Fear is the passion of slaves.

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

Were my soul trembling on the wing of eternity, were this hand freezing to death, were my voice choking with the last struggle, I would still, with the last gasp of that voice, implore you to remember the truth: God has given America to be free.

My political curiosity, exclusive of my anxious solicitude for the public welfare, leads me to ask who authorized them (the framers of the Constitution) to speak the language of 'We, the People,' instead of 'We, the States'?

[Our Constitution] is an instrument for the people to restrain the government.

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

Fear is the passion of slaves.