The Founders' Second Amendment
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80. John Adams, Diary and Autobiography, L.H. Butterfield ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961), 391.
81. Burton Alva Konkle, George Bryan and the Constitution of Pennsylvania, 1731–1791 (Philadelphia: William J. Campbell, 1922), 119.
82. Ibid., 121.
83. Ibid., 117 n. 1.
84. Foner ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, vol. 2, at 53.
85. Ibid., vol. 1, at 45.
86. Ibid., vol. 1, at 35.
87. Ibid., vol. 2, at 57.
88. Graydon, Memoirs, 287.
89. Ibid., 288.
90. Selsam, Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, 207 n.6.
91. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776); Proceedings, 56.
92. Compare Saul Cornell and Nathan DeDino, A Well Regulated Right, 73 Fordham L. Rev. 487, 496–98 (November 2004) (arguing that the Pennsylvania Declaration did not guarantee an individual right for personal protection), with The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), vol. 3, at 84 (noting that justifiable homicide “is expressly recognised in the constitution of Pennsylvania. ‘The right of the citizens to bear arms in the defence of themselves shall not be questioned.’”). Wilson’s explanation is discussed below in Chapter 13.
93. Pennsylvania Evening Post (Philadelphia), August 20, 1776, at 413.
94. Benjamin Franklin, The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, W.B. Wilcox ed. (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1982), vol. 2, at 514 n.2, 3.
95. Pennsylvania Evening Post, September 26, 28, October 8, 10, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 1776.
96. Ibid., October 24, 1776, at 531, col. 1.
97. Ibid., col. 2.
98. Ibid., October 31, 1776, at 546.
99. Proceedings, 57.
100. Pennsylvania Evening Post, October 10, 1776, at 503.
101. The Political Thought of Benjamin Franklin, Ralph L. Ketcham ed. (New York: HobbsMerrill Co., 1965), 46.
102. Ibid., 47–8.
103. Ibid., 49.
104. Pennsylvania Constitution, Art. I, § 43 (1776); Proceedings, 57.
105. Pennsylvania Evening Post, October 10, 1776, at 503.
106. Ibid., at 527, col. 1
107. Ibid., November 5, 1776, at 554, cols. 1–2.
108. Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 2, at *412.
109. Ibid., vol. 2, at *413.
110. Foner ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, vol. 2, at 1085.
111. Selsam, Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, 178–79.
112. Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
113. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
114. Selsam, Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776, 182–83.
115. Foner ed., The Complete Writings of Thomas Paine, vol. 1, at 373–74.
116. Peter Force ed., American Archives (Washington D.C.: M. St. Clair Clark, 1837–1853), vol. 6, at 965.
117. Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Enacted into Laws, Since the Declaration of Independence on the Fourth Day of July, A.D. 1776, Ch. XV, at 22 (March 17, 1777).
118. Acts of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Francis Bailey, 1782), 347 (March 20, 1780).
119. An Abridgment of the Laws of Pennsylvania, 1700–1811, John Purdon ed. (Philadelphia: Farrand, 1811), 173.
120. Ibid., 174.
121. Ibid., 208.
122. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 3, at 37.
123. Ibid., vol. 3, at 37, 115.
124. Ibid., vol. 3, at 38–39.
125. Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State (Wilmington: James Adams, 1776), 12. The other members were Richard Bassett, Jacob Moore, Charles Ridgley, John Evans, Alexander Porter, James Sykes, John Jones, James Rench, and William Polk.
126. Ibid., 13.
127. Ibid., 15.
128. Konkle, George Bryan and the Constitution of Pennsylvania, 124 n.1.
129. Ibid., 119.
130. Ibid., 124 n.1.
131. Pennsylvania Evening Post, August 20, 1776, at 413.
132. Proceedings of the Convention of the Province of Maryland (Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1776) (August 27, 1776).
133. Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State, 16 ff.
134. Letters to and from Caesar Rodney, 1756–1784, George Herbert Ryden ed. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press for the Historical Society of Delaware, 1933), 119.
135. Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. XVIII (1776).
136. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. XXV (1776).
137. Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
138. Force ed., American Archives, vol. 1, at 1022.
139. Delaware Declaration of Rights, Arts. XIX, XX (1776); Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
140. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
141. Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State, 20, 40.
142. Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. III (1776).
143. Article signed by “Philo-Alethias, Delaware,” Maryland Gazette, October 31, 1776, at 3, col. 1.
144. Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex Upon Delaware (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1741), 171.
145. Laws of the Government of New-Castle, Kent and Sussex Upon Delaware (Philadelphia: B. Franklin, 1763), 12.
146. Laws of the Government (1741), 152.
147. Ibid., 178.
148. Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State, 36.
149. Ibid., 40.
150. David C. Skaggs, Roots of Maryland Democracy, 1753–1776 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Publishing Group, 1973), 220.
151. Ibid., 224.
152. Ibid., 225.
153. Ibid.
154. Ronald Hoffman, A Spirit of Dissension: Economics, Politics, and the Revolution in Maryland (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1973), 170.
155. Ibid., 171.
156. Ibid.
157. Skaggs, Roots of Maryland Democracy, 227–28.
158. Ibid., 190–95.
159. Ibid., 185.
160. Ibid., 191.
161. Ibid., 190–91.
162. Proceedings of the Convention of the Province of Maryland (Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1776), 29.
163. Ibid., 39.
164. Ibid., 49.
165. Ibid., 50–58 (October 31–November 3, 1776). The Delaware Declaration of Rights was published in the Maryland Gazette, October 1, 1776, at 1. Maryland’s militia clause would be almost identical with chat of Delaware.
166. Maryland Declaration of Rights, Art. VIII (1776).
167. Ibid., Art. XXXIII.
168. Maryland Gazette (Annapolis), October 13, 1768, at 2, col. 2.
169. Ibid., October 20, 1768, at 3, col. 1.
170. Maryland Gazette, June 22, 1775, at 1, col. 1.
171. Ibid., August 24, 1775, at 1, cols. 1–2. Local manufacture of arms was encouraged, the following advertisement being typical: “Wanted immediately, a number of hands who are acquainted in the different branches of the manufacture of firearms.” Ibid., at 3, col. 1.
172. Ibid., Art. XXV.
173. Ibid., Art. XXVI. The declaration was published in the Maryland Gazette on November 14, 1776, at 3.
174. Proceedings of the Convention of the Province of Maryland (Annapolis: Frederick Green, 1775), 7.
175. The General Public Statutory Law and Public Local Law of the State of Maryland, From the Year 1692–1839 Inclusive (Baltimore: John D. Toy, 1840), 31.
176. Colonial Records of North Carolina, William L. Saunders ed. (Raleigh: Josephus Daniels, 1890), vol. 10, at 870a.
177. Ibid., vol. 10, at 870b.
178. Virginia Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
179. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
180. Colonial Records of North Carolina, vol. 10, at 918–19. The committee inclu
ded “Willie Jones, Thomas Person, and Griffith Rutherford, radical leaders; Allen Jones, Thomas Jones, Samuel Ashe, and Archibald Maclaine, conservative leaders; Richard Caswell and Cornelius Harnett, who may be classed as moderates.” Robert D.W. Connor, History of North Carolina (Chicago: Lewis Publishing Co., 1919), vol. 1, at 412.
181. North Carolina Gazette (New Bern), July 7, 1775, at 2, col. 3.
182. The committee was appointed on November 13 and reported the Bill of Rights on December 12, and the convention passed it on December 17, 1776. Connor, History of North Carolina, vol. 1, at 413. The debate took place on December 14, 16, and 17, 1776. J. Seawell Jones, A Defense of the Revolutionary History of North Carolina from the Aspersions of Mr. Jefferson (Raleigh: Turner and Hughes, 1834), 286.
183. Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of North Carolina [1835) (Raleigh: Joseph Gales and Son, 1836), 318.
184. Ibid., 391.
185. The Papers of James Iredell, Ron Higginbotham ed. (Raleigh: North Carolina Division of Archives & History, 1976), vol. 1, at 425.
186. Journal of Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina (Newbern: James Davis, 1776), 3–4.
187. North Carolina Gazette (New Bern), July 7, 1775, at 2, col. 3.
188. Ibid., Art. XXV. The provision described the state boundaries, and provided that titles of individuals holding under previous laws would remain valid.
