The Federalist Papers and the Second Amendment

Grades 7-12

Social Studies / History

One 45-minute class period

Activity 3.

Summary:
This activity helps students understand the context in which the Second Amendment was added to the US Constitution. By reading two passages from the Federalist Papers, written by James Madison , they will understand why the right to bear arms was important at the time. Because the vocabulary may be unfamiliar, either the literacy strategy triple vocabulary entry or Sum it Up , will help facilitate the understanding the language.

The student handout is as follows:

The Federalist Papers and the Second Amendment

1. James Madison, "Father of the Constitution", wrote essays in 1788 about bearing arms. When he mentions bearing arms in the section below, he refers to both an organized government militia and private citizens. In both the cases that he makes, the militia is made up of armed citizens. At the time Madison is writing, the colonists were very concerned about the threat of tyranny and especially if imposed upon them by a federal government. They had suffered the oppression of the British government before and during the Revolutionary War, and were now trying to establish rules to ensure that this type of tyranny would not happen again. You will be reading from a primary source, so the vocabulary may be unfamiliar. Use the graphic organizer to keep track of words you do not know etc.

Here he is estimating the probable forces a federal government would have compared to the armed citizenry.

"Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops."

 What does Madison mean when he says, "officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence."?

2. "Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of. Notwithstanding the military establishments in the several kingdoms of Europe, which are carried as far as the public resources will bear, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms. And it is not certain, that with this aid alone they would not be able to shake off their yokes. But were the people to possess the additional advantages of local governments chosen by themselves, who could collect the national will and direct the national force, and of officers appointed out of the militia, by these governments, and attached both to them and to the militia, it may be affirmed with the greatest assurance, that the throne of every tyranny in Europe would be speedily overturned in spite of the legions which surround it."

2.In this part of the Federalist Papers, what is Madison saying about citizens being armed and the tyrannical, unfriendly governments in Europe at the time?