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1789
on 4/8/1789
"We are not to consider ourselves, while here, as at church or school, to listen to the harangues of speculative piety; we are here to talk of the political interests committed to our charge. "
on 6/23/1789
"I am commonly opposed to those who modestly assume the rank of champions of liberty, and make a very patriotic noise about the people. It is the stale artifice which has duped the world a thousand times, and yet, though detected, it is still successful. I love liberty as well as anybody. I am proud of it, as the true title of our people to distinction above others; but . . . I would guard it by making the laws strong enough to protect it. "
on 8/17/1789
"What, sir, is the use of militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. . . Whenever Government means to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins."
on 10/7/1789
"The whole of that Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals . . . . [I]t establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of."
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