"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

-- Benjamin Franklin

"Government is not reason. It is not eloquence. It is a force, like fire; a dangerous servant and a terrible master."

-- George Washington

"The battle, Sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. "

-- Patrick Henry, March, 1775

"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."

-- Thomas Paine

"...to disarm the people (is) the best and most effective way to enslave them..."

-- George Mason

"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 bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States"

-- Noah Webster, 1888

"The people cannot delegate to government the power to do anything which would be unlawful for them to do themselves."

-- John Locke

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense?"

-- Patrick Henry

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside...Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived the use of them...the weak will become a prey to the strong."

-- Thomas Paine

"He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself."

-- Thomas Paine

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

-- Richard Henry Lee, 1787

"A free people ought...to be armed..."

-- George Washington, 1790

"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good.

--George Washington

"It is in vain, Sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace! -- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that Gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

-- Patrick Henry, March, 1775

"...for it is a truth, which the experience of all ages has attested, that the people are commonly most in danger when the means of insuring their rights are in the possession of those of whom they entertain the least suspicion."

-- Alexander Hamilton

"A government resting on the minority is an aristocracy, not a Republic, and could not be safe with a numerical and physical force against it, without a standing army, an enslaved press and a disarmed populace."

-- James Madison, The Federalist Papers (No. 46).

"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."

-- Patrick Henry

"...the people have a right to keep and bear arms."

-- Patrick Henry and George Mason Debates

"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? ... 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

"Arms in the hands of citizens [may] be used at individual discretion...in private self-defense..."

-- John Adams, (1788)

"The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty."

-- John Adams, (1772)

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people."

-- John Adams

"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

-- John Adams

"Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect everyone who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined"

-- Patrick Henry