Alexis De Tocqueville, Justice John Mclean, Report Of The Subcommittee On The Constitution Of The Committee On The Judiciary

[♦ nivek ♦]

"The Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the states;

and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their nationality,

nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people

will stop if one of the states chose to withdraw its name from the contract,

it would be difficult to disprove its rights to do so."

-- Alexis de Tocqueville

(1805-1859) French historian

Source: Democracy in America, 1835

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Alexis.de.Tocqueville.Quote.6452

 

 

"All questions of power, arising under the constitution of the United States,

whether they relate to the federal or a state government, must be considered of

great importance. The federal government being formed for certain purposes, is

limited in its powers, and can in no case exercise authority where the power

has not been delegated. The states are sovereign; with the exception of certain

powers, which have been invested in the general government, and inhibited to

the states. No state can coin money, emit bills of credit, pass ex post facto

laws, or laws impairing the obligation of contracts, &c. If any state violate a

provision of the constitution, or be charged with such violation to the injury

of private rights, the question is made before this tribunal; to whom all such

questions, under the constitution, of right belong. In such a case, this court

is to the state, what its own supreme court would be, where the

constitutionality of a law was questioned under the constitution of the state.

And within the delegation of power, the decision of this court is as final and

conclusive on the state, as would be the decision of its own court in the case

stated."

-- Justice John McLean

(1785-1861) U. S. Congressman for Ohio (1813-16), U.S. Postmaster General, Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court (1830-61), presidential candidate for the Whig and Republican parties

Source: Craig v. Missouri, 4 Peters 410 (1830) [29 U.S. 410, 464]

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/John.McLean.Quote.6A7C

 

 

"The conclusion is thus inescapable that the history, concept, and wording of

the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, as well as its

interpretation by every major commentator and court in the first half-century

after its ratification, indicates that what is protected is an individual right

of a private citizen to own and carry firearms in a peaceful manner."

-- Report of the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary

Source: United States Senate, 97th Congress, Second Session ( February 1982 )

http://quotes.liberty-tree.ca/quote_blog/Report.of.the.Subcommittee.on.the.Constitution.of.the.Committee.on.the.Judiciary.Quote.B166