"Nothing can be more absurd than the cavil that the Declaration contains known and not new truths.  The object was to assert, not to discover truths, and to make them the basis of the Revolutionary act." -- James Madison, letter to Thomas Jefferson, September 6, 1823.

"The advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms." -- James Madison, Federalist no. 46