The Origin Of The Second Amendment - Early Sources On America's Armed Civil Population, Part 4

The Context Of All Second Amendment Predecessors: Control Of Society By The Armed Civil Population Rather Than Government Paid Armies

Updated

Friction between the townspeople of Boston and British troops increased over time after their arrival in October of 1768. On March 5, 1770, a demonstration at the customhouse against the soldiers got out of hand and resulted in a deadly riot often called the Boston Massacre. The solders were criminally charged, and two lawyers, John Adams and Josiah Quincy Jr., defended them.

Both men were major American patriots. Adams became first vice president in the Washington administration and second president of the United States. Quincy passed away of natural causes at the beginning of the War for Independence and is relatively unknown today. However, both made contributions regarding America's armed civil population that led to eventual development and inclusion of the Second Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights. Adams views will be examined in later posts.

Quincy's May 1774 publication critical of Britain's Boston Port Bill closing the port and subjecting the civil population to rule by the military will be addressed here. The Port Bill and the British fleet and troops scheduled to arrive that month to enforce it were Britain's response to the Boston Tea Party. The full title of Quincy's work was Observations On The Boston Port Bill With Thoughts On Civil Society And Standing Armies. Quincy's thoughts on whether the people or a standing army should be in control lead to three concepts later included in America's first constitutional document, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, and specifically Section 13. These concepts were later incorporated into every subsequent American bill of rights related predecessor of the Second Amendment. Their language and context were crystal clear - civil control over government and any armed force it might raise.

Here are Quincy's views on civil society and who should make decisions relative thereto:

"The people who compose the society (for whose security the labour of its institution was performed, and of the toils its preservation daily sustained), the people, I say, are the only competent judges of their own welfare, and, therefore, are the only suitable authority to determine touching the great end of their subjection and their sacrifices." [Quincy,Memoir, p.396-397]

Quincy's views on "free government" and the purpose and composition of a well regulated militia follow:

"No free government was ever founded, or ever preserved its liberty, without uniting the characters of citizen and soldier in those destined for the defence of the state. The sword should never be in the hands of any but those who have an interest in the safety of the community, who fight for their religion and their offspring, - and repel invaders that they may return to their private affairs and the enjoyment of freedom and good order. Such are a well regulated militia composed of the freeholders, citizens, and husbandmen, who take up arms to preserve their property as individuals, and their rights as freemen." [Quincy, Memoir p.413]

This early Revolutionary Era tract influenced language adopted elsewhere well before any hostilities occurred or new American governments were formed. It was the descriptive vehicle relied on by Americans as they continued to self arm  and self embody as militia at the local level in order to defend their rights and property in an organized manner against claims of unlimited authority from government officials and troops.

The links between Quincy's views and subsequent use of such terminology in American Second Amendment related bill of rights predecessors provide the obvious Revolutionary Era context of their intent. Americans rejected having government be in control of the people. They decided to fight for the opposite proposition and establish it as a constitutional check on government power.

In Part 5, an early example incorporating Quincy's well regulated militia terminology as adopted by the December 1774 Maryland Convention will be examined.