Rep. Roger Sherman (CT), 12/21/1790
(paraphrased) “He conceived it to be the privilege of every citizen, and one of his most essential rights, to bear arms, and to resist every attack upon his liberty or property, by whomsoever made. The particular states, like private citizens, have a right to be armed, and to defend, by force of arms, their rights, when invaded.”
Sherman, the only person to sign all four Founding documents, “consistently opposed slavery because he believed all humans were made in the image of God and must be treated with dignity.” John Adams considered him “one of the most sensible men in the world.”
​
St. George Tucker, 1803
“The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, and this without any qualification as to their condition or degree, as is the case in the British government.”
“[The Second Amendment] may be considered as the true palladium of liberty. The right of self defence is the first law of nature…In England, the people have been disarmed, generally, under the specious pretext of preserving the game…though calculated for very different purposes. True it is, their bill of rights seems at first view to counteract this policy: but the right of bearing arms has been confined to Protestants, and the words ‘suitable to their condition and degree’ have been interpreted to authorise the prohibition of keeping a gun.”
“In America we may reasonably hope that the people will never cease to regard the right of keeping and bearing arms as the surest pledge of their liberty.”
Tucker is considered one of the leading legal and constitutional thinkers of the American Revolution; he advocated for the abolition of slavery, and Pres. Madison nominated him as a federal judge.
​
William H. Seward, 2/11/1831
“There is no doubt that the framers of the Constitution intended to secure, as two fundamental principles of government:—The right of the people, at all times, to keep and bear arms; and, secondly, the principle—That a portion of the people (not limited) should be enrolled, organized, armed, and to some extent disciplined. These principles were the basis of the militia system.”
Seward served as governor of New York, US senator from that state, and US secretary of state under Pres. Lincoln. He “was known as a great advocate for the defenseless” and opposed slavery.
​
Cassius M. Clay, 9/24/1845
“If self defence, which is so much an axiom commanding the instinctive approbation of all men and times as to be known as the ‘first law of nature,’ has to be defended, I might as well quit the field in despair…I need but bring the National and State constitutions to my defence, which place the right of the citizen ‘to bear arms in self-defence,’ beyond the power of legislation, higher and more sacred than the Constitution itself.”
Clay was an abolitionist newspaper publisher who served as a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives and ambassador to Russia.
​
Gov. Salmon P. Chase (OH), 7/7/1856
“The constitution of our country guarantees to every citizen the right to bear arms—the right to protect himself against all personal aggressions.”
Chase was an antislavery leader who later served as a US Senator and as secretary of the Treasury under Pres. Lincoln, who also appointed him chief justice of the US Supreme Court.
​
Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton, 1/8/1866
“Armed parties are, without proper authority, engaged in seizing all fire-arms found in the hands of the freedmen. Such conduct is in plain and direct violation of their personal rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States, which declares that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’”
Saxton was assistant commissioner for the Freedmen’s Bureau, where he pursued the policy of settling freed slaves in land confiscated from white landowners.
​
Horace Greeley, 5/1867
“Our Federal Constitution gives the right to the people everywhere to keep and bear arms; and every law whereby any State legislature undertakes to contravene this, being in conflict with the Constitution of the United States, had no longer any legal force.”
Greeley was a prominent abolitionist, socialist, and feminist who founded the New York Tribune and served as a US representative.
​
​​​​​​Ransom H. Gillet, 1871
“Personal Rights of Individuals[:]…The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Gillet, as US representative from New York, was more liberal than the overwhelming majority of his colleagues; he also served as Assistant US Attorney General.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
​
Hon. William B. Woods, 3/13/1874
“The right to bear arms is also a right secured by the Constitution and laws of the United States. Every citizen of the United States has the right to bear arms, provided it is done for a lawful purpose and in a lawful manner. A man who carries his arms openly, and for his own protection, or for any other lawful purpose, has as clear a right to do so as to carry his own watch or wear his own hat.”
Woods later served as a US Supreme Court justice. “Stemming from his opposition to slavery, Woods decided that a Union victory was a necessity. In 1862, he left the Ohio state house to join the Union Army.”
​
Resolution of the Republican State Convention of Tennessee, 9/16/1874
“We recognize the principle that is older than our Constitution, that every man’s house is his castle, and that under our Government every citizen, white or black, has a right to bear arms in conformity to it, and to express his opinions without interference or molestation.” (Bottom of 1st col.)
​
Thomas Cooley, 1880
“It might be supposed from the phraseology of this provision that the right to keep and bear arms was only guaranteed to the militia; but this would be an interpretation not warranted by the intent…If the right were limited to those enrolled, the purpose of this guaranty might be defeated altogether by the action or neglect to act of the government it was meant to hold in check.”
Cooley served as dean of the University of Michigan Law School, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court, chairman of the Interstate Commerce Commission, and president of the American Bar Association. He opposed slavery and “was regarded by his contemporaries as the most influential legal author of the late 19th Century.”
​
Joel Prentiss Bishop, 1883
“[The second] is among the older amendments, most of which are held to be restrictions on the national power, and not to bind the States. This one is declaratory of personal rights, so also are some of the others which are [likewise] adjudged not to extend to the States.” (§792)
Bishop was a prominent lifelong abolitionist and considered one of the most eminent legal scholars of his time.
​
Hermann Von Holst, 1887
“It has…been argued that the [Second Amendment] refers only to arms necessary or suitable for the equipment of militia; although it must not be inferred from this that the right is restricted to those citizens who belong to the militia.”
Von Holst was chair of the History Department at the University of Chicago, where his focus was “the incommensurability of liberal ideals and the institution of slavery.”
​
The Representative, 5/29/1895
“Every law on the statute books of the states against men keeping and bearing arms is a violation of the fundamental law of the land, and the very danger that Madison saw when he proposed that safeguard. Tyrants always found some excuse or means of disarming the subjects before they proceeded to plunder them…All tyrants hesitate before they attack an armed people.”
The Representative was published by Ignatius Donnelly, who served as lieutenant governor of Minnesota and as US representative from that state. His “public life centered on the left-leaning third parties and farm movements of the 19th century,” and the paper “functioned as a mouthpiece of the left-wing agrarian Populist (or People’s) Party.”
​
Sen. David B. Hill (NY), 10/23/1895
“[Some of my opponents claim] that by the advocacy of ‘personal liberty’ I mean the privilege of officials to impose blackmail…With equal propriety they might assert that by maintaining the right of a citizen to bear arms, guaranteed by the Constitution of our country, I was thereby sanctioning shooting and murder. Personal liberty means liberty regulated by law—reasonable law.”
Hill previously served as governor of New York, during which time he was known for his support of labor unions and was more liberal than most of his Senate colleagues in two of his three terms.
​
William MacDonald, 1921
“However desirable it may be that the duty of the community to protect life and property shall be fully performed, and whatever mischief may on occasion arise from the ignorant or criminal use of arms by persons who do not belong to the militia or the police, the right of the citizen to have arms in his possession without governmental permission of any kind is clearly given by the Constitution. Arms which are locked in an arsenal and used only by a militia regulated by Federal law can in no proper sense be regarded as either ‘kept’ or ‘borne’ by ‘the people.’ The only qualification is the one which attaches to every personal right, namely, responsibility in law for any misuse of the right.”
MacDonald was a professor of history at Brown and Yale, as well as a correspondent and editor for historically abolitionist and progressive The Nation magazine. He served on the Executive council of the American Historical Association, and was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences as well as the American Antiquarian Society, a historical research library founded in 1812 whose membership has included Ken Burns, Washington Irving, Walter Cronkite, Henry Louis Gates, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and numerous founding fathers and presidents.
​​
Rep. Henry Steagall (AL), 12/17/1924
“The provision in our Constitution which attempts to guarantee to the citizen the right to keep and bear arms lies deep at the root of our liberties. The men who framed our Constitution…recognized that the right to bear arms was not only essential to the protection of the individual citizen and the defense of the home of the individual citizen but that that right is essential to the preservation of self-government and the liberties for which they had fought and which they desired to hand down to those who were to come after them.” (pp. 732-733)
“Steagall was considered progressive and often advocated for economic policies that went beyond Roosevelt’s New Deal plans.” He is best known for championing the Glass-Steagall Act to regulate banks and the Wagner-Steagall Act to subsidize public housing. He joined with Pres. Roosevelt and the majority of Northern Democrats to pass the Lend-Lease Act approving $126 billion (in 2024 dollars) of assistance to countries battling fascism overseas.
​​
Rep. Emanuel Celler (NY), 6/10/1937
“The Constitution gives us the right to bear arms, and we must recognize that right. I do not want any alien to be deported if he has a firearm in his home.” (p. 5566, bottom of 2nd col.)
Celler is considered “one of the most influential New Yorkers who ever served in the House,” where he held office for 50 years. He was chairman of the Judiciary Committee in every Democratic majority from 1949 on, in which position he wrote the 1960 Civil Rights Act and was instrumental in passing the 1964 version.
​
Rep. Lyle H. Boren (OK), 8/13/1941
“A careful reading of Trotsky’s History of the Russian Revolution should convince anyone of the wisdom of our founding fathers in writing into the Constitution of the United States the provision that our right to bear arms as private citizens shall not be abridged. Although I never carried a gun in my life, never had one outside my home except on a hunting trip, I feel that the gun I own in my home is essential…I feel this strongly about it: The man that ever comes to my home to seize, because of any arbitrary despotic desire for power, that gun will simply get the lead out of the front end of it.” (p. 7101, middle of 2nd col.)
Boren campaigned on a pledge “to help farmers, stay out of war, conserve the soil, provide better education, and provide pensions for senior citizens”; once elected, he became the protégé of Rep. Sam Rayburn, known as “Mr. Democrat” for his strong support of progressive legislation during his 17 years as speaker of the House.
​
William O. Douglas, 8/1951
“Every boy needs a gun. He needs to know a gun as an ally, as a friend. He needs to know a gun in order to get the full feel of the spirit of independence…There was more reason than our experience with the British for inserting into the Constitution the provision that ‘the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.’”
Douglas is the longest-serving Supreme Court justice in history, the most left-leaning of the modern era, and among the most frequently cited (p. 439). Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt nearly selected Douglas as his running mate in 1944.
​
John F. Kennedy, 1960
“By calling attention to a ‘well-regulated militia,’ the ‘security’ of the nation, and the ‘right of each citizen to keep and bear arms,’ our founding fathers recognized the essentially civilian nature of our economy. Although it is extremely unlikely that the fears of governmental tyranny which gave rise to the Second Amendment will ever be a major danger to our nation, the Amendment still remains an important declaration of our basic civilian-military relationships in which every citizen must be ready to participate in the defense of his country. For that reason I believe the Second Amendment will always be important.”
​
Sen. Warren G. Magnuson (WA), 12/10/1963
“Any legislation, State or Federal, must consider the constitutional right of our citizens to bear arms. Responsible citizens have the right to possess firearms for purposes of self-protection, security of the Nation, hunting, and recognized sporting activities.” (p. 2543, bottom of 2nd col.)
Magnuson served as Washington state’s longest-serving senator and was elected president pro tempore of the Senate. He is largely responsible for the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the National Institutes of Health, Amtrak, the National Cancer Institute, repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Acts, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act to strengthen consumer protections, the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972, and the Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972.
In Magnuson’s honor, the Washington Democratic Party presents an annual award and the University of Washington awards a scholarship.
​
Rep. Cecil R. King (CA), 2/7/1964
“I commend this fine statement to all my colleagues:…‘During the years that I have had the privilege of holding elected office, the subject of the right of the law-abiding citizen to keep and bear arms, as guaranteed by our Constitution, has been, and continues to be, a subject of interest and deep concern to me.’” (p. 2542, bottom of 2nd col.)
King introduced the legislation which led to the creation of Medicare and voted for the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, and 1968, as well as for the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and a ban on poll taxes.
​
Rep. John Dingell (MI), 2/19/1968
“I have on many occasions made the point that adult Americans have a constitutional right to own and utilize firearms for sporting and home defense purposes. I am wholeheartedly opposed to legislative proposals which would unduly restrict this right.” (p. 3387, bottom of 1st col.)
Dingell was one of the most powerful progressive congressmen in history, and still holds the record as longest-serving. “Modern America is as much a creation of John Dingell’s life work as anyone’s. If you or a parent or grandparent have relied on Medicare or Medicaid; if you’ve seethed about the lack of gun control; if you’ve cheered that segregation of public places is illegal and employment discrimination is banned…if you’ve drunk a glass of or bathed your children in tap water with confidence that it’s free from contamination; then John Dingell played a role in your life.”
​
Sen. Joseph Tydings (DE), 6/13/1968
“[The following statements] do not require comment; they stand on their own…‘We are witnessing the strange and masochistic spectacle of tens of thousands of normally proud and level-headed Americans begging the federal government to take from them by force of law one of their basic civil rights, the right to keep and bear arms.’” (p. 17164, 2nd col.)
Tydings argued the case legalizing birth control for single persons and lobbied for environmental protections; Pres. Joe Biden once said, “Joe Tydings and I were both inspired by JFK & RFK and their call to service. In the Senate, he lived up to their example…Joe made America better.”