It is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home is to be charged to the provisions against danger, real or pretended, from abroad.
The Constitution preserves the advantage of being armed which Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation where the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.
A pure democracy is a society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.
The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.
I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.
Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.