Soon as we Declare for Independency, every prospect of Peace must Vanish.  Ruthless War, with all its aggravated horrors, will ravage our once happy land; Our Sea Coasts & Ports will be ruined & our ships taken as Pirates; Torrents of Blood be split, & thousands reduced to beggary & wretchedness. This Melancholy contest would [torn] till one Side Conquered. Supposing Britton Victorious; however high my opinion of British Generosity, I should be exceeding sorry to Receive terms from her, in the haughty tone of A Conqueror-Or-Supposing Such A failure of her manufactories, Commerce & Strength, that Victory should incline to the Side of America, yet who Can Say in that Case what extremities her Sense of Resentment & self-Preservation will Drive G. B. to?

For my part I should not in the least be Surprised if on Such A prospect, as the Independency of America, She would parcel out this Continent to the Different European Powers. Canada might be restored to France, Florida to Spain, with additions to each. Other States might also come in for a portion. Let no [torn] think this empty or improbable, the Independency of America would be so fatal to Britons, that she would leave nothing in her Power to prevent it. I believe as firmly as I do my own existence that if every other Method failed, she would try Some Such expedient as this, to disconcert our Scheme of Independence and let any Man figure for himself the Situation of these British Colonies, if only Canada were Restored to France.

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I suppose something may be expected from me, upon this charge that is befallen me which moves me to speak now to you; yet I intend not to intermeddle in the proceedings of the court or with any of the persons concerned therein. Only I bless God that I see an issue of this troublesome business. I also acknowledge the justice of the court, and, for mine own part, I am well satisfied, I was publicly charged, and I am publicly and legally acquitted, which is all I did expect or desire.

And though this be sufficient for my justification before men, yet not so before the God, who hath seen so much amiss in my dispensations (and even in this affair) as calls me to be humble. For to be publicly and criminally charged in this court is matter of humiliation (and I desire to make a right use of it), notwithstanding I be thus acquitted. If her father had spit in her face (saith the Lord concerning Miriam), should she not have been ashamed seven days?

Shame had lien upon her, whatever the occasion had been. I am unwilling to stay you from your urgent affairs, yet give me leave (upon this special occasion) to speak a little more to this assembly. It may be of some good use, to inform and rectify the judgments of some of the people, and may prevent such distempers as have arisen amongst us. The great questions that have troubled the country are about the authority of the magistrates and the liberty of the people. Continue Reading

[C]onceived 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.

Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves?

Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man gainst his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia.

Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birthright of an American.

[T]he unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but, where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people

To the kindly influence of Christianity we owe that degree of civil freedom, and political and social happiness which mankind now enjoys. . . . Whenever the pillars of Christianity shall be overthrown, our present republican forms of government, and all blessings which flow from them, must fall with them.

America must raise an empire of permanent duration, supported upon the grand pillars of Truth, Freedom, and Religion, encouraged by the smiles of Justice and defended by her own patriotic sons.

This study on the Founders, Executive Power and Military Intervention was published by the Pace Law Review on 01/01/2010.

During the long periods of peace in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century, the United States maintained a small standing army, mobilized additional personnel to fight the few wars declared by Congress, and then sent most of the men home when the war was won.

This pattern was established during the earliest days of the Republic and was driven by the Founders‟ ambivalent view of military power.

James Madison conceived of warfare as a kind of petri dish for the expansion of state power at the expense of the individual.

“Of all the enemies to public liberty,” he wrote in 1795, “war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.” “No nation,” Madison continued, “could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

He was hardly alone. As one scholar explained, “[t]he vast majority of America‟s landowning aristocracy had an almost congenital distrust of standing armies, which their ancestors for generations had identified with despotism.

 To read the full report on Founders, Executive Power and Military Intervention click here

“Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of. Our enemies are numerous and powerful; but we have many friends, determining to be free, and heaven and earth will aid the resolution. On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important question, on which rest the happiness and liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves” (I believe this quote is as true today as it was then, what do you think? )