A Brief History

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. "The Constitution of the United States," Amendment II.

The first ten amendments of the United States Constitution, collectively known as the Bill of Rights, guarantee several freedoms that we as citizens are free to exercise. These amendments also limit the United States Government's power and reserve specific powers to the states and its citizens. The "Father of the Bill of Rights" is credited to James Madison. He originally submitted twelve amendments to the First Congress of the United States and to the states for ratification. On 15 December 1791, ten of the twelve amendments that Madison proposed were ratified by three-fourths states vote and came into effect as constitutional amendments, also known as the Bill of Rights. Of these ten amendments, the Second Amendment guarantees citizens of the United States the right to bear arms.

The two main political parties back then were the Federalists and Anti-federalist. Basically, the Federalist wanted big government and the Anti-Federalist wanted government to be involved as little as possible, per se. Although the Federalists and Anti-federalists disagreed over the amount of authority the government should have, the core debate was over trust in government itself, in which neither party had. The U.S. had just come out of the American Revolution and both the Federalists and Anti-federalists believed that the greatest danger to the republic was a tyrannical government. Both parties believed an armed population of its citizens was the ultimate deterrent to tyranny and government abuse. Members from both parties such as Richard Henry Lee, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, George Mason, and Patrick Henry were primary supporters of the Second Amendment and the right of the people to bear arms. Ultimately, these men agreed that an armed population was essential in preserving the citizens right to liberty.



Sources:

"The Heritage Guide to the Constitution." Guide to the Constitution. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2014

Vandercoy, David. “The History of the Second Amendment.” 28 Val. U. L. Rev. 1007 (1994). Web. 20 Mar. 2014.

Yassky, David. "The Second Amendment: Structure, History, and Constitutional Change." Michigan Law               Review 99.3 (2000): 588. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Mar. 2014