Monday, October 2, 2017

Founding Fathers on the 2nd Amendment

The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed . . .  If the representatives of the people betray their constituents, there is then no recourse left but in the exertion of that original right of self-defense which is paramount to all positive forms of government.
Alexander Hamilton


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.
Thomas Jefferson


[The Constitution preserves] the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation ... [where] the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
James Madison


To disarm the people -- that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
George Mason


To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.
Richard Henry Lee


cited by Walter E. Williams, A Minority View

No comments: