Massachusetts: The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defence (1780). Connecticut: Every citizen has a right to bear arms in defense of himself and the state (1818). Tennessee: [T]he freemen of this State have a right to keep and bear arms for their common defence (1796) Vermont: [T]he people have a right to bear arms for the defence of themselves and the State -- and as standing armies in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be kept up; and that the military should be kept under strict subordination...