Militia Quotes

• I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.

  George Mason

  Gun, People, Second Amendment

  89 Copy quote
• 

  A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained in arms, is the best most natural defense of a free country.

  James Madison

  Country, People, Liberty

  103 Copy quote

• Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst 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 Americans.

  Tench Coxe

  Men, Gun, Soldier

  76 Copy quote

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

  Thomas Jefferson

  Country, Freedom, Gun

  Letter toWilliam Stephens Smith, 13 Nov. 1787

  76 Copy quote

  Show source

• The militia is our ultimate safety. We can have no security without it. The great object is that every man be armed.

  Patrick Henry

  Men, Safety, Objects

  48 Copy quote

• What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty ... 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.

  Elbridge Gerry

  Freedom, Mean, Army

  House of Representatives, Amendments to the Constitution, August 17, 1789.

  99 Copy quote

  Show source

• When the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people. That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.

  George Mason

  Men, Gun, America

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• Militias, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves and include all men capable of bearing arms. [...] 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

  Gun, Men, Strong Arms

  71 Copy quote

• For a people who are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed militia is their best security.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Military, Mean, Gun

  Thomas Jefferson, Brett F. Woods (2009). “Thomas Jefferson: Thoughts on War and Revolution : Annotated Correspondence”, p.226, Algora Publishing

  53 Copy quote

  Show source

• Laws that forbid the carrying of arms . . . 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.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Gun, Law

  343 Copy quote

• By calling attention to 'a well regulated militia,' 'the security of the nation,' and the right of each citizen 'to keep and bear arms,' our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy... The Second Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.

  John F. Kennedy

  Country, Father, Military

  111 Copy quote

• Arms, like laws, discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe and preserve order.

  Thomas Paine

  Gun, Order, Law

  Thomas Paine (2014). “Selected Writings of Thomas Paine”, p.4, Yale University Press

  28 Copy quote

  Show source
• 

  To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.

  George Mason

  Strength, Peace, Gun

  George Mason's address to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 14, 1788.

  110 Copy quote

  Show source

• The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic.

  Joseph Story

  Gun, Liberty, Second Amendment

  Joseph Story (1833). “Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States: With a Preliminary Review of the Constitutional History of the Colonies and States, Before the Adoption of the Constitution”, p.708

  9 Copy quote

  Show source

• Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.

  James Madison

  Ambition, Simple, Government

  James Madison, John Jay (1847). “The Federalist, on the New Constitution, Written in the Year 1788”, p.192

  25 Copy quote

  Show source

• Little more can reasonably be aimed at with respect to the people at large than to have them properly armed.

  Alexander Hamilton

  People, Second Amendment, Littles

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, J.R. Pole (2005). “The Federalist”, p.156, Hackett Publishing

  11 Copy quote

  Show source

• Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our 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?

  Patrick Henry

  Real, Gun, Differences

  Speech on the Federal Constitution, Virginia Ratifying Convention, on June 09, 1788. "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution". Book edited by Jonathan Elliot, volume 3, p. 168-169, 1836.

  90 Copy quote

  Show source

• The militia is a voluntary force not associated or under the control of the States except when called out; [ when called into actual service] a permanent or long standing force would be entirely different in make-up and call.

  Alexander Hamilton

  Long, Patriotism, Different

  8 Copy quote

• A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

  James Madison

  Gun, Libertarian Party, Assault Weapons

  James Madison, Gaillard Hunt, James Brown Scott (1999). “The Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787: Which Framed the Constitution of the United States of America”, p.690, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

  58 Copy quote

  Show source

• Whereas, 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; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion. The mind that aims at a select militia, must be influenced by a truly anti-republican principle; and when we see many men disposed to practice upon it, whenever they can prevail, no wonder true republicans are for carefully guarding against it.

  Richard Henry Lee

  Men, Practice, People

  "An Additional Number of Letters to the Republican". Letters by the Federal Farmer (pseudonym of Richard Henry Lee), Letter XVIII, teachingamericanhistory.org. January 25, 1988.

  92 Copy quote

  Show source

• Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular troops that can be, on any pretence, raised in the United States.

  Noah Webster

  Army, Gun, Power

  Noah Webster (1787). “An Examination Into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution Proposed by the Late Convention Held at Philadelphia: With Answers to the Principal Objections that Have Been Raised Against the System”, p.43

  167 Copy quote

  Show source

• The militia is the natural defense of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections, and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace, both from the enormous expenses, with which they are attended, and the facile means, which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers, to subvert the government, or trample upon the rights of the people.

  Joseph Story

  Country, Military, Mean

  Joseph Story (2012). “A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States: Containing a Brief Commentary on Every Clause, Explaining the True Nature, Reasons, and Objects Thereof : Designed for the Use of School Libraries and General Readers : with an Appendix, Containing Important Public Documents, Illustrative of the Constitution”, p.265, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.

  13 Copy quote

  Show source

• The people have a right to keep and bear arms.

  Patrick Henry

  Gun, People, Second Amendment

  22 Copy quote

• Until and unless we could disband these militias, this country won't be able to function properly.

  Adnan Pachachi

  Country, Able, Function

  7 Copy quote

• Have we the means of resisting disciplined armies, when our only defence, the militia, is put in the hands of Congress?

  Patrick Henry

  Mean, Army, Hands

  Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay, Samuel Bryan, Patrick Henry (2017). “The Federalist Papers & Anti-Federalist Papers: Complete Edition of the Pivotal Constitution Debate: Including Articles of Confederation (1777), Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights & Other Amendments – All With Founding Fathers’ Arguments & Decisions about the Constitution”, p.74, Madison & Adams Press

  14 Copy quote

  Show source