107. Ibid., 71.
108. Ibid.
109. Letter dated September 9, 1789 (spelling corrected). Veit et al. eds., Creating the Bill of Rights, 293.
110. Those voting against the clauses included Senators Carroll, Dalton, Ellsworth, Elmer, Johnson, King, Paterson, Read, and Schuyler. Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, 71.
111. Ibid.
112. See Jack N. Rakove, The Second Amendment: The Highest Stage of Originalism, 76 Chi.–Kent L. Rev., 103, 124-25 (2000).
113. Bickford et al. eds., Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, vol. 11, at 1285–86. Also in Annals of Congress, vol. 1, at 749–50.
114. Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, 72.
115. Ibid., 73.
116. Bickford ed., Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, vol. 4, at 31 n.34.
117. Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, 74.
118. Ibid., 75.
119. Ibid.
120. John Randolph to St. George Tucker, September 11, 1789. Veit etal. eds., Creating the Bill of Rights, 293. Attribution of this information to Lee is suggested in Kenneth Russell Bowling, “A Tub to the Whale”: The Founding Fathers and Adoption of the Federal Bill of Rights (Virginia Commission on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, n.d.), 12.
121. Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, 77.
122. Ibid. While the minutes do not reflect the makers of motions, and no recorded vote was taken on the above, a recorded vote on another matter the same day reveals the following senators present: Bassert, Carroll, Dalton, Ellsworth, Grayson, Gunn, Henry, Johnson, Izard, King, Lee, Morris, Paterson, Read, Schuyler, and Wingate.
123. Ibid., 71.
124. Ibid., 77.
125. Bickford et al. eds., Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, vol. 11, at 1287–88. Also in Annals of Congress, vol. 1, at 751.
126. Journal of the First Session of the Senate of the United States of America, 77.
127. Ibid., 77–78.
128. Bickford ed., Documentary History of the First Federal Congress of the United States of America, vol. 4, at 8.
129. Ibid., vol. 4, at 43.
130. Ibid., vol. 4, at 45.
CHAPTER 13
1. Ratification by the following three-fourths of the states made the Bill of Rights effective:
The first ten amendments would be later ratified in 1939, obviously as a symbolic gesture, by Massachusetts, Georgia, and Connecticut.
2. Gazette of the United States, October 14, 1789, at 211, col. 2.
3. “An Idea of a Constitution,” Independent Gazetteer, December 28, 1789, at 3, col. 3.
4. David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution (Philadelphia: R. Aitken, 1789; reprinted, Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1990), vol. 1, at 176–77. See Peter C. Messer, “From a Revolutionary History to a History of Revolution: David Ramsay and the American Revolution,” Journal of the Early Republic (2002), vol. 22, no. 2, 205; Arthur Shaffer, To Be an American: David Ramsay and the Making of the American Consciousness (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1991), 90, 105.
5. The Papers of James Madison, Charles F. Hobson et al. eds. (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1979), vol. 12, at 460.
6. Ibid., vol. 12, at 454–55.
7. http://www.usdoj.gov/jmd/ls/agbiographies.htm (accessed December 14, 2007).
8. Hobson et al. eds., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 12, at 456.
9. Ibid., vol. 12, at 460.
10. Journal of the Senate [Virginia], December 12, 1789, 61–65.
11. Ibid., 62–63.
12. Ibid., 63.
13. Ibid.
14. Jonathan Elliot ed., The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincorr, 1836), vol. 3, at 661.
15. Journal of the Senate [Virginia], December 12, 1789, 63–64.
16. Elliot ed., Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 3, at 659.
17. Journal of the Senate [Virginia], December 12, 1789, 64.
18. Elliot ed., Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 3, at 660.
19. Journal of the Senate [Virginia], December 12, 1789, 64.
20. Hobson et al. eds., The Papers of James Madison, vol. 12, at 464–65.
21. March 19, 1790. William Wire, Patrick Henry: Lift, Correspondence and Speeches (New York: Scribner’s, 1891; reprinted 1951), vol. 3, at 417–18.
