“[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain,
the British Parliament was advised by an artful man,
who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people;
that it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them;
but that they should not do it openly, but weaken them, and
let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.” | by: | George Mason
(1725-1792), drafted the Virgina Declaration of Rights, ally of James Madison and George Washington |
Source: | from debates during the Virginia state ratifying convention (June 14, 1788), quoted in Elliot’s Debates |
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