We Came Equals Into This World, And

That The Legislative And Executive Powers Of The State Should Be Separate And Distinct From The Judiciary; And That The Members Of The Two First May Be Restrained From Oppression, By Feeling And Participating The Burdens Of The People, They Should, At Fixed Periods, Be Reduced To A Private Station, Return Into That Body From Which They Were Originally Taken, And The Vacancies Be Supplied By Frequent, Certain, And Regular Elections, In Which All, Or Any Part Of The Former Members, To Be Again Eligible, Or Ineligible, As The Laws Shall Direct.

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.

That Elections Of Members To Serve As Representatives Of The People, In Assembly, Ought To Be Free; And That All Men, Having Sufficient Evidence Of Permanent Common Interest With, And Attachment To, The Community, Have The Right Of Suffrage, And Cannot Be Taxed Or Deprived Of Their Property For Public Uses, Without Their Own Consent, Or That Of Their Representives So Elected, Nor Bound By Any Law To Which They Have Not, In Like Manner, Assembled, For The Public Good.

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.

I Charge [my Sons] Never To Let The Motives Of Private Interest Or Ambition To Influence Them To Betray, Nor The Terrors Of Poverty And Disgrace, Or The Fear Of Danger Or Of Death Deter Them From Asserting The Liberty Of Their Country, And Endeavoring To Transmit To Their Posterity Those Sacred Rights To Which Themselves Were Born