Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect? (Historians at Work) [Paperback]

Saul Cornell (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0312240600 | ISBN-13: 978-0312240608 | Publication Date: April 7, 2000 | Edition: First Edition

Whose right to bear arms did the Second Amendment protect? Today the Second Amendment has become one of the most controversial provisions of the American Bill of Rights, but what did the founding generation mean by it? Did they understand it to imply protection of an individual or a collective right to bear arms — and what were and are the ramifications of that difference? What ideological or social function did the militia serve in early America? These are just a few of the intriguing questions generated by the rich and controversial body of Second Amendment scholarship over the years. Exploring how late-eighteenth-century Americans understood the right to bear arms, the selections expose students to ongoing scholarly debates over this topic, providing insight into a number of the most important issues in early American historiography: the controversy over republicanism and liberalism, the tension between states' rights and individual rights, and the place of rights and revolution in the American constitutional experience.

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About the Author

SAUL CORNELL is associate professor of history at the Ohio State University and is the author of Other Founders: Anti-Federalism and the Dissenting Tradition in America, 1788-1828 (1999), published by the Institute of Early American History and Culture. His articles have appeared in a variety of scholarly journals, including The Journal of American History, William and Mary Quarterly, Law and History Review, Constitutional Commentary, American Quarterly, and American Studies. Cornell has been an NEH fellow at the Institute of Early American History and Culture and held the Thomas Jefferson Chair in American Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands as a Fulbright scholar.

Product Details

• Paperback: 188 pages
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's; First Edition edition (April 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312240600
• ISBN-13: 978-0312240608
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,071,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historians fight over interpretation!, January 16, 2003

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American_History_Rocks (Southeastern Michigan) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect? (Historians at Work) (Paperback)

"Whose Right to Bear Arms Did the Second Amendment Protect?" edited by Saul Cornell and Robert E. Shalhope is a collection of essays and journal articles debating the interpretations of the Second Amendment by top notch historians on the subject. The book encourage debate and therefore has a well balanced assortment of articles covering the full spectrum of debate concerning the Second Amendment.

Books from the "Historians at Work Series" are designed to encourage debate and deeper thinking on a particular historiographic issue in American history. Books from the "Historians at Work Series" are designed for upper-level undergraduate and graduate level American history courses. This being said, its not an introductory text. The authors of the articles go directly into their subjects, with little significant background information. Therefore, you need to have an historical base-level to work from. Nonetheless, it is an excellent tool for students, scholars and general readers of American history.

Editions in the "Historians at Work" publish the entire article or essay, introduce the author and most importantly: it includes all endnotes--a rarity for books that are collections of articles/essays on a related topic.

Overall, an excellent representation on early American historical scholarship.

ADDED NOTE: The final chapter in this book, writen by Michael Bellesiles and his book were later found to be full of misrepresentation and misconduct in research. He has since lost his award and has resigned from his position @ Emory University.