The Hidden History of the Second Amendment

102 Pages Posted: 4 Sep 2009 Last revised: 24 Sep 2015

See all articles by Carl T. Bogus

Carl T. Bogus

Roger Williams University School of Law

Date Written: Winter 1998

Abstract

Professor Bogus argues that there is strong reason to believe that, in significant part, James Madison drafted the Second Amendment to assure his constituents in Virginia, and the South generally, that Congress could not use its newly-acquired powers to indirectly undermine the slave system by disarming the militia, on which the South relied for slave control. His argument is based on a multiplicity of the historical evidence, including debates between James Madison and George Mason and Patrick Henry at the Constitutional Ratifying Convention in Richmond, Virginia in June 1788; the record from the First Congress; and the antecedent of the American right to bear arms provision in the English Declaration of Rights of 1688.

Suggested Citation

Bogus, Carl T., The Hidden History of the Second Amendment (Winter 1998). U.C. Davis Law Review, Vol. 31, p. 309, 1998, Roger Williams Univ. Legal Studies Paper No. 80, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1465114

Carl T. Bogus (Contact Author)

Roger Williams University School of Law ( email )

10 Metacom Avenue
Bristol, RI 02809
United States

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