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I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.

George Mason

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George Mason
Age: 66 †
Born: 1725
Born: December 11
Died: 1792
Died: October 7
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesman
Fairfax
Virginia
George Mason IV
Public
Founding
Asks
Officials
Whole
Libertarian
People
Tyranny
Gun
Firearms
Except
Militia
Arms
Libertarianism
Liberty
Amendments

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Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
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If I can only live to see the American union firmly fixed, and free governments well established in our western world, and can leave to my children but a crust of bread and liberty, I shall die satisfied.
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The [President's] Nomination, of Course, brings the Subject fully under the Consideration of the Senate who have then a Right to decide upon its Propriety or Impropriety.
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Is it to be expected that the Southern States will deliver themselves bound hand and foot to the Eastern States? A few rich merchants in Philadelphia, Boston, and New York could thereby monopolise the staples of the Southern States and reduce their value.
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That general warrants, whereby an officer or messenger may be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offence is not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.
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That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
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The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.
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I thank God, I have been able, by adopting Principles of strict Economy and Frugality, to keep my principal, I mean my Country-Estate, unimpaired.
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Attend with Diligence and strict Integrity to the Interest of your Correspondents and enter into no Engagements which you have not the almost certain Means of performing.
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No point is of more importance than that the right of impeachment should be continued. Shall any man be above Justice?
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The poor despise labor when performed by slaves.
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Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.
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The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy.
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We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.
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A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
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I charge [my sons] never to let the motives of private interest or ambition to influence them to betray, nor the terrors of poverty and disgrace, or the fear of danger or of death deter them from asserting the liberty of their country, and endeavoring to transmit to their posterity those sacred rights to which themselves were born
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The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.
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Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table [the Constitution] gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor.
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Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.
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That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.
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