I am Gentlemen,

Your Obedt. hume sevt,

J H Prest.

LB (DNA: PCC, item 12A).
1 On February 15 the New Jersey Provincial Congress voted "that Detachments of Minute Men, properly accoutrd, equal to a Battalion in the Continental Service, be immediately made, & marched to New-York." Am. Archives, 4th ser. 4:1593.

- the New Jersey Provincial Convention, [Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume: 3 January 1, 1776 - May 15, 1776].

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"...The Colonel and Major Barber came here last evening, and the regiment is now
within a few miles of this place, marching with cheerfulness, but great part of
the men barefooted and barelegged. My heart melts with compassion for my brave
countrymen who are thus venturing their lives in the publick service, and yet are
so distressed. There is not a single shoe or stocking to be had in this part of
the world, or I would ride a hundred miles through the woods and purchase them
with my own money; for you'll consider that the weather here must be very different
from that in New-Jersey: it is very cold now I assure you. For God's sake, my dear
sir, upon the receipt of this, collect all the shoes and stockings you can, and
send them off for Albany in light wagons; a couple of two-horse wagons will bring
a great many, which may be distributed among our several regiments who will be all
together at Tyconderoga in a few days. If any breeches and waistcoats be ready,
send them along; but do not wait for them if the shoes and stockings are ready and
the others not.
 
We have despatches from General Gates this morning, informing that he hourly
expects to be attacked by the enemy; but our works are very strong, and a boom
thrown across the water from Tyconderoga to Mount Independence, to prevent the
enemy's shipping from getting below us (2) Therefore, I trust, with the blessing
of Almighty God, that we shall disappoint their wicked and sanguinary purposes. But
shall the brave troops from New-Jersey stand in the lines half-leg deep in snow,
without shoes or stockings? God forbid! I shall empty my portmanteau of the
stockings I have for my own use on this journey, excepting a pair to take me home;
but this is a drop of water in the ocean.
 
In the utmost haste, I am, with much esteem, dear sir,
your most obedient, humble servant,

Rich'd Stockton.

- Richard Stockton to Abraham Clark, Oct. 28, 1776, Letters of Delegates to
Congress: Volume 5

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"A PETITION of the Committee of the county of Frederick was presented to the Convention, and read; setting forth, that, by an Ordinance passed the 17th of July last, the people called Quakers and Menonists are exempted from serving in the militia; that they have a tender regard for the consciencious [sic] scruples of every religious society, but at the same time beg leave to represent the injustice of subjecting one part of the community to the whole burthen of government, while others equally shares the benefits of it; that they humbly suggest, that, if, in lieu of bearing arms at general and private musters, the said Quakers and Menonists were subjected to the payment of a certain sum, to be annually assessed by the county courts at laying the levy, and, in case the militia should be called into actual service, they should be draughted in the same proportion as the militia of the county, and, on their refusal to serve, or provide, able bodied men to serve in their places respectively, that they were liable to the same fines as other militia men in the like cases are subject to, it would be more equal; and that they submit it whether it would not be reasonable to allow any person who should choose to contribute to the support of the public, in lieu of attending musters, the same indulgence as to those who refuse from consciencious [sic] principles." [Image not available because the petition does not survive. Entry taken from the Virginia Journal of Convention 1775-1776]

- Early Virginia Religious Petitions, Frederick, June 19, 1776. Library of Congress

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"The Rights are built on a fourfold foundation--on Nature, on the british Constitution,
on Charters, and on immemorial Usage....(Lee. Cant see why We should not lay our Rights upon the broadest Bottom, the Ground of Nature)."

- Coll. Lee, 9/08/1774,
[John Adams' Notes of Debates, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 1]

"It is necessary to recur to the Law of Nature, and the british Constitution to ascertain our Rights."

- John Jay, 9/08/1774,
[John Adams' Notes of Debates, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 1]

(1 Adams recalled in his autobiography that the committee debates revolved around two points. "1. Whether We should recur to the Law of Nature, as well as to the British Constitution and our American Charters and Grants. Mr. Galloway and Mr. Duane were for excluding the Law of Nature. I was very strenuous for retaining and insisting on it, as a Resource to which We might be driven, by Parliament much sooner than We were aware...).
[Adams, Diary (Butterfield), 2:128-31.]

