"Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms
each man against his own bosom? Congress shall have no power to disarm the militia.
Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an
American ... The unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or
state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the People."
-- Tench Coxe, 1788.
"And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from
time to time that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take
arms...the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood
of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared
to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic
purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice
for that freedom."
-- John F. Kennedy
(okay, so JFK was't a founding father, but this quote is just as valid as any)
