Freedmen, The Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms, 1866-1876

Westport, CT: Praeger, 1998. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good. xiii, [1], 230, [4] pages. Notes. Table of Cases. Bibliography. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. Stephen P. Halbrook (b. 12 September 1947. is a Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute and an author and lawyer known for his litigation on behalf of the National Rifle Association. He has written extensively about the original meanings of the Second Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment. He has argued and won three cases before the US Supreme Court. In District of Columbia v. Heller, he wrote a brief on behalf of the majority of both houses of Congress. More broadly, his decades of research on the Second Amendment contributed to the intellectual foundation of the Heller decision. He has written many books and articles on the topic of gun control, some of which have been cited in Supreme Court opinions. He has testified before congress on multiple occasions. From the Freedmen's Bureau Act of 1866 to the Supreme Court's decision in United States v. Cruikshank (1876), Halbrook paints a vivid portrait of a political and legal system grappling with the true meaning of civil rights. Although Halbrook concentrates on the right to keep and bear arms, he also includes a comprehensive analysis of the topic of the relationship between the Bill of Rights and the state governments after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment. Cited by both the U.S. Supreme Court in its historic landmark decisions in Heller and McDonald as the leading account of the relationship between the Second Amendment and the states during Reconstruction, Halbrook's narrative will help us better understand why earlier generations of Americans viewed the right to bear arms as essential for securing civil rights.