22. E.g., “Summary of the principal Amendments proposed to the [Constitution of the United States] which appear more immediately proper to be adopted,” post May 29, 1790 MSS, College of William & Mary, Tucker-Coleman Collection, Box 39b notebooks, Notebook VI, at 214.
23. Federal Gazette, January 5, 1790, at 2, col. 3.
24. Federal Gazette, January 15, 1790, at 3, col. 3.
25. Denys P. Myers, Massachusetts and the First Ten Amendments (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government, 1936), 10.
26. Ibid., 11.
27. Ibid., 11–13.
28. William Blackstone, Commentaries, Sr. George Tucker ed. (Philadelphia: William Young Birch and Abraham Small, 1803), vol. 1, at 332.
29. Myers, Massachusetts and the First Ten Amendments, 28.
30. Ibid., 11–12.
31. Providence Gazette & Country Journal, January 30, 1790, at 1.
32. Minutes of the Convention Held at South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in March 1790, which Failed to Adopt the Constitution of the United States, Theodore Foster ed. (Providence, Rhode-Island Historical Society, 1929), 58.
33. Ibid.
34. Ibid.
35. Ibid., 60.
36. Ibid., n.77.
37. Ibid., 61.
38. Ibid., 95.
39. Ibid.
40. Ibid., 62.
41. Ibid., 77.
42. Ibid., 78.
43. Ibid., 23.
44. John P. Kaminski, “‘Outcast’ Rhode Island – The Absent State,” This Constitution, no. 15, at 36–37 (Summer 1987). See Frank Green Bates, Rhode Island and the Formation of the Union (New York: Columbia University, 1898), 149–200.
45. The Diary of William Maclay and Other Notes on Senate Debates: 4 March 1789–3 March 1791, Kenneth R. Bowling and Helen E. Veit eds. (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), 271.
46. Foster ed., Minutes of the Convention Held at South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in March 1790, which Failed to Adopt the Constitution of the United States, 25.
47. Elliot ed., Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution, vol. 1, at 334.
48. Ibid., vol. 1, at 335.
49. Ibid., vol. 1, at 336–37.
50. Ibid., vol. 1, at 336.
51. Foster ed., Minutes of the Convention Held at South Kingstown, Rhode Island, in March 1790, which Failed to Adopt the Constitution of the United States, 26.
52. Independent Gazetteer, January 29, 1791, at 2, col. 3.
53. Manuscript in New York Historical Society, Albert Gallatin Papers.
54. The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790 (Harrisburg, Pa.: John S. Wiestling, 1825), 152.
55. Ibid., 153–54. Members included William Findley, Edmond Hand, Henry Miller, James Wilson, William Irvine, William Lewis, James Ross, Charles Smith, and Alexander Addison. Biographical information on Findley, Wilson, Lewis, Ross, and Addison may be found in Alexander Graydon, Memoirs of His Own Time (Philadelphia: Lindsay & Blakiston, 1846), 351–56.
56. Annals of Congress, vol. 1, at 434 (June 8, 1789); Federal Gazette (Philadelphia), June 16, 1789, at 2, col. 2.
57. Federal Gazette, June 18, 1789, at 2, col. 1.
58. The Proceedings Relativ
e to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, 163. Also in Pennsylvania Gazette, December 30, 1789.
59. E.g., Providence Gazette & Country Journal, January 30, 1790, at 1.
60. The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, 380.
61. On their role at the state convention, see Graydon, Memoirs of His Own Time, 355–56.
62. The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, 173, 175.
63. Ibid., 258.
64. Ibid., 225, 263.
65. Ibid., 270–71.
66. Ibid., 274.
67. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XXI; The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, 305.
68. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. VI, § 2; The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790, 302.
69. See “Introduction” to The Works of James Wilson, Robert Green McCloskey ed. (Cambridge: Belknap Press, 1967), vol. 1, at 1–48.
70. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Lorenzo Press, 1804), vol. 2, at 496.
