"Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed as they
are in almost every kingdom in Europe. The supreme power in America
cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword because the whole body of the
people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any band of regular
troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States." | by: | Noah Webster
(1758-1843) American patriot and scholar, author of the first dictionary of American English usage (1806) and the author of the 1828 edition of the dictionary that bears his name. |
Source: | An Examination of the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution, Philadelphia, 1787 |
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