The real reason the Second Amendment was ratified, and why it says "State" instead of "Country" (the Framers knew the difference - see the 10th Amendment), was to preserve the slave patrol militias in the southern states, which was necessary to get Virginia's vote. Founders Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison were totally clear on that . . . and we all should be too.

In the beginning, there were the militias. In the South, they were also called the "slave patrols," and they were regulated by the states.

In Georgia, for example, a generation before the American Revolution, laws were passed in 1755 and 1757 that required all plantation owners or their male white employees to be members of the Georgia Militia, and for those armed militia members to make monthly inspections of the quarters of all slaves in the state. The law defined which counties had which armed militias and even required armed militia members to keep a keen eye out for slaves who may be planning uprisings.

As Dr. Carl T. Bogus wrote for the University of California Law Review in 1998, "The Georgia statutes required patrols, under the direction of commissioned militia officers, to examine every plantation each month and authorized them to search 'all Negro Houses for offensive Weapons and Ammunition' and to apprehend and give twenty lashes to any slave found outside plantation grounds."

It's the answer to the question raised by the character played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained when he asks, "Why don't they just rise up and kill the whites?" If the movie were real, it would have been a purely rhetorical question, because every southerner of the era knew the simple answer: Well regulated militias kept the slaves in chains.

Sally E. Haden, in her book Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas, notes that, "Although eligibility for the Militia seemed all-encompassing, not every middle-aged white male Virginian or Carolinian became a slave patroller." There were exemptions so "men in critical professions" like judges, legislators and students could stay at their work. Generally, though, she documents how most southern men between ages 18 and 45 - including physicians and ministers - had to serve on slave patrol in the militia at one time or another in their lives.

And slave rebellions were keeping the slave patrols busy.

Read more: The Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery

Crusader:

Please refrain from seeking out interpretations. Do yourself a favor - that is if you truly want to understand. Someone else posted this link here a while back. Start here: https://constitution.hillsdale.edu/page.aspx?pid=825

Once you've read it - once you've become completely familiar with how it was written. Why it was written. The end game...the motivation for it. Once you've done that, if you do it with a truly open mind, you will be better equipped to filter through the kind of crap you posted in this thread.

No disrespect, but you really do need to get educated, otherwise you start quoting actors in discussions about the United States Constitution, and that just isn't very wise.

At the very least search for alternative point of views....


Somewhere in between the Left and the Right is the truth.

At the very least search for alternative point of views....

Of course I will read interpretations, the funny thing with this article is that I got it as a recomended read from one of my republican friends. I have visited that Constitution 101 page before, its really good. Good thing yu posted the link so more people can go there.



You know I always believed the reason for a forum like this was so that people could share things they read or see that might come from different points of view. You're trying to tell me about having an open mind and still it seems like you have already decided that I posted it because I liked it. If you look back at the thread you will notice that I have not commented it at all.

And about quoting actors, I would most certainly not quote what an actor says in a movie. I do wonder however why you woul automatically disqualify actors from knowing anyhing about the constitution (in real life that is), or did I misunderstand you there?