[Ads-l] Fake GW quote

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nice work, all.

On Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 12:17 PM Dan Goncharoff <
00001bc983129c8b-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:

> The real quote:
>
> A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a
> uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest
> require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them
> independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 12:07 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > An article in 1975 attributed the beginning of the quotation to George
> > Washington, but the remainder of the quotation was not placed between
> > quotation marks. Some later reader(s) probably misread this passage.
> >
> > Date: October 1975
> > Periodical: Law and Order: An Independent Magazine for the Police
> > Profession
> > Volume 23, Number 10
> > Article: Gun Control or Political Control?
> > Author: W. Cleon Skousen (Editorial Director)
> > Start Page 22, Quote Page 22
> > Publisher: The Copp Organization (Wm. C. Copp), New York
> > Database: Internet Archive
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > Another expression of the same sentiment is found in the words of
> > Thomas Jefferson who wrote in his draft of the Virginia Constitution:
> > "No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms," and George
> > Washington emphasized that "a free people ought not only to be armed
> > and disciplined" but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition
> > to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to
> > abuse them, which would include their own government. (Quoted by Rep.
> > Philip Crane in the Congressional Record April 21, 1975 pp. E 1896-97)
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > Also, the October 1996 issue of "New Jersey Militia Newsletter"
> > attributed the full passage to George Washington.
> > Snopes and other organizations have written articles on this topic,
> > but the two citations mentioned above appear to be a new discoveries.
> >
> > Website: Snopes
> > Article: Did George Washington Want Citizens Armed Against the
> Government?
> > Date: Jan. 7, 2016
> > Author: Dan Evon
> > Did George Washington Want Citizens Armed Against the Government?
> > https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/george-washington-gun-quote/
> >
> > Website: USA Today
> > Article: Fact check: George Washington didn't say citizens should arm
> > themselves against government
> > Author: Tonyaa Weathersbee (USA TODAY)
> > Updated June 20, 2020
> >
> >
> https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/06/20/fact-check-washington-quote-second-amendment-taken-out-context/3222186001/
> >
> > Website: Mount Vernon
> > Spurious Quotations
> >
> >
> https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/spurious-quotations
> >
> > On Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 9:30 AM Jonathan Lighter
> > <00001aad181a2549-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > >
> > > Accidentally deleted from the above: "According to Barabara McQuade,
> > _Attack
> > > from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America_ (1974), "There
> is
> > no
> > > evidence George Washington ever said any such thing."
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Thu, Oct 9, 2025 at 8:24 AM Jonathan Lighter <
> wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > The following, attributed to George Washington, is (as they say) "all
> > over
> > > > the Internet":
> > > >
> > > > “A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they
> > should
> > > > have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of
> > independence
> > > > from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their
> own
> > > > government."
> > > >
> > > > The earliest occurrence I find is in the _Congressional Record_ (June
> > 26,
> > > > 2008), quoted by Rep. Paul C. Broun (R.-Ga.).
> > > >
> > > > JL
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org