71. James Otis relied on the same passage in arguing self-defense in a trial held in 1771. John Adams, Legal Papers (Cambridge: Belknap Press/Harvard University Press, 1965), vol. 1, at 160 n.16. The passage is quoted in William Eden, Principles of Penal Law (Dublin: John Milliken, 1772), 213–14, a work heavily relied on by Thomas Jefferson. The Commonplace Book of Thomas Jefferson: A Repertory of His Ideas on Government, Gilbert Chi nard ed. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1926), 324–26.
72. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, vol. 2, at 496, quoting “Cic. pro Mil.” (Cicero pro Milo) in Latin. The above translation is from Cicero, Selected Political Speeches, Michael Grant trans. (New York: Penguin Books, 1969), 222.
73. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, vol. 2, at 496, citing “3. Bl. Com. 4.”
74. Blackstone, Commentaries, vol. 3, at *4.
75. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, vol. 3, ar 84.
76. Ibid., citing “Bac. on Gov. 40.”
77. Nathaniel Bacon, An Historical and Political Discourse of the Laws and Government of England. Collected from Some Manuscript Notes of John Selden, Esq. (London: D. Browne and A. Millar, 1760), vol. 1, at 40.
78. Ibid., vol. 1, at 192.
79. Ibid., vol. 2, at 59.
80. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, vol. 3, at 84–85, citing “7. Rep. 6.”
81. The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, vol. 3, at 84.
82. The members were Nicholas Ridgely, Richard Bassett, John Clayton, Kensey Johns, Rhoads Shankland, Charles Polk, Thomas Montgomery, Edward Roche, James Sykes, Peter Robinson, and Isaac Cooper. Minutes of the Convention of the Delaware State (1791), 12–13. The first five on this list were members of the 1776 convention. Proceedings of the Convention of the Delaware State, Held at New-Castle on Tuesday the Twenty-Seventh of August, 1776 (Wilmington: J. Adams, 1776), 6.
83. Minutes of the Convention of the Delaware State, 18.
84. Ibid., 22 (December 17, 1791).
85. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XXI (1790).
86. Delaware Declaration of Rights, Art. XVIII (1776).
87. Harold B. Hancock, The Loyalists of Revolutionary Delaware (Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1977), 48–50.
88. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, Merrill Jensen ed. (Madison: Stare Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1976), vol. 3, at 62, 97.
89. Minutes of the Grand Committee of the Whole Convention of the State of Delaware (Wilmington: James Adams, 1792), 12 (December 20, 1791).
90. Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution, vol. 3, at 62, 97.
91. Laws of the State of Delaware, 1700–1797 (New Castle: Samuel and John Adams, 1797), 968.
92. Delaware Constitution, Art. I, § 17 (1792).
93. Minutes of the Convention of the Delaware State, 42–43.
94. Minutes of the Grand Committee of the Whole, 13.
95. Laws of the State of Delaware, 104.
96. Ibid., 1136.
97. Kentucky Constitution, Art. XII, § 22 (1792).
98. Ibid., Art. XII, § 23.
99. Ibid., Art. VI, § 2.
CHAPTER 14
1. Speech of January 7, 1790, Independent Chronicle (Boston), January 14, 1790, at 3.
2. Chapter 33 in Statutes at Large of the United States of America (Boston: Little & Brown, 1845), vol. 1, at 271 (May 8, 1792). See generally Richard H. Kohn, Eagle and Sword: The Federalists and the Creation of the Military Establishment in America, 1783–1802 (New York: Free Press, 1975).
3. Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States (January 18, 1790), vol. 2, at App. 2088.
4. Ibid., vol. 2, at 2092.
5. Ibid., vol. 2, at 2095.
6. The Diary of William Maclay and Other Notes on Senate Debates: 4 March 1789–3 March 1791, Kenneth R. Bowling and Helen E. Veit eds. (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988), 240.
7. Ibid., 101 n.7.
8. Ibid., 231.
9. Ibid., 245.
10. Ibid., 246.
11. Ibid., 246–47.
12. Ibid., 250.
13. Ibid., 252.
14. Pennsylvania Declaration of Rights, Art. XIII (1776).
15. The Proceedings Relative to Calling the Conventions of 1776 and 1790 (Harrisburg, Pa.: John S. Wiestling, 1825), 244.
