Bill of Rights

• 
• 4/9/2023
  

  Why Did Madison Write the Second Amendment?

  by Carl T. Bogus

  Understanding the political peril that ensnared both the pre-ratification Constitution and James Madison himself makes it clear that the Second Amendment was written to ensure that southern state militias would be sufficiently armed to suppress slave revolts even if abolitionists controlled Washington. 

• 
• SOURCE: The Atlantic
  10/21/2020
  

  The Forgotten Third Amendment Could Give Pandemic-Struck America a Way Forward

  by Alexander Zhang

  Could the Third Amendment's ban on quartering of troops in private homes be expanded to establish a right to protection against pandemics? The history of troop quartering shows objections to it were closely connected with fear of disease.

• 
• 2/2/20
  

  Why Thomas Jefferson Was Really No Friend of Religious Freedom

  by M. Andrew Holowchak

  Thomas Jefferson, because of the passage of his Bill for the Establishment of Religious Freedom, is customarily viewed by scholars as a paladin of religious freedom. Yet there is reason to question that view.

• 
• SOURCE: Politico Magazine
  8/18/19
  

  How a Gerrymander Nearly Cost Us the Bill of Rights

  by Richard Labunski

  Gerrymandering very nearly cost us the Bill of Rights and could have plunged the country into chaos from which it would not have recovered.

• 
• 5/12/19
  

  George Mason: Lost Founder

  by William G. Hyland Jr.

  Why George Mason rightly deserves to be considered one of the fathers of our national government. 

• 
• SOURCE: NYT
  7-26-18
  

  The 14th Amendment, the one that empowered the Bill of Rights, turned 150 this past weekend

  by T.J. Stiles

  Before the 14th Amendment, the Bill of Rights protected almost no one.

• 
• 12-14-14
  

  Every 30 or 40 Years We See Flagrant Attacks on Free Speech. Here We Go Again.

  by Lawrence Davidson

  This time it’s attacks on the critics of Israel.

• SOURCE: WSJ
  5-21-13
  

  Truce ends tussle over Bill of Rights

  For years, historians have disagreed whether the New York Public Library's original copy of the Bill of Rights is the one that went missing long ago from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.On Wednesday, the state and the library are expected to call a truce after agreeing to share custody of the 223-year-old document for the next century, at which point the agreement must be renegotiated or extended.While no clear-cut answer has emerged as to the document's rightful owner, the pact ends five years of discussions between Pennsylvania and the library and closes the door on a legal fight."One of the things we have avoided here is the tremendous cost of litigation and the uncertainty in a court of law," Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said....

• SOURCE: Truth-out
  1-15-13
  

  Thom Hartmann: The Second Amendment was Ratified to Preserve Slavery

  "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."