About American Sons of Liberty

The American Sons of Liberty takes its name from a secret organization from pre-revolutionary to revolutionary days, the Sons of Liberty. Members included John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and John Adams among others. And if real liberty is extremist or "revolutionary," then yes in that sense we are extremists. To any one from the left or the wishy-washy middle who take no real position, I guess it might look that way.  For the record, here is what we believe in:

First and foremost we believe in God. For Liberty, Justice, and Truth come from Him. For if there is no God, then we cannot truly be free--we are at the whim of powerful men. We believe in Rugged Individualism, Liberty (not the pretended variety of modern day, but the kind  for which our founders fought.) We believe in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, recognizing that neither grants rights; those come from God, they are simply written guarantees enumerating rights that are "self-evident," and we believe in limited central government as the founders intended. Each State is sovereign and each individual is sovereign. The 10th Amendment explains this. I also suggest reading the Federalist, which are the writings of James Madison, John Jay, and Alexander Hamilton, authors of the Constitution (mostly it was Madison). You will get a clear notion of what was intended.

But they were aware that it would not last long: Benjamin Franklin spoke these words at the Constitutional Convention in 1787:

"I agree to this Constitution with all its faults, if they are such; because I think a general Government necessary for us, and there is no form of Government but what may be a blessing to the people if well administered, and believe farther that this is likely to be well administered for a course of years, and can only end in Despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic Government, being incapable of any other."

Our founders were extremists because they were passionate for liberty. I'm sure one of the extremist views you think we have is the possession of arms by citizens. Well, we are in good company, Here are some quotes by people you may now come to despise:

 "Besides 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, The Federalist Papers, No. 46

 "Suppose that we let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal: still it would not be going too far to say that the State governments with the people at their side would be able to repel the danger...half a million citizens with arms in their hands" --James Madison, The Federalist Papers

"...to disarm the people - that was the best and most effectual way to enslave them." -- George Mason, 3 Elliot, Debates at 380.

 "Before a standing army can rule, the people must be disarmed; as they are in almost every kingdom of Europe. The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword; because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the United States"--Noah Webster in "An Examination into the Leading Principles of the Federal Constitution," 1787, in Paul Ford, ed., Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, at p. 56 (New York, 1888).

 "To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always possess arms, and be taught alike especially when young, how to use them." --Richard Henry Lee, 1788, Initiator of the Declaration of Independence, and member of the first Senate, which passed the Bill of Rights, Walter Bennett, ed., Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, at 21,22,124 (Univ. of Alabama Press, 1975.

 "The great object is that every man be armed" and "everyone who is able may have a gun." --Patrick Henry, in the Virginia Convention on the ratification of the Constitution. Debates and other Proceedings of the Convention of Virginia,...taken in shorthand by David Robertson of Petersburg, at 271, 275 2d ed. Richmond, 1805. Also 3 Elliot, Debates at 386

Those of us who cherish liberty above all else understand the lessons of history. Men are by nature evil and wish to rule over other men. While technology changes, human nature does not. Freedom can only be kept by those willing to fight for it. While we are heavily armed, we hopefully will not need those arms, but when gone, so also will follow liberty. But lest you think the Second Amendment is all we care about, I assure you we are quite passionate about the whole of the Bill of Rights, especially the First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth. Well there you go...that's all of them.

Taking a stand for liberty is always extremist to some..and from THAT point of view, we are that indeed. We owe that much to those who passed this great gift of Liberty to us, and we owe our children to pass it onto them as it was given to us, and to stand against and defeat those who threaten that liberty.

If that commitment is extremism, than so be it. We will be in the company of Nathan Hale, Thomas Paine, The Adamses, Ben Franklin, George Washington, John Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, The Minutemen, and the Continental Army, and all those who followed. We recognize they were not perfect; as were none before or after, but they did their best with in the context of their time and I thus need not excuse them for their imperfections by our poor standards. They were better, hardier men than today's lot, willing to sacrifice all that they had. Yes they were extremists.

I hope we have one-tenth their commitment to the extremism of Liberty

Michael Girard
Vice-President, Operations
American Sons of Liberty (ASL)