Four boxes of liberty

[1][2][3] The phrase in various forms has been used in arguments about tariff abolition, the rights of African Americans, women's suffrage, environmentalism, and gun control.

[1] The bandbox, originally designed to hold collar bands, was used to carry the elaborate women's hats of the time as well as many other personal items.

[8] The quip was reproduced in the 25 December 1869 edition of the Spirit of the Times newspaper and in the 1881 Treasury of wisdom, wit and humor, odd comparisons and proverbs.

He repeated that "the liberties of the American people were dependent upon the ballot-box, the jury-box, and the cartridge-box; that without these no class of people could live and flourish in this country..."[12][13] The Altamont Enterprise revived the old saw of the cartridge box, ballot box and bandbox in 1909 when reporting a discussion between the newspaper editor Horace Greeley and the early campaigner for women's rights, Elizabeth Cady Stanton.

The article went on to describe the case of Abigail Hopper Gibbons, who as a landowner and taxpayer was sent an official form asking her to give reasons why she was not eligible for jury duty.

[14] In a commentary on Leonard Levy's book Origins of the Bill of Rights (1999), Professor Brian C. Kalt of the Michigan State University College of Law argues that the saying simply expresses the intent of the United States Bill of Rights to enshrine and protect the popular sovereignty.

[7] Taking a less positive view of the idea, in April 2010 the Anti-Defamation League noted that it is frequently used by anti-government extremists to justify violence to gain their ends on the grounds that all else has failed, and cites a typical comment on the Pat Dollard Web Site: "we've tried the soap box & the ballot box to no avail.

[15] In their book For the People: What the Constitution Really Says About Your Rights, Akhil Reed Amar and Alan Hirsch introduce a variation on the theme.

To these, with some reservations, they add the lunch box: the idea of a social safety net that supports basic physical and educational needs.

[3][16] Time reported that the saying was used in September 1976 by a keynote speaker at a convention of the American Independent Party, a coalition of right-wing forces.