The Tie Between Slavery and the Second Amendment
When interpreting the Constitution, it is crucial to determine the Framers’ true intentions when drafting the laws of the land. In recent years, one part of the Constitution has attracted the attention of many. The Second Amendment has been at the center of controversy following repeated mass shootings and failed attempts to pass sensible gun control laws on the federal level. Following District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), where the Second Amendment was reinterpreted for the first time in over sixty years, many asked themselves what the Framers’ true intentions of the Second Amendment were when it was first drafted in 1789 [1]. It is next to impossible to determine what James Madison really meant when he wrote, “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” [2]. While there are many interpretations of the Second Amendment that have stood in the way of gun control reform following the deaths of thousands in the United States over the years, one uncommon argument that has been brought up is the alleged tie between slavery and the Second Amendment.
The Second Amendment was first written in 1789 by James Madison, who is most commonly referred to as the “Father of the Constitution” [3]. To put things into perspective, in 1789 slavery was still very much legal in the United States. Just two years before the Second Amendment was written, the United States reached the Three-Fifths Compromise during the 1787 Constitutional Convention [4]. During the Constitutional Convention, Southern delegates who were slaveholders wanted enslaved blacks to count towards state populations for one main reason: slaves made up a huge population of the South, and they wanted to use this population to their advantage. Due to this large percentage, they wanted to count slaves in state population that could in turn boost Southern congressional representation in the House of Representatives [5]. Northern delegates disagreed with Southern representatives, so in order to reach an agreement they decided that enslaved African Americans would only be counted as three-fifths of a person, hence the name of the compromise.
The drafter of the Second Amendment, James Madison, who hailed from the state of Virginia, and grew up on a plantation that had over 100 slaves [6], was outspoken about a lot of issues facing America, such as religious liberty, even prior to the United States’ independence. However, despite his progressive stance on many issues, he remained tight lipped about the issue of slavery like many of the Founding Fathers. One question to ask when trying to determine a correlation between the Second Amendment and slavery is, as a slave owner himself, did James Madison want to give slaves the right to keep and bear arms? During this time in early America, the only people who were given basic fundamental rights were white Christian men. Freed black people and women of any color were not given Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms for self-defense.
According to an article published by The Washington Post, the Framers of the Constitution were gravely concerned over who should and should not be armed. The “militia” was given the utmost importance when drafting the Constitution to ensure that all Americans can be armed to protect themselves and the country. The Founding Fathers wanted to prevent the possibility of England disarming American citizens, which is why the militia is explicitly mentioned by Madison in the Second Amendment. Throughout early American history, it was extremely rare to have laws that allowed free black citizens to own weapons [7]. As far as enslaved blacks are concerned, it was even rarer for them to be able to keep and bear arms. If a black slave did as much as own a firearm, then it would be confiscated by the militia, who performed regular inspections of slave quarters in slave populated states.
“These restrictions were no mere footnotes to the gun politics of 18th-century America. White Americans were armed so that they could maintain control over nonwhites. Nonwhites were disarmed so that they would not pose a threat to white control of American society” [7].
While it is hard to determine James Madison’s intentions when drafting the Second Amendment, it has been proven that the right to keep and bear arms was used to the detriment of black Americans. White people were able to maintain control over blacks by being allowed to keep and bear arms, while it was next to impossible for slaves to be able to fight back against their oppressors. Up until the abolishment of slavery, black people were only seen as three-fifths of a person and could not enjoy any Constitutional rights, regardless if they were freed or not.
While slavery has been abolished for 153 years, the argument over whether or not slavery and the Second Amendment are connected has been brought up recently. One of the most common cases where it has been mentioned is by Australian comedian Jim Jeffries in his standup routine about gun control in America.
“You used to have this other thing in America called, uh… slavery! And then Lincoln came along and went, ‘That’s it. No more slaves!’ And 50% of you went, ‘Fuck you! Don’t take my slaves!’ And the same bullshit arguments came out that you have with guns. ‘Why should I have my slaves taken off me? I’m a responsible slave owner. I’m trained in how to use my slaves safely. Just because that guy mistreated his slaves doesn’t mean that my rights should be taken away from me. I… I use my slaves to protect my family! I keep my slaves locked in a safe!’ [10].
Many pundits such as Stephen P. Halbrook from Fox News have argued that slavery and the Second Amendment are not related [11]. Yet, as Jim Jeffries and many others have pointed out, slave owners used the same arguments as gun owners now when trying to enact legislation on a federal level.
When looking for solutions to gun violence, we cannot forgot to look at the past that is deeply rooted in our country’s history. For more information on how to help combat gun violence, please visit https://www.iansa.org/
References
[1] “The 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.” National Constitution Center — Constitutioncenter.org.
https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/amendments/amendment-ii
[2] Strasser, Mr. Ryan. “Second Amendment.” LII / Legal Information Institute.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/second_amendment
[3] “James Madison.” The White House.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/about-the-white-house/presidents/james-madison/
[4] “Three Fifths Compromise — Constitution | Laws.com.”
https://constitution.laws.com/three-fifths-compromise
[5] Johnson, Theodore R. “We Used to Count Black Americans as 3/5 of a Person. For Reparations, Give Them 5/3 of a Vote.” The Washington Post.
[6] Newkirk, Pamela. “Slavery and the Contradictions of James Madison.” The Washington Post.
[7] Shusterman, Noah. “Perspective | What the Second Amendment Really Meant to the Founders.” The Washington Post.
[8] Bogus, Carl T. “Was Slavery a Factor in the Second Amendment?” The New York Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/opinion/second-amendment-slavery-james-madison.html
[9] “13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery.” National Archives and Records Administration.
https://www.archives.gov/historical-docs/13th-amendment
[10] “JIM JEFFERIES ON GUN CONTROL [FULL TRANSCRIPT].” Scraps from the Loft.
https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2017/04/01/jim-jefferies-gun-control-full-transcript/
[11] “The Second Amendment Had Nothing to Do with Slavery.” Fox News.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2018/06/22/second-amendment-had-nothing-to-do-with-slavery.html
