Embarking on the Dissertation Process: An Intellectual History of the American Right to Keep and Bear Arms

     

    Embarking on the journey to earn a PhD. Includes the daunting capstone requirement to complete the dissertation process. One of the first requirement of this process is to select a suitable topic that will not only satisfy ones personal interests in order to keep one engaged, but which will contribute to filling a gap in the historiography , or at least being able to explain its existence. My chosen topic for the pursuit of this goal revolves around the research, writing, and defense of an intellectual history of the American right to keep and bear arms as embodied and enumerated in the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the Constitution of the United States. While the idea of a uniquely American interpretation of the right to keep and bear arms is represented by the Second Amendment, it can also be seen in other period writings from the colonial period through the early republic. The foundational research questions supporting this endeavor are: what did the founding generation mean when they spoke of a right, or the right to keep and bear arms; what did such a concept mean to them; and where the American manifestation of this concept derived from, as well as how it had adopted a uniquely American nature.

    Intellectual history is most simply described as the history of ideas. An intellectual history of the American right to keep and bear arms and its embodiment in the Second Amendment to the Bill of Rights to the Constitution would contribute to a field of history which has largely been focused on the contemporary political debate, rather than fully exploring the origins of the intellectual concepts involved. Examining the history of ideas around the concept of the right to keep and bear arms can contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the American embodiment of the right to keep and bear arms, and the Second Amendment. Completing such an endeavor will enhance understanding of the intellectual foundations of the Second Amendment for historians seeking to understand how and why the founding generation developed the particularly American expression of this concept. Ironically, the political nature of the contemporary historiography demonstrates the significance of such inquiry and how it may contribute to greater understanding of the founders understanding of the involved concepts as well as their intent in including the Second Amendment in the Bill of Rights and perhaps even an improved understanding of why it was worded in the form it took in that document.

    The right to keep and bear arms occupies a significant position at a crossroads of the personal and professional realms of my life and background for many reasons to include my background as a military historian and the evolving roles and employment of the militia in America from the colonial period through the 19th century, as well as a long fascination with militaries, arms, and armaments throughout history. While much has been written regarding the American right to keep and bear arms and the Second Amendment, much of it is focused on the legal debates beginning in the early 20th century through today and treats an intellectual examination of the idea of those subjects in the late colonial period and early republic tangentially rather than as a topic of research in and of itself. Historically, within Western Civilization, the right to keep and bear arms for the defense of ones self, ones family, ones property, and ones community differentiated the truly free man from the serf, or slave. The nature of intellectual history and an examination of this right prior to the American founding and its codification within the founding documents of the United States illuminate the inherent requirement to examine and evaluate the intellectual origins which contributed to its American expression.

    The collection of a significant body of material on this subject originated with the basic foundational documents in English law, the 1689 English Declaration of Rights produced by the English Parliament following England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 and debates revolving around them both in England and the Colonies. From this foundation, the acquisition of additional intellectual sources, to include legal and political philosophers from the enlightenment and elsewhere bestows an expanding understanding of the breadth of influences which influenced the intellectual development of the founding generation, providing impetus to their actions. Members of the founding generation to include Monroe, Madison, Jefferson, and early Supreme Court Justices of the early republic frequently directly quoted or cited such intellectual influences in correspondences or within their professional writings, but locating instances of direct attribution to these thought leaders often provides a significant research hurdle to be overcome. My background as a member of America's armed forces, a military historian, as well as a collector of both arms and armaments as well as books on the subject, both antique and contemporary furnish worthy starting blocks to undertake such a challenge as well as the production of a product worthy of greater interest and consideration.