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A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "Whipping the crowd into a frenzy at the National Rifle Association annual convention, Charlton Heston, the group's charismatic president, raised an antique musket above his..." (more)
Key Phrases: individual rights reading, collective rights theory, individual rights view, Second Amendment, United States, South Carolina (more...)

3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Impressive and illuminating."--Cass R. Sunstein, The New Republic
"This intelligent, carefully rendered history of gun policy in the United States...is challenging but essential reading for scholars, specialized undergraduates, and readers interested in law, criminal justice, and public affairs."--Library Journal
"If proof were still needed that the study of the Second Amendment remains a fruitful source of inquiry, Saul Cornell's new book provides it. Crisply written and vigorously argued, A Well-Regulated Militia advances an often hackneyed debate by looking beyond the original concerns of the Revolutionary era. Cornell concisely demonstrates why so many of the contemporary fictions swirling around the meaning of this vexed clause depart from its real history."--Jack Rakove, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Original Meanings
"Saul Cornell provides a wonderful, original treatment of a much discussed subject. Based on a meticulous review of American history, Cornell shows that both sides of the debate over the Second Amendment are mistaken. This is a must-read."--Erwin Chemerinsky, Duke University School of Law
"Jettisoning the rancorous partisanship and historical distortions of both advocates and opponents of gun control, Cornell recovers the lost civic dimension of the constitutional right to bear arms. The point of departure for any future, historically-informed discussion of this most controversial amendment, A Well-Regulated Militia clears the way for fresh and constructive thinking about the rights and responsibilities of gun ownership in America today."--Peter S. Onuf, author of Jefferson's Empire: The Language of American Nationhood
"With this book Saul Cornell establishes himself as a leading interpreter of the Second Amendment, and teaches us valuable lessons not only about gun control and the militia, but about the nature of American republican government itself."--Stephen Presser, Northwestern University School of Law
"A provocative alternative in the debate over the historical meaning of the Second Amendment. Anyone interested in how the right to bear arms was thought about in the early republic will need to take this book into account." --Keith E. Whittington, author of Constitutional Interpretation
" Well-Regulated Militia offers a much-needed examination of the varied notions of the right to bear arms that have prevailed at different moments in the history of the United States. Perhaps even more important, Cornell's study challenges the static conception that often dominates public discussion of this particular constitutional provision. By tracing the competing influences of the civic, states'-rights, individual-rights, and collective-rights theories of the role of arms in American society, Cornell reveals the often overlooked republican pairing of rights and duties that defined late-eighteenth-century gun ownership."--H-Net

Product Description

Americans are deeply divided over the Second Amendment. Some passionately assert that the Amendment protects an individual's right to own guns. Others, that it does no more than protect the right of states to maintain militias. Now, in the first and only comprehensive history of this bitter controversy, Saul Cornell proves conclusively that both sides are wrong.
Cornell, a leading constitutional historian, shows that the Founders understood the right to bear arms as neither an individual nor a collective right, but as a civic right--an obligation citizens owed to the state to arm themselves so that they could participate in a well regulated militia. He shows how the modern "collective right" view of the Second Amendment, the one federal courts have accepted for over a hundred years, owes more to the Anti-Federalists than the Founders. Likewise, the modern "individual right" view emerged only in the nineteenth century. The modern debate, Cornell reveals, has its roots in the nineteenth century, during America's first and now largely forgotten gun violence crisis, when the earliest gun control laws were passed and the first cases on the right to bear arms came before the courts. Equally important, he describes how the gun control battle took on a new urgency during Reconstruction, when Republicans and Democrats clashed over the meaning of the right to bear arms and its connection to the Fourteenth Amendment. When the Democrats defeated the Republicans, it elevated the "collective rights" theory to preeminence and set the terms for constitutional debate over this issue for the next century.
A Well-Regulated Militia not only restores the lost meaning of the original Second Amendment, but it provides a clear historical road map that charts how we have arrived at our current impasse over guns. For anyone interested in understanding the great American gun debate, this is a must read.
Winner of the Langum Prize in American Legal History/Legal Biography