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"He hoped that nothing like a monarchy would ever be attempted in this country.
A hatred to its oppressions had carried the people through the late revolution.
Will it not be enough to enable the executive to suspend offensive laws, till
they shall be coolly revised, and the objections to them overruled by a greater
majority than was required in the first instance? He never could agree to give
up all the rights of the people to a single magistrate."

- Col. George Mason, Virginia Delgate to the Federal Constitutional Convention,
June 4, 1787/88(?). [Elliot's Debates, Volume 5]. Library of Congress.

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"The president laid before Congress a draught of a circular letter from
Congress of the United States of America, to their constituents, which
was read twice and unanimously agreed to:

"Friends and Fellow-Citizens!--In governments raised on tile generous
principles of equal liberty, where the rulers of the state are the servants
of the people, and not the masters of those from whom they derive authority; it is their duty to inform their fellow-citizens of the state of their affairs, and by evincing the propriety of public measures, lead them to unite the influence of inclination to the force of legal obligation in rendering them successful. This duty ceases not, even in times of the most perfect peace, order and tranquillity, when the safety of the commonwealth is neither endangered by force or seduction from abroad, or by faction, treachery or misguided ambition from within....

"The ungrateful despotism and inordinate lust of domination, which marked the unnatural designs of the British king and his venal parliament, to enslave tile people of America, reduced you to the necessity of either asserting your rights by arms, or ingloriously passing under the yoke. You nobly preferred war...."

...By the unanimous order of Congress,

- John Jay, President. Philadelphia, September 13th, 1779
 
[ Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789]

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"...What powers his Lordship may have is not known but from all circumstances that have yet appeared they extend no farther than to receive submissions and grant Pardons. As the people of the united Colonies are only defending their Just rights and Liberties and have committed no Offence they have nothing to ask pardon for, consequently cannot negotiate with his Lordship...."

- Joseph Hewes, letter to Samuel Johnston, July 24, 1776,
[Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 4].

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"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. [Letters of Delegates to Congress: Vol. 4].

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"A republic worth living in is worth fighting for, and sacrificing for, and dying for. In the fires of this conflict we shall wipe out the disloyalty of those who wear American garb without the faith, and establish a new concord of citizenship and a new devotion, so that we should have made a safe America the home and hope of a people who are truly American in heart and soul."

- Senator Warren G. Harding, [American Leaders Speak: Recordings from World War I and the 1920 Election, 1918-1920. Library of Congress - American Memory].

"Those you mention who seem frightened at finding themselves where they are, will by degrees recover Spirits when they find by Experience how inefficient merely mercenary the regular Troops are, when oppos'd to Freeholders & Freemen, fighting for their Liberties & Properties. A Country of such People was never yet conquer'd, (unless through their own Divisions) by any absolute Monarch and his Mercenaries. But such States have often conquer'd Monarchies, and led mighty Princes captive in Triumph."

- Benjamin Franklin to Silas Deane, Aug. 27. 1775, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Vol. 1

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"We have drawn our Swords in defence of a good Constitution & for the priviledge
of being governed by laws of our own making. While you continue to the people these
objects they will support you to the last penny in their purse & the last drop of
their blood. Infringe their rights, invade the Confederation, & you can no longer
assure yourself of the peoples support."

- David Howell to Nicholas Brown, Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 19
Oct. 30 1782.

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"Always a frontiersman, he was of that class, who with rifle on the shoulder and
axe in hand, was capable of defending himself and family, at the same time making a home in a new country and establish civilization - a fit representative of an
Oregon pioneer. He belonged to a class that is rapidly disappearing. They have fulfilled their mission and are being gathered from the earth."

- Joseph Henry Brown, from 'A Pioneer of 1847', written in May 9 1939, about his
grandfather Thomas Cox, first merchant of Salem, OR. [American Life Histories:
Manuscripts from the Federal Writers' Project, 1936-1940]. (American Memory -
Library of Congress).

