Customer Reviews

The Founders' Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms

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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 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.

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.

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!

A great read for those who want the facts on the Second Amendment. Loads of ammo to shut down those who cry for gun control, yet have no idea why it is our right to bear arms.

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.

I love this book and believe it is a required read for all conscience citizens.

Professor Holbrook's well writen treatise is an eye opening compilation of historical and legislative evidence that sheds bright light on what has remained an obscure part of constitutional discourse. Dr. Holbrook's book belongs on the shelf of every college and law school in America and perhaps its most important place would be in the hands of those judges and justices who decide the validity of this nation's vast network of gun laws.

Stephen Halbrook details the thoughts and writings of the Founding Fathers and others when they proposed and passed the Second Amendment to the Constitution. Much has been written about the First Amendment, and the rights that affords, but many people fail to realize that "the Second protects the First". A look at history confirms this. Halbrook has done a wonderful job setting forth the reasoning and historical steps behind one of the main cornerstones of our freedoms.

This book chronicles the entire basis for the Second Amendment from the lead up to the American Revolution through the writing of each State's Constitutions and Bills of Rights and the United States Constituion and Bill of Rights. Specifically, it traces the historical right of all citizens to keep and bear arms for their own defense and protection as well as the protection of the nation. This book is a must read for ALL politicians or those aspiring to politics. In fact, I would say it is a must read for ALL Americans period!! Believe me, a lot would change in our real world politics if they would do so.