Quotes - Page 2

""That the people have a right to bear arms, for the defence of the State; and, as standing armies, in time of peace, are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.""

Quote by North Carolina Constitution (1776) on quote

""ARE WE AT LAST BROUGHT TO SUCH A HUMILIATING AND DEBASING DEGRADATION, THAT WE CANNOT BE TRUSTED WITH ARMS FOR OUR OWN DEFENSE? WHERE IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HAVING OUR ARMS IN OUR POSSESSION AND UNDER OUR OWN DIRECTION, AND HAVING THEM UNDER THE MANAGEMENT OF CONGRESS? IF OUR DEFENSE BE THE REAL OBJECT OF HAVING THOSE ARMS, IN WHOSE HANDS CAN THEY BE TRUSTED WITH MORE PROPRIETY, OR EQUAL SAFETY TO US, AS IN OUR OWN HANDS?""

Quote by Patrick Henry on individual possession vs federal control

"Abraham Lincoln once asked Gen. Winfield Scott this question: "Why is it that you were once able to take the City of Mexico in three months with five thousand men, and we have been unable to take Richmond with one hundred thousand men?" "I will tell you," said General Scott, "The men who took us into the City of Mexico are the same men who are keeping us out of Richmond"..."

Quote by Abraham Lincoln on armed citizens in civil war

""WHENEVER GOVERNMENTS MEAN TO INVADE THE RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES OF THE PEOPLE, THEY ALWAYS ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE MILITIA, IN ORDER TO RAISE AN ARMY UPON THEIR RUINS.""

Quote by Elbridge Gerry on government tyranny warning

""NONE BUT AN ARMED NATION CAN DISPENSE WITH A STANDING ARMY.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on armed nation vs standing army

""...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.""

Quote by Alexander Hamilton on citizens vs standing army

""The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any rule of construction be conceived to give to Congress a power to disarm the people. Such a flagitious attempt could only be made under some general pretense by a state legislature. But if in any blind pursuit of inordinate power, either should attempt it, this amendment may be appealed to as a restraint on both.""

Quote by William Rawle on constitutional prohibition

""Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American...[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.""

Quote by Tench Coxe on militia definition and congressional limits

""The militia trained hard. This time, in contrast to their unpreparedness when British troops earlier occupied Boston, the people of Massachusetts would be ready to counter any further invasion. All the militia of the colony were soon directed to train according to Colonel Timothy Pickering's new book, Easy Plan of Discipline for a Militia (1775). From Salem, Pickering imaginatively simplified the stodgy and ritualistic rules of British army drill and emphasized the American woodsman's habit of individual marksmanship, a practice particularly suited to an armed people's guerrilla war. Political philosophy and military tactics blended as one, for Pickering stressed that the American soldier was an individualist, a freeman, and a property owner, in contrast to professional European soldiers trained as obedient 'machines.' Pickering wrote that 'men must see the reason and the use of any action or movement. 'Tis the boast [of European commanders] that their men are mere machines. . . . God forbid that my countrymen should be thus degraded.'""

Quote by Colonel Timothy Pickering on individual vs machine soldiers

""10 U.S. Code § 246 - Militia: composition and classes. (a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard. (b) The classes of the militia are— (1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and (2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.""

Quote by Modern US Code on militia definition

""To understand what the framers' intended the Second Amendment to accomplish, it is necessary to examine their world and their view of the right to bear arms as one of the traditional 'rights of Englishmen.' The English settlers who populated North America in the seventeenth century were heirs to a tradition over five centuries old governing both the right and the duty to be armed. At English law the idea of an armed citizenry responsible for the security of the community had long coexisted, perhaps somewhat uneasily, with regulation of the ownership of arms, particularly along class lines. The Assize of Arms of 1181 required the arming of all free men.""

Quote by English Legal Heritage on framers' intent

""The right there specified is that of 'bearing arms for a lawful purpose.' This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed; but this, as has been seen, means no more than that it shall not be infringed by Congress. This is one of the amendments that has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the national government...""

Quote by US Supreme Court on cruikshank (1876)