The Founders' Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms |  | Author: Stephen P. Halbrook
Publisher: Ivan R. Dee, Publisher
Category: Book
List Price: $28.95
Buy New: $15.95
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Seller: Pogos Books
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 111,717
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1
Pages: 448
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.7
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6 x 1.7
ISBN: 1566637929
Dewey Decimal Number: 344.730533
EAN: 9781566637923
ASIN: 1566637929
Publication Date: June 25, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Stephen Halbrook's The Founders' Second Amendment is the first book-length account of the origins of the Second Amendment, based on the Founders' own statements as found in newspapers, correspondence, debates, and resolutions. Mr. Halbrook investigates the period from 1768 to 1826, from the last years of British rule and the American Revolution through to the adoption of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, and the passing of the Founders' generation. His book offers the most comprehensive analysis of the arguments behind the drafting and adoption of the Second Amendment, and the intentions of the men who created it. With the question of the right to bear arms scheduled to come before the Supreme Court in the spring of 2008, The Founders' Second Amendment could scarcely be more timely.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
Gun rights are a perennial struggle October 13, 2008
Joseph P. Martino (Sidney, OH USA)
122 out of 124 found this review helpful
This book isn't for everybody. For those to whom it's directed, it's excellent and I highly recommend it. In this review I'll try to help you understand whether this book is for you.
To begin with, even if you're a gun enthusiast, you may not be interested in the political and legal details that influenced the Founders in writing the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. This book delves into those details with enthusiasm (Halbrook is a lawyer, and a good one). Don't buy it if those would leave you cold.
For those who want the details, however, this is an excellent source. Halbrook explains in great depth the growth of the "gun culture" in colonial America, and the efforts of the British government to stifle that culture. Most gun enthusiasts probably know that the American Revolution was triggered by a "gun confiscation" mission ordered by General Gage, which led to fighting at Lexington and Concord. However, Halbrook describes the actions that led up to Lexington and Concord, from 1765 on, including embargoes on shipment of gunpowder to the Colonies, seizure of gunpowder from Colonial powderhouses, and eventually the confiscation of all firearms in Boston.
Halbrook gives only a brief treatment to the conduct of the Revolutionary War itself, except to note the importance of gunpowder smuggled in from the Dutch colony of St. Eustatia. However, the war is not his real focus. His emphasis is on how the Revolutionary War influenced the people who wrote the Constitution.
Halbrook goes into great depth on the debate over whether the Constitution should have a Bill of Rights. On the one side were the Federalists, who argued that a Bill of Rights might eventually become a ceiling over Americans' rights, instead of a floor under them. Why, the Federalists argued, should the Government be forbidden to do certain things which the main body of the Constitution gave it no power to do? The anti-Federalists, who were unhappy with the idea of strong central government in the first place, demanded a Bill of Rights as a price for ratifying the Constitution. Halbrook goes into great depth on these arguments, quoting advocates from both sides.
As it turned out, the Federalists got the Constitution they wanted, with a strong central government, but (supposedly) with only limited powers. The anti-Federalists got the Bill of Rights they wanted, although in retrospect it should be called a Bill of Limitations. Every article in the first ten Amendments is a restriction on the power of the Federal government, not a grant of rights to the citizens ("Congress shall make no law. . ."). One of the great strengths of this book is the description of how it turned out that way: who were the actors, what did they say, and how did they work for what they wanted.
The assumption behind the book, of course, is that the intent of the Founders in writing the Constitution still matters. The Second Amendment, in particular, is not a thing of "emanations from penumbras," to be interpreted by the courts according to "modern conditions," but was the work of people who had to fight for their freedom from tyranny, and who intended that the means for that fight should never be taken away from American citizens. To those for whom that assumption is still valid, the book is an excellent resource on the history and reasoning behind the Bill of Rights, and the Second Amendment in particular.
The depth and detail added to source material quotes makes this a fine pick August 12, 2008
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
40 out of 44 found this review helpful
THE FOUNDERS' SECOND AMENDMENT: ORIGINS OF THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS considers the history of the constitutional rights of Americans to bear arms in early America from 1768 to 1826, offering up the first book-length account of these origins based on the Founders' own statements from newspapers, debates, and legislative resolutions. The depth and detail added to source material quotes makes this a fine pick for both college and high school collections strong in American history and politics.
Must read for anyone November 24, 2008
Read for Fun (Edgewood, WA United States)
28 out of 32 found this review helpful
This book is a must read for anyone interested in our countries history and or how we started down the road to the 2nd Admendment. Well written and backed with facts and stories to make the history come alive.
2nd amendment review August 16, 2008
D. Lichtenstein (Davenport, FL)
24 out of 28 found this review helpful
Excellent book, Mr Holbrook is very knowledgable on the subject matter. It is very educational, and can be hard to read at times, but once you get through all the leagleeze, it is great. One of the best books I've read on this subject, and I would highly recomend it to anybody interested in the second amendment, and what it REALLY stands for.
If you care about the 2nd Amendment, you MUST read this book! January 11, 2009
Steve Johnson (USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This book is, quite simply, the most important book I've ever read regarding the second amendment. The author uses our founding fathers words, very heavily footnoted mind you, to relate what they lived through and what ultimatley became the 2nd amendment. This is not a novel and it doesn't read like one. It is hard core fact! You should plan to go slow and drink in the history, our founders words, their character and their intellect. I dare say, as I read the book, I felt ashamed of who we have become as a people, of how we've allowed our rights, so bravely fought for by people who risked everything, to be diminished and stripped away. Do you know who Crispus Attucks was? What was significant about gunpowder? What significance does April 19th hold? What does 'Militia' mean, as written in the 2nd amendment? Who was that Militia? What does 'Well Regulated' mean as written in the 2nd amendment? Answers to these and many more questions will be given in the first 1/4 of the book!
Please, I beg you as a fellow American, buy this book and read it. You can't afford not to, and you will learn exactly what the 2nd Amendment really means. Please! Buy the book!
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
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