Second Amendment had its roots in slavery



Thank you, News Herald, for printing the opinion piece in your Jan. 17 edition entitled “Staunch defender of civil — and gun — rights.” It presented me an excellent opportunity to examine the original intent of the Second Amendment.

According to an article written by Thom Hartmann, “The Second Amendment was ratified to preserve slavery” (tinyurl.com/bhha88c), the original intent of the Second Amendment was to legally institutionalize slavery militia.

Based on the well-documented history of the Second Amendment and the use of “state militias” in Southern states to enforce slavery, it stands to reason that a black man using his gun rights to protect his life, family and property against the Ku Klux Klan would have a different stake in protecting his rights than the white guy ranting ad nauseam about the tyrannical federal government.

The true purpose for the final wording of the Second Amendment “as necessary to the security of a free State” was to protect against federal tyranny that would end slavery in the Southern states. State militias were used to preserve and enforce it. The wording, as it stands today, was also necessary to ensure that Southern states would agree to ratify the Constitution and its first 10 amendments.

Originally, there were state-mandated militias nationwide. In the South these were called “slave patrols,” and were used to suppress slave uprisings, to keep them in chains on the plantation and to round up runaway slaves. Militia laws in the Southern states required most white men between the ages of 18 to 45 to own a gun and be a member of one of these militias.

Southern states’ slave militia remained in place until the end of the Civil War and the passage of the 13th through 16th Amendments, when they converted to vigilante groups, the best known being the Ku Klux Klan. However, the Second Amendment remained intact, though its original purpose became obsolete.
During the American Revolution, and before the Constitution was written, these slave patrol militia were kept busy putting down large numbers of slave uprisings.

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