This took an unexpected amount of time to write, over a decade from my discovering the phrase "a well regulated militia" in Fletcher, to my tying all the pieces together. I could not have done it without all the diligent researchers who have spent much more time on this than this dilettante bird and the internet itself, which made it possible for me to easily locate crucial documents.
I do hope that this is a useful addition to the reams that have been written on this subject and that it will lead to changes in our thinking that improve our lives.
Again, here is a list of all the parts, with links:
Part 1 - From Renaissance Florence to The Constitution of the United States
Part 2 - The Classical Republican Militia: Machiavelli in Florence
Part 3 - Scottish Republicans
Part 4 - Madison, Jefferson, and Hamilton: the Second Amendment and the Militia Acts
Part 5 - Summation: Whither the Second Amendment?
1 comment:
Thank you. As an outsider looking in at the current lunacy that is armed America, I have read several versions of why the 2nd amendment. Your series of articles makes more sense than the others. Personally, I fail to see the need to carry a gun in self defense save for several well definable occupations. As an avid reader of westerns, I am well aware that the first thing a marshal did to reduce violence in a town was relieve people of their guns until they left. That seems to have slipped to the back burner of history. Criminals tend to kill each other. it is the "law-abiding" gun owner that terrifies me. Of course if I were Black, it would be the police as well as the "law-abiding" gun owner but that is another issue.
I read a recent article that said there was a direct correlation between racism and the likelihood of a white male owning a gun. No kidding.
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