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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
Liberty
Amendments
Public
Founding
Asks
Officials
Whole
Libertarian
People
Tyranny
Gun
Firearms
Except
Militia
Arms
Libertarianism

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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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We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.
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Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
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Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.
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I ask you sir, who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people.
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I begin to grow heartily tired of the etiquette and nonsense so fashionable in this city.
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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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All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.
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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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As much as I value an union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.
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Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.
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All men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety.
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I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my Power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
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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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To disarm the people... was the best and most effectual way to enslave them.
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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 laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.
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A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
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The Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from whose punishment they cannot protect us. All human constitutions which contradict His laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey.
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