Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

General Discussion

Showing Original Post only (View all)

Ichingcarpenter

(36,988 posts)
Wed Jan 16, 2013, 03:18 PM Jan 2013

The Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery:Southern Slave patrols [View all]

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."
.

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.

http://truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratified-to-preserve-slavery

In other words, the Virginia Militia was tasked with breaking up slave rebellions by busting any slave who might be organizing one. It even gave ‘incentive’ to men to serve on the militia: any freed colored person (black, Native American, or any other), if caught fleeing by the Militiaman, would be turned over to them as property, enslaved. A very effective incentive in colonial Virginia.

By 1755, the Militia was established not only as a foundation to enforce slavery in the south, but it was a structure which it could be expanded if need be. Countless records of captured free people of color, even people such as the Irish, were pressed as slaves under the system.

With the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, there was concern among slave holders that their militias, their slave patrols, would be usurped by the new federal government using the provisions outlined in Article 1, Section 8. Patrick Henry in particular was quite vocal on the subject, saying:

Let me here call your attention to that part [Article 1, Section 8 of the proposed Constitution] which gives the Congress power to provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States. . .

By this, sir, you see that their control over our last and best defence is unlimited. If they neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they will be useless: the states can do neither . . . this power being exclusively given to Congress. The power of appointing officers over men not disciplined or armed is ridiculous; so that this pretended little remains of power left to the states may, at the pleasure of Congress, be rendered nugatory. [Source]

He also is quoted as saying:

If the country be invaded, a state may go to war, but cannot suppress [slave] insurrections. If there should happen an insurrection of slaves, the country cannot be said to be invaded. They cannot, therefore, suppress it without the interposition of Congress . . . . Congress, and Congress only, can call forth the militia. [Source]

He was not alone either, with George Mason joining him in concern:

The militia may be here destroyed by that method which has been practised in other parts of the world before; that is, by rendering them useless, by disarming them. Under various pretences, Congress may neglect to provide for arming and disciplining the militia; and the state governments cannot do it, for Congress has an exclusive right to arm them. [Source]

In other words, the U.S. Congress could disarm the patrols needed to keep slaves in line, eliminating slavery with one bold and quick move overnight. The 2nd Amendment itself was purposefully designed to empower the states to manage and handle their slave patrols, their militias. Which is why when Thomas Jefferson had James Madison draft up the 2nd Amendment, he had the language changed, from this:

The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; a well armed, and well regulated militia being the best security of a free country: but no person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms, shall be compelled to render military service in person.

To the language we know today:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. [Source]

A serious redesign, would you not say? The focus shift from a civil, non-conscripted force to a state-regulated entity which can be conscripted into service fit the needs of the slave holders. In a stroke of irony, when Abraham Lincoln did free the slaves, he used the very power which Patrick Henry and George Mason feared the government would, only at that time, by the Confederate states acting in revolt, they had abandoned their voting positions within the United States and therefore were unable to block the legislation. Their petty revolt resulted in their institution of slavery being wiped away. It still was a bloody civil war, but their “right to bear arms” destroyed what they had hoped to preserve.

When people call themselves patriots, or say they’re standing for what the founding fathers stood for when it comes to the 2nd Amendment, they are, in fact, doing nothing of the sort. Unless, of course, they’re arguing for the right to press people into involuntary, lifetime-indentured servitude, passed from parent to child in perpetuity. Or perhaps, that was, in fact, the plan all along.

http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/01/16/founding-fathers-words-reveal-2nd-amendment-was-to-preserve-slavery/

34 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Sheesh - how many times is this going to be posted? SO WHAT!? jmg257 Jan 2013 #1
Thank you. Vattel Jan 2013 #6
Your Nation's History is Nonsense? Ichingcarpenter Jan 2013 #8
ditto... noiretextatique Jan 2013 #10
The suggestion that the rationale for the second amendment Vattel Jan 2013 #18
You can't handle the tuth. baldguy Jan 2013 #29
Yes, it doesn't really matter why it was ratified in the first place. nt Honeycombe8 Jan 2013 #26
K&R&bookmarked -- I can't believe this doesn't have more recs yet. nt eppur_se_muova Jan 2013 #2
K and R for the gungeon Kingofalldems Jan 2013 #3
And the First Amendment guaranteed pro-slavery screeds could be published, so... nt Romulox Jan 2013 #4
And this was used as legalized violence Ichingcarpenter Jan 2013 #7
Our country was FOUNDED on a violent revolution. So yes, the First Amendment is included Romulox Jan 2013 #9
I can't help but notice that only one side is armed. Nuclear Unicorn Jan 2013 #14
Interesting piece, thanks for posting it. freshwest Jan 2013 #5
Thank you for this. thucythucy Jan 2013 #11
It certainly explains a lot of things AnnieBW Jan 2013 #12
If millions of slaves had been armed, would they have remained slaves? Nuclear Unicorn Jan 2013 #13
There were some good points here, BUT...... AverageJoe90 Jan 2013 #15
This message was self-deleted by its author HangOnKids Jan 2013 #21
Only to protect slavery? No one is saying that RobertEarl Jan 2013 #24
I missed that part...how did 'state' vs 'country' make a diff for what jmg257 Jan 2013 #25
It was part of the 13 colony morph into the US RobertEarl Jan 2013 #28
..... AverageJoe90 Jan 2013 #31
The words "free state" actually meant free country - in context. mzmolly Jan 2013 #16
Same supreme Court that justified Dred Scott Ichingcarpenter Jan 2013 #19
Sad mzmolly Jan 2013 #22
Indeed, the Supreme Court has never been immune from corrupt partisanism. AverageJoe90 Jan 2013 #32
I had never heard this before, but I'm not about to write it off completely like some people... joeybee12 Jan 2013 #17
Thom Hartmann reported on this a few weeks ago. Ilsa Jan 2013 #20
Thanks...I assumed the link was to Thom Hartmann... joeybee12 Jan 2013 #23
Today, ask yourself... backscatter712 Jan 2013 #27
+100 lunasun Jan 2013 #30
So many historical errors. legaleagle_45 Jan 2013 #33
Damned lies. At some point gross inaccuracies become lies. NYC_SKP Sep 2013 #34
Latest Discussions»General Discussion»The Second Amendment was ...