The 2nd Amendment (Part 2)
Intro To The Constitution (Part 14)
Previous article in this series: “The Right of The People”
We’ll get to the view of the founding fathers in a moment, but for the sake of the skeptical among you, how about we start off with US Law.
The Militia Act of 1792 [29] [30]:
“BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective states, resident therein, who is or shall be of the age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia by the captain or commanding officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside”
The Militia Act of 1795 [39] [40]
“And be it further enacted, That the militia employed in the service of the United States, shall be subject to the same rules and articles of war, as the troops of the United States: And that no officer, non-commissioned officer, or private of the militia shall be compelled to serve more than three months, after his arrival at the place of rendezvous, in any one year, nor more than in due rotation with every other able-bodied man of the same rank in the battalion to which he belongs.”
The Militia Act of 1862 [34]:
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the President of the United States shall call forth the militia of the States, to be employed in the service of the United States, … the enrolment of the militia shall in all cases include all able-bodied male citizens between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, and shall be apportioned among the States according to the representative population.”
The Militia Act of 1903 [35]:
“Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representative of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the militia shall consist of every able-bodied male citizen of the respective States, Territories, and the District of Columbia, and every able-bodied male of foreign birth who has declared his intention to become a citizen, who is more than eighteen and less than forty-five years of age…”
The Militia Act of 1916 [33]:
“The militia of the United States shall consist of all able-bodied male citizens of the United States, and all other able-bodied males who have or shall have declared their intention to become citizens of the United States, who shall be more than eighteen years of age and, except as hereinafter provided, not more than forty-five years of age, and said militia shall be divided into three classes, the National Guard, the Naval Militia, and the Unorganized Militia.”
Now that we’ve gotten the laws out of the way, here’s some quotes from debates & articles at the time:
“A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves, … and include, according to the past and general [usage] of the states, all men capable of bearing arms”
— Richard Henry Lee; Federal Farmer XVIII [15]
“The honorable gentleman then urges an objection respecting the militia, who, he tells us, will be made the instruments of tyranny to deprive us of our liberty. Your militia, says he, will fight against you. Who are the militia? Are we not the militia? Shall we fight against ourselves? No, sir; the idea is absurd. We are also terrified by the dread of a standing army. It cannot be denied that we ought to have the means of defence, and be able to repel an attack.”
— Francis Corbin; Elliot’s Debates, Volume 3 page 112 [16]
“Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor; but they may be confined to the lower and middle classes of the people, granting exclusion to the higher classes of the people. If we should ever see that day, the most ignominious punishments and heavy fines may be expected. Under the present government, all ranks of people are subject to militia duty. Under such a full and equal representation as ours, there can be no ignominious punishments inflicted. But under this national, or rather consolidated government, the case will be different. The representation being so small and inadequate, they will have no fellow-feeling for the people. They may discriminate people in their own predicament, and exempt from duty all the officers and lowest creatures of the national government.”
— George Mason; Elliot’s Debates, Volume 3 page 425 [17]
“The power of the sword, say the minority of Pennsylvania, is in the hands of Congress. My friends, and countrymen, it is not so, for THE POWERS OF THE SWORD ARE IN THE HANDS OF THE YEOMANRY OF AMERICA FROM SIXTEEN TO SIXTY. The militia of these free commonwealths, entitled and accustomed to their arms, when compared with any possible army must be tremendous and irresistible. Who are the militia? Are they not ourselves? Is it feared, then, that we shall turn our arms each man against his own bosom. Congress have no power to disarm the militia. Their swords, and every other terrible implement of the soldier, are the birth-right of an American. What clause in the state or federal constitution hath given away that important right. … Further, the power of the sword, even so far as it is placed in the hands of Congress, is subject to the control of the state legislatures, for they name one branch of the federal government (the Senate) without whom no military officers can be appointed, no monies granted, no armies raised, no navies provided. The state governments also have ‘the authority’ of training the militia, and appointing all the officers. The constitution, instead of providing a standing (or permanent) army, takes care that it shall not be standing, shall not continue, for it declares it shall find itself absolutely unprovided at the end of every two years. If the people see the least reason to apprehend a breach in the constitution by the grant of money for more than two years, they can elect new representatives, and they can by virtue of those military powers, which are inseparable from their own persons, suspend every operation of a Congress, which shall have thus ceased to be lawful and constitutional power. From this circumstance, and from the citizens of the United States possessing the right of creating directly or indirectly every military officer and of granting every military resource, I do not hesitate to affirm, that the unlimited power of the sword is not in the hands of either the federal or state governments, but where I trust in God it will ever remain, in the hands of the people.”
— Tench Coxe; “To The Citizens of the United States”; Pennsylvania Gazette (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) – Feb. 20, 1788; Page 2 (Capitalization & Italics emphasis in original; Bolding emphasis added) [18]
Next article in this series: “Well-Regulated”
Citations
This entire Constitution series was written as a single big document over the course of several years; so, all the citations are mixed up together. When I went back to break it up into pieces, I wasn’t confident that I could redistribute all the citations & their reference numbers without screwing something up. So, I decided to leave all the citations together, and post them as the final article in the series.