189. Journal of Proceedings of the Provincial Congress of North Carolina (1776), 32.
190. Statutes of the State of North Carolina (Edenton: Hodge and Wills, 1791), 519.
191. Ibid., 592.
192. A Collection of the Statutes of the Parliament of England in Force in the State of North Carolina (New Bern: Editor’s Press, 1792), 6, 398.
193. See Laws of the State of North Carolina (Raleigh: J. Gales, 1821).
194. Statutes of the State, 93.
CHAPTER 7
1. Richard Price, A Sermon Delivered to a Congregation of Protestant Dissenters (London, 1779), 26.
2. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Merrill Jensen ed. (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1978), vol. 3, at 201.
3. Williamsburg Virginia Gazette, October 27, 1774, at 2, col. 2.
4. Kenneth Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia, 1763–1789 (Athens: University of Georgia, 1958), 76–77.
5. Ibid., 80.
6. The Constitution of the State of Georgia (Savannah, 1777), i.
7. Committee members included: Burton Gwinnett, William Belcher, Joseph Wood, Josiah Lewis, John-Adam Treutlen, Henry Jones, and George Wells. Ibid.
8. Ibid., i–ii.
9. Ibid., 1.
10. Constitution of the State of Georgia, Arts. LIX, LX, and LXI (1777).
11. Ibid., Art. XXXV.
12. Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia, 87.
13. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 3, at 205.
14. Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia, 89.
15. Ibid., 119; Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 3, at 204.
16. Coleman, The American Revolution in Georgia, 94.
17. Digest of the Laws of the State of Georgia, Horatio Marbury & William A. Crawford eds. (Savannah: Seymour, Woolhopter, and Stebbins, 1802), 241.
18. Ibid., 241–42.
19. Ibid., 423.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid., 424.
22. Ibid., 432.
23. Ibid., 437.
24. New York Packet and American Advertiser, January 4, 1776, at 1, col. 4, and at 4, col. 4.
25. Ibid., August 26, 1776, at 2, cols. 2–3.
26. E.g., ibid., January 18, 1776, at 3, col. 4.
27. Ibid., April 4, 1776, at 2, col. 1.
28. Ibid., at 2, cols. 1–2.
29. Ibid., April 18, 1776, at 1, col. 4.
30. Ibid., at 2, col. 1.
31. Ibid.
32. New York Gazette and Weekly Advertiser, September 30, 1776 and thereafter.
33. Constitution of 1777, in Reports of the Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1821, Nathaniel H. Carter & William Stone eds. (Albany, N.Y.: F. and E. Hansford, 1821}, 691–96 (hereafter cited as “Constitution of 1777”).
34. Theodore Roosevelt, Gouverneur Morris (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, and Co., 1898), 51.
35. Journals of the Provincial Congress, Provincial Convention, Committee of Safety and Council of Safety of the State of New York (Albany: T. Weed, 1842), vol. 1, at 552.
36. William Smith, William Duer, Gouverneur Morris, Robert R. Livingston, John Broome, John M. Scott, John Jay, John S. Hobart, Abraham Yates, Henry Wisner, Sr., Samuel Townsend, Charles DeWitt, and Robert Yates. Ibid. See Constitution of 1777, 692–94.
37. Constitution of 1777, 692–94.
38. For accounts of the framing of the New York Constitution, see George Dangerfield, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston (New York: Brace and Co., 1960), 88; George Pellew, John Jay (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1898), 74; Henry Flanders, The Lives and Times of the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1869}, vol. 1, at 200 ff.; Jared Sparks, The Lift of Gouverneur Morris (Boston: Gray and Bowen, 1832), vol. 1, at 123; Charles Z. Lincoln, The Constitutional History of New York (Rochester: Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Co., 1906), 487–559. See also Edward Countryman, A People in Revolution: The American Revolution and Political Society in New York, 1760–1790 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1981).
39. Bernard Mason, The Road to Independence: The Revolutionary Movement in New York, 1773–1777 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1966), 229.
