How Did the Founders Understand the Right to Keep and Bear Arms?
Compiled by Daniel C. Palm

It is frequently remarked that while our nation's founders said one
thing about the right to keep and bear arms, they actually meant
something else altogether. In the interest of letting the founders speak
for themselves on their understanding of the Second Amendment, we
present this chronological list of their comments on that Amendment and
the right to bear arms.

"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, quoting Cesare Beccaria in On Crimes and Punishment (1764).

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
--Thomas Jefferson, Proposed Virginia Constitution (1776).

"That the people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves
and the state . . ." --Pennsylvania State Constitution, 1776;
same wording used in Vermont State Constitutions, 1777 and 1786.

"The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the
other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and 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 of the use of them; for while
avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will
become prey to the strong." --Thomas Paine, "Thoughts on Defensive
War," Pennsylvania Magazine, July 1775, in The Writings of Thomas Paine,
Moncure Daniel Conway, ed., (G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1894), I:56.

"Before a standing army or a tyrannical government can rule, the people
must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom in 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 (or professional) troops that can be, on
any pretense, raised in the United States." --Noah Webster, An
Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution
Proposed by the Late Convention (1787).in Ford, Pamphlets on the
Constitution of the United States, 1888.

"A strong body makes the mind strong. As to the species of exercises, I
advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the Body, it
gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind . . . Let your
gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks." --Thomas
Jefferson, Letter to his nephew Peter Carr, August 19, 1785.

"Arms in the hands of individual citizens may be used at individual
discretion. . . in private self-defense." --John Adams, A Defense of
the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America
(1787-88).

". . . if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form
an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidible 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."
--Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #29 (1788).

"[Americans need not fear the federal government, because they enjoy]
the advantage of being armed, which you possess over the people of
almost every other nation." --James Madison, Federalist #46 (1788).

"A militia 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 people always possess arms."
--Richard Henry Lee, Additional Letters From the Federal Farmer 53
(1788).

"I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people . . . To disarm
the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them. . . . The
best and most effectual way to enslave [the people] . . . is not [to] do
it openly, but [to] weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally
disusing and neglecting the militia." --George Mason, during Virginia's
Convention to Ratify the Constitution (1788).

"The Constitution shall never be construed to prevent the people of the
United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms."
--Samuel Adams, during Massachusetts' Convention to Ratify the
Constitution (1788).

"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 ruined."
--Patrick Henry, during Virginia's Convention to Ratify the Constitution
(1788).

"The right of the people to keep and bear arms has been recognized by
the General Government; but the best security of that right after all
is, the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has
always distinguished the free citizens of these States . . . Such men
form the best barrier to the liberties of America." --Gazette of the
United States, Oct. 14, 1789

"The militia is our ultimate safety. We can have no security without it.
The great object is that every man be armed. . . . Every one who is able
may have a gun." --Patrick Henry, Elliot, Debates, III:386

"What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment
of a standing army, the bane of liberty." --Rep. Elbridge Gerry of
Massachusetts, Aug. 17, 1789, Annals of Congress, I:750
"As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them,
may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces, which must be
occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to
the injury of their fellow citizens, the people are confirmed by the
next article in their right to keep and bear their private arms."
--Tench Coxe, Federal Gazette and Philadelphia Evening Post, June 18,
1789.

"And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress
. . . to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable
citizens, from keeping their own arms. . ." --Philadelphia Independent
Gazetteer, August 20, 1789.

"A free people ought . . . to be armed . . ."
--George Washington, speech of January 7, 1790, printed in the Boston
Independent Chronicle, January 14, 1790.
"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." --The Second Amendment to the Constitution (Ratified 1791).

"This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty . . . . The
right of self defence is the first law of nature. . . . Wherever . . .
the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any colour or
pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is
on the brink of destruction." -Henry St. George Tucker, in his edition
of Blackstone's Commentaries, 1:300 (1803).

"The prohibition is general. No clause in the Constitution could by any
rule of construction be conceived to give congress a power to disarm the
people."
--William Rawle, A View of the Constitution of the United States of
America, (Philadelphia, 2nd ed., 1829), p. 125.

"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been
considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic; since it
offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power
of rulers; and will generally, even if these are successful in the first
instance, enable the people to resist and triumph over them."
--Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution, (Boston, 1833), p.
709.