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Product Details

Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; illustrated edition edition (August 1, 2006)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0195147863
ISBN-13: 978-0195147865
Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds

Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #480,216 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Inside This Book (learn more)

First Sentence:
Whipping the crowd into a frenzy at the National Rifle Association annual convention, Charlton Heston, the group's charismatic president, raised an antique musket above his head and challenged gun control proponents to pry his weapon from his "cold, dead hands." Read the first page

Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
individual rights reading, collective rights theory, individual rights view, individual rights theory, gun rights advocates, universal militia, federal gun control laws, gun regulation, negro militia, civic conception, select militia, gun debate, federal tyranny, constitutional resistance, militia reform, first state constitutions, state constitutional law, ultimate check, regulated militia

Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Second Amendment, United States, South Carolina, Whiskey Rebels, New England, New York, James Madison, National Guard, Whiskey Rebellion, Thomas Jefferson, Dissent of the Minority, New Hampshire, Benjamin Austin, Civil Rights Act, George Mason, George Tucker, Joseph Story, Massachusetts Constitution, Samuel Adams, Virginia Declaration of Rights, Alexander Hamilton, Articles of Confederation, Charles Austin, George Washington, Jacksonian America

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Citations (learn more)

This book cites 100 books:

The Founders' Constitution (5 Volume Set) by PHILIP KURLAND on 4 pages
Democracy in America (Signet Classics) by Alexis de Tocqueville on page 129, page 138, and Back Matter
The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction by Professor Akhil Reed Amar in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
DISCOURSES CONCERNING GOVERNMENT (Liberty Fund Studies in Political Theory) by Algernon Sidney on page 11, Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
The Complete Anti-Federalist [Set of 7] by Herbert J. Storing in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)

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Books on Related Topics (learn more)

Constitutional Law by Erwin Chemerinsky

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	75% buy the item featured on this page: A Well-Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America 3.3 out of 5 stars (10)
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3.3 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)

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39 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What the Second Amendment REALLY Means!, July 20, 2006

By	Monty Rainey (New Braunfels, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

Someone finally gets it! The Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights has long been the root of great controversy and debate. One side declares the intent to be that of insuring a well regulated militia with no regard for individual rights. It seems this school of thought would have us believe that "the people" referred to by the framers are not the same as "the people" regarded in several other of the Amendments. The other side stands firm that the Second Amendment squarely and firmly guarantees the right of individuals to arm themselves.

For decades now, the problem has been that, to a degree, both sides are wrong. The Second Amendment, thanks to Patrick Henry and many other anti-federalists, makes the right to bear arms a "civic right" or duty. The anti-federalists rightly feared the liberal rights guaranteed government by the Constitution and sought to protect the citizenry by giving citizens a civic obligation to arm themselves. A WELL REGULATED MILITIA: THE FOUNDING FATHER'S AND THE ORIGIN OF GUN CONTROL IN AMERICA by Saul Cornell, has finally brought the facts to light.

Though they were not victorious, we should give thanks daily for the tremendous influence the anti-federalists had. Their foresight has come to fruition in America. They envisioned the Constitution as giving too much authority to the various branches of government and taking too much away from the individual states. They feared an overpowering judiciary, which quickly came to exist when the Marshall Court far overstepped its' authority in Marbury v. Madison. The states received their biggest blow from a runaway federal government at the conclusion of the Civil War with the advent of the Fourteenth Amendment. These abuses of power are precisely the reason why the Second Amendment exists, though today it is all but nullified.

Cornell's brilliant work here not only restores the Second Amendment to its original meaning, but explains in detail how we arrived at such a convoluted position on guns as we find ourselves today. Sadly, however, Cornell's book amounts to too little too late, as both sides have become powerful forces giving millions of campaign dollars to a corrupt government that isn't about to relinquish the power it has wrestled away from its citizenry. Nonetheless, Cornell's work is brilliant, if not long overdue, and should be read by all Americans interested in Gun rights issues, and more importantly, state's rights issues.

