Firearms stand next in importance to the Constitution itself.

To anticipate and prevent disasterous contingencies would be the part of wisdom and patriotism.

The power under the Constitution will always be in the people. It is entrusted for certain defined purposes, and for a certain limited period, to representatives of their own choosing; and whenever it is executed contrary to their interest, or not agreeable to their wishes, their servants can, and undoubtedly will, be recalled.

I wish from my soul that the legislature of this State could see the policy of a gradual Abolition of Slavery.

Character enough of an opposite description ... My opinion is ... that you could as soon scrub the blackamore white, as to change the principles of a profest Democrat; and that he will leave nothing unattempted to overturn the Government of this Country.

The value of liberty was thus enhanced in our estimation by the difficulty of its attainment, and the worth of characters appreciated by the trial of adversity.

[L]eave nothing to the uncertainty of procuring a warlike apparatus at the moment of public danger.