16. The Diary of William Maclay and Other Notes on Senate Debates, 385, 395.
17. Ibid., 312.
18. Ibid.
19. “Political Maxims,” Independent Gazetteer, July 24, 1790, at 2, col. 1.
20. Ibid., July 31, 1790, at 2, col. 2.
21. See Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, Charlene Bickford & Helen Veit eds. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986), vol. 5, at 1458–60.
22. Ibid., vol. 5, at 1460–61.
23. Annals of Congress (December 16, 1790), vol. 2, at 1804. Also in Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, William Charles DiGiacomantonio et al. eds. (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1995), vol. 14, at 72, from Gazette of the United States, December 22, 1790.
24. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, vol. 5, at 1462 n.6. See also Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 72–74.
25. Annals of Congress (December 16, 1790), vol. 2, at 1805–6. Also in Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 72–73.
26. Annals of Congress (December 16, 1790), vol. 2, at 1806. Also in Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 73.
27. Annals of Congress (December 16, 1790), vol. 2, at 1806; also in Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 73–74.
28. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 49–50, from the General Advertiser, December 17, 1790.
29. Ibid., vol. 14, at 50 n.13.
30. Ibid., vol. 14, at 56–57, from the Pennsylvania Packet, December 18, 1790.
31. Ibid., vol. 14, at 51, from the General Advertiser, December 17, 1790.
32. Ibid., vol. 14, at 51–52.
33. Ibid., vol. 14, at 52.
34. Ibid., vol. 14, at 60, from the Pennsylvania Packet, Dec. 8, 1790.
35. Jonathan Elliot ed., Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution in the Convention Held at Philadelphia ... Vol. V. Supplementary to Elliot’s Debates (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1845), 464–65.
36. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 62, from the Pennsylvania Packet, December 18, 1790.
37. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress, vol. 5, at 1461 n.3.
; 38. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 63–64.
39. Annals of Congress (December 16, 1790), vol. 2, at 1809.
40. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 64.
41. Annals of Congress (December 22, 1790), vol. 2, at 1821–22.
42. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 64, from the Pennsylvania Packet, December 18, 1790.
43. Ibid., vol. 14, at 81, from the General Advertiser, December 18, 1790.
44. Ibid., vol. 14, at 92–93, from the Pennsylvania Packet, December 21, 1790.
45. Ibid., vol. 14, at 95.
46. Ibid., vol. 14, at 112–13, from Gazette of the United States, December 25, 1790.
47. The company’s website is http://www.ahacsite.org/ (visited December 15, 2007).
48. Documentary History of the First Federal Congress: Debates in the House of Representatives, vol. 14, at 183, from Dunlap’s American Daily Advertiser, January 6, 1791.
49. Ibid., vol. 14, at 184.
50. Chapter 33 in Statutes at Large, vol. 1, at 271 (May 8, 1792).
51. § 1, ibid.
52. § 2, ibid., vol. 1, at 272.
53. § 1, ibid., vol. 1, at 271.
54. Michael A. Bellesiles, Arming America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000), 230, citing U.S. Statutes 1:271–74.
55. Noah Webster, An American Dictionary of the English Language (New York: S. Converse, 1828).
56. Ibid.
57. Ibid.
58. Ibid.
59. § 1 of Chapter 33, Statutes at Large, vol. 1, at 271 (May 8, 1792).
60. Ibid.
61. § 4, ibid., vol. 1, at 272.
62. § 1, ibid., vol. 1, at 272.
63. §§ 6 and 10, ibid., vol. 1, at 273.
64. Samuel Latham Mitchill, An Oration Pronounced Before the Society of Black Friars at Their Anniversary Festival, In the City of New-York, on Monday, the 11th of November, 1793 (New York: Friar M’Lean, 1793), 27–28.
65. 14 Stat. 422, 423 (1867).
66. 32 Stat. 775, 780 (1903).
67. Ibid., at 775.
68. Cf. H. Richard Uviller and William G. Merkel, The Militia and the Right to Arms, Or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 2002), 109–144.
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