40. Pellew, John Jay, 76–77.
41. Journals of the Provincial Congress, vol. 1, at 892.
42. New York Constitution, Art. XL (1777).
43. New York Journal, and Dailey Patriotic Register, June 13, 1788, at 2, cols. 1–2.
44. Pellew, John Jay, 87. See Douglas Greenberg, Crime and Law Enforcement in the Colony of New York, 1691–1776 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974).
45. Laws of the State of New York, Comprising the Constitution, and the Acts of the Legislature, Since the Revolution, from the First to the Fifteenth Session, Inclusive (New York: Thomas Greenleaf, 1792), vol. 1, at 336.
46. Ibid., vol. 1, at 289, 291.
47. Ibid., vol. 1, at 491.
48. See Stephen P. Halbrook, A Right to Bear Arms (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1989), 34–35, which cites references to Ira Allen, Autobiography (1799), in James B. Wilbur, Ira Allen: Founder of Vermont, 1751–1814 (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1928); and Ira Allen, Natural and Political History of the State of Vermont (London: J. W. Myers, 1798), 49.
49. Allen, Autobiography (1799), in Wilbur, Ira Allen: Founder of Vermont, 40.
50. Ibid., 73–78.
51. Ibid., 85.
52. Ibid., 87.
53. Vermont State Papers, William Slade compl. (Middlebury: J. W. Copeland, 1823), 70.
54. Daniel Chipman, A Memoir of Thomas Crittenden, the First Governor of Vermont (Middlebury: D. Chipman, 1849), 27.
55. Rev. Pliny H. White, “Address on the Windsor Convention,” Vermont Historical Society Collections (1870), vol. 1, at 63.
56. Vermont Constitution, Art. I, § 15 (1777); Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
57. Vermont Constitution, Art. XXXIX (1777); Pennsylvania Constitution, Art. I, § 43 (1776).
58. Vermont Constitution, Art. I, § 9 (1777).
59. The Laws from the Year 1779 to 1786, Inclusive, in Vermont State Papers, 307.
60. Statutes of the State of Vermont, Passed February and March 1789 (1789), 97.
61. Ibid., 95–96.
62. Vermont Constitution, Art. I, § 18 (1787). The provision was once again readopted as Vermont Constitution, Art. I, § 16 (1796).
63. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, Art. I (1780) (emphasis added).
64. Ibid., Art. XVII.
65
. John Adams, The Works of John Adams (Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1851), vol. 4, at 215–16.
66. The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing ed. (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904), vol. 2, at 102.
67. John Adams, Legal Papers (Cambridge: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1965), vol. 1, at 137.
68. David McCullough, John Adams (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001), 177.
69. The Writings of Samuel Adams, Harry Alonzo Cushing ed. (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1907), vol. 3, at 162–63, 172.
70. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, Art. XIX (1780).
71. Journal of the Convention for Framing a Constitution of Government for the State of Massachusetts Bay (1779–1780) (Boston: Dutton & Wentworth, 1832), 41.
72. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, Art. XVI (1780).
73. Ibid., Art. X.
74. That was not a novel concept. Sir Henry Vance the Younger defined “free Citizen [s]” as those who “have deserved to be trusted with the keeping or bearing Their own Armes in the publick defence.” The Political Works of James Harrington, J. G. A. Pocock ed. (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1977), 109.
75. Journal of the Convention for Framing a Constitution of Government for the State of Massachusetts Bay (1779–1780) (Boston: Dutton & Wentworth, 1832), 41.
76. Ibid. See John Adams, Diary and Autobiography, L. H. Butterfield ed. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1961), 401. No records of debates were kept, although in the convention of 1820–1821 some members remembered the speeches of Samuel Adams and John Adams in 1779. Journal of Debates to Revise the Constitution of Massachusetts (Boston: Daily Advertiser, 1853), 430, 435.
77. The Popular Sources of Political Authority: Documents on the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, Oscar and Mary Handlin eds. (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1966), 574.
78. Ibid., 624.
79. Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, Ans. I and XVII (1780).
80. John Adams, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America (London: C. Dilly, 1788), vol. 3, at 471–72.
81. William Gordon wrote the most extensive articles on the constitution in the series “To the Freemen of the Massachusetts Bay.” References to Adams and the convention are included in the Independent Chronicle, May 4, 1780.
82. Independent Chronicle, June 29, 1780, at 4, col. 3.