That Every Man be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional RightThis is an authoritative study of the second amendment, using history and current-day analysis. It is one of the only scholarly works on the subject, but has proven widely accessible. Halbrook traces the origins of the Second Amendment back to ancient Greece and Rome, and then through the "freemen" movement in 18th-century England and France. He demonstrates that the framers of the Constitution were conscious of such history when they drafted the Second Amendment, and that the Second Amendment was clearly intended to allow possession of firearms not just for defense of personal life and property but also to prevent government infringement of human liberties. His meticulous, thorough scholarship demonstrates that the right to bear arms is as fundamental a right under the Constitution as freedom of speech and freedom of religion. |
Contents
Firearms Prohibition and Constitutional Rights | 3 |
Arms Militia and Penal Reform in EighteenthCentury | 32 |
The American Revolution and the Second Amendment | 55 |
Copyright | |
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That Every Man be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right Stephen P. Halbrook Limited preview - 2013 |
Common terms and phrases
1st Sess 39th Cong adopted American antebellum armed populace bear arms Bill of Rights blacks carry arms carrying concealed weapons cited citizens citizenship Civil Rights Act clause colored committee common defense common law concealed weapons Congress Const constitutional right convention Cruikshank debates Declaration of Rights Democrat deprivation disarm eight amendments Emphasis added enforce existed federal firearms force Fourteenth Amendment framers freedmen Freedmen's Bureau freedom handguns held included incorporation individual right infringement Justice keep and bear legislation legislature liberty ment military militia North Carolina opinion oppression organized person pistols political possess arms Presser privileges and immunities prohibition proposed provision recognized Reconstruction referred regulated militia Republican Revolution right to bear right to keep Second Amendment select militia self-defense Senator slavery slaves speech standing army statute supra note teenth Amendment tion transl Tucker tyranny U.S. Constitution U.S. Supreme Court United violation Virginia well-regulated militia