Monty Rainey

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25 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well-balanced and insightful, August 5, 2006

By	American History Buff "Thomas" - See all my reviews

You would think that before writing a review of a book, "reviewers" would take the time to read it. (See comments by 'A guy in PA')

Cornell notes that he obtained funding from Joyce ... and further thanks the NRA and Brady -- should we not read it cause he therefore must be a shill for the gun lobby?

What impresses me that Cornell seems to have sought the input of everyone who counts in this debate. The result is a thoughtful work of history that challenges some of the mistakes both sides have made. For me, it was an eye-opener to see what the real intended meaning of the 2nd amendment was.

I suggest you read this book and judge for yourself -- something some reviewers seem not have bothered to do!

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26 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars basic individual rights are not that complicated, May 7, 2007

By	nycinema (nyc, usa) - See all my reviews

Interestingly, in a recent decision, the court of appeals for the district of columbia reviewed and analyzed in large part the same history and background that Cornell uses, and came up with the conclusion that the Second Amendment unequivocally protects the individual's right to keep and bear arms. The court's opinion was based largely on and consistent with a number of liberal jurists that have come to agree with the 'individual rights' principle. In addition, use of basic legal constructs can come only to the same conclusion-- the 'militia' clause is prefatory, not operative. The 'right of the people to keep and bear arms' is operative, and therefore controlling. The operative clause speaks of a "right", a right being bestowed by the Creator, of the "people", who are individuals (as they are in the first amendment where the "people" is used), and the right is to KEEP, not just BEAR, arms. "Regulated" in colonial times meant "functional", not controlled by the goverment in a heavy handed way. Additionally, the prefatory "militia" clause is not directed at the security of "the State", but the security of " A FREE state"-- the state of freedom, the condition of freedom-- this is consistent with the Framer's view that a people have the right to overthrow a government that exercises tyranny over its citizens, and that an armed population was an important check against over-expansive governmental power. The court further pointed out that if the Framers, who were intelligent men who knew how the draft, merely intended to protect the States' power to have a militia, they would have written 'The States shall have the right to maintain militias", period.

Unlike Cornell, liberal jurists Laurence Tribe, Akhil Reed Amar and Sanford Levinson are independent researchers who came to their conclusions through unbiased research and legal analysis. As a grantee of the Joyce Foundation, Cornell framed his analysis according to his grantor's agenda. He knows where his bread is buttered.

Do yourself a favor and get a hold of "The Second Amendment Primer". The principle of the Right of the People to Keep and Bear Arms is really not as complicated as Cornell would like to make it seem.The Second Amendment Primer: A Citizen's Guidebook to the History, Sources, and Authorities for the Constitutional Guarantee of the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.The Slaves Shall Serve: Meditations on Liberty

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Incomplete and Misleading
While I will not dispute the historical facts that Cornell discusses in his book, he clearly decides to ignore many other historical facts that go against his predetermined... Read more

Published on August 2, 2007 by R. Reynolds

1.0 out of 5 stars another anti-scholarly sham from the anti gun left
the problem with this book and with Cornell's alleged scholarship is that he ignored the individual aspect of the meaning and intent of the 2nd Amendment. Read more

Published on April 19, 2007 by Nicholas Noppinger

4.0 out of 5 stars The History of the Second Amendment
In "A Well Regulated Militia" Saul Cornell gives an excellent history of the second amendment from the days of the founding fathers, early days of the United States, the Civil War... Read more

Published on April 10, 2007 by The Pantologist

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Book
One of Cornell's most important points is that service in a state militia at the time of the Founding Fathers WAS a highly regulated enterprise. Read more

Published on December 4, 2006 by L. Everitt

5.0 out of 5 stars Keep Your Powder Dry
The second amendment to the U.S. Constitution reads, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall... Read more

Published on October 20, 2006 by Retired Reader

1.0 out of 5 stars Readers Should Be Aware...
Readers of this work should be aware that Saul Cornell's "Second Amendment Research Center" is funded by the Joyce Foundation. Read more

Published on August 2, 2006 by A Guy In PA

5.0 out of 5 stars Advance Praise for A Well-Regulated Militia

"If proof were still needed that the study of the Second Amendment remains a fruitful source of inquiry, Saul Cornell's new book provides it. Read more

Published on June 27, 2006 by Publisher

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