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 "Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That whenever in any State or district in which the ordinary course of judicial proceedings has been interrupted by the rebellion, and wherein, in consequence of any State or local law, ordinance, police or other regulation, custom, or prejudice, any of the civil rights or immunities belonging to white persons, including the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold and convey real and personal property, and to have full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and estate, including the constitutional right of bearing arms, are refused or denied to negroes, mulattoes, freedmen, refugees, or any other persons, on account of race, color, or any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, or wherein they or any of them are subjected to any other or different punishment, pains, or penalties, for the commission of any act or offence, than are prescribed for white persons committing like acts or offences, it shall be the duty of the President of the United States, through the Commissioner, to extend military protection and jurisdiction over all cases affecting such persons so discriminated against. “

- Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, “AN ACT to amend an act entitled 'An act to establish a Bureau for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees,' and for ether purposes.”

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"Mr. Simms submitted the following resolution for consideration:

"Resolved, That the right of protection to life, liberty, and property is the right inviolable of every citizen of the Confederate States, and that this right is made sacred by the highest guarantees of the Constitution, and that neither Congress nor the Executive, nor any officer or agent of any of the Departments of this Government have power, in any manner or under any pretense whatsoever, to impair, interfere with, or destroy this inherent and inviolable right.

"Second. That the right to hold and possess property is a right guaranteed to every citizen of the Confederate States by the Constitution thereof, and the right to defend the same and his domicile from unlawful invasion, seizure, or conversion shall not be impaired or questioned, and that all seizures or impressments of any such property, by any officer or agent of this Government, are in violation of the plainest provisions of the Constitution, are destructive of the most sacred rights of the citizen, and an unwarranted breach of the plighted faith of the Government to the citizens thereof, and are therefore void.

"The Senate proceeded to consider the said resolution; and

"On motion by Mr. Simms,

"Ordered, That it be laid upon the table and printed."

- Jan. 19, 1863. [Journal of the Congress of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865 Volume 3]. Library of Congress. 

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 “...Third That whilst a majority of the people are loyal they have been robbed of all their arms and their young men forced into the Army as conscripts untill they are unable to defend themselves or help each other and this state of things can only be changed by driveing the Rebel Armies South of Arks. River and guaranteeing protection to these suffering people when the assertion of their loyalty would soon be verified....”

[Note 1 Lincoln had authorized McPherson to go to Arkansas and attempt to organize elections before the Final Emancipation Proclamation would take effect on January 1. See Collected Works, V, 500.]

- William M. McPherson, Letter to Abraham Lincoln, Thursday, December 25, 1862. [Abraham Lincoln Papers at the Library of Congress. Transcribed and Annotated by the Lincoln Studies Center, Knox College. Galesburg, Illinois.]

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"The whole of that 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 to Alexander Addison, Oct 7, 1789, MS. in N.Y. Hist. Soc.-A.G. Papers.

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"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].

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"Men do often, perhaps generally, adhere with greater obstinacy to opinions that are ill, than those that are well founded, and avenge imaginary or trifling injuries with greater violence than those that are real and great."

- John Witherspoon, Speech in Congress, Jan. 8, 1778.
Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 8.

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"Our forefathers lifted the thumb of the tyrant with their trigger fingers."

- PastorGuest@earthlink.net, Comment left on K.A.B.A. 9/08/2006

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 “...Mr. Sumner presented a memorial of colored people of South Carolina, praying the enactment of laws for the protection of the lives and property of all persons in that State, without regard to color; that the right of suffrage may be granted to colored persons on equal terms with white persons; that colored persons shall not, in all cases, be tried by juries of white men; that colored men may not be excluded from the jury-box, nor denied the right of bearing arms; which was referred to the Joint Committee to inquire into the condition of the States which formed the so-called Confederate States of America....”

- Journal of the Senate of the United States of America, January 22, 1866

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Remember how Charlton Heston had said;

"You can take it from my cold dead hands"?

Think what Mr. Heston really meant to say was....

'WE'LL take YOURS from YOUR cold dead hands'....

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