#thomas-jefferson

""FOR A PEOPLE WHO ARE FREE, AND WHO MEAN TO REMAIN SO, A WELL-ORGANIZED AND ARMED MILITIA IS THEIR BEST SECURITY.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on well-organized and armed militia

""And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on spirit of resistance

"THE CONSTITUTIONS OF MOST OF OUR STATES ASSERT THAT ALL POWER IS INHERENT IN THE PEOPLE; THAT THEY MAY EXERCISE IT BY THEMSELVES, IN ALL CASES TO WHICH THEY THINK THEMSELVES COMPETENT, (AS IN ELECTING THEIR FUNCTIONARIES EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE, AND DECIDING BY A JURY OF THEMSELVES, BOTH FACT AND LAW, IN ALL JUDICIARY CASES IN WHICH ANY FACT IS INVOLVED) OR THEY MAY ACT BY REPRESENTATIVES, FREELY AND EQUALLY CHOSEN; THAT IT IS THEIR RIGHT AND DUTY TO BE AT ALL TIMES ARMED; THAT THEY ARE ENTITLED TO FREEDOM OF PERSON; FREEDOM OF RELIGION; FREEDOM OF PROPERTY; AND FREEDOM OF THE PRESS."

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on popular sovereignty and arms

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

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on armed nation vs standing army

""The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.... Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson/Cesare Beccaria on arms laws

""On every occasion [of Constitutional interpretation] let us carry ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying [to force] what meaning may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, [instead let us] conform to the probable one in which it was passed.""

Quote by Thomas Jefferson on constitutional interpretation

""THERE IS NOTHING SO LIKELY TO PRODUCE PEACE AS TO BE WELL PREPARED TO MEET AN ENEMY.""

Quote by George Washington on peace through preparedness