The Second Amendment

For this weeks blog I followed a discussion thread in the “Afro-Am” section. I was surprised by how scarce the threads were. There were many questions posed and statements posted and yet only a few responses. The thread that had the most recent responses was labeled “Closer Examinations of the Second Amendment,” and it went on to state, “The second amendment was ratified to preserve slavery.” Simple loaded words were not enough so the author attached a URL to an essay and newspaper article explaining and defending his or her claim.

Needless to say the responding bloggers did not share the same opinion.  A lot of good points were made against the bold, loaded statement. Although everyone’s ideas were quite similar, there was a tipping point when no one else responded. One woman seemed to say it all in one long response and quieted the masses. I tend to agree with the last post; the Second Amendment was usually linked to a militia. But more importantly the author of the attached article was historically incorrect and twisted quotations in strange ways.

Reading this blog made me want to do research on the authors of the attached essay and newspaper article. My findings lead me to believe neither author was highly credible. Their work seemed dramatic and more of material for the controversial theory lover, not a historian.

Link to the H-net thread: http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl?trx=vx&list=H-Afro-Am&month=1301&week=c&msg=BwoNZLQMSF3HKIH%2bZod35Q&user=&pw=

Link to the attached essay: http://www.saf.org/LawReviews/Bogus2.htm

Link to the attached article: http://truth-out.org/news/item/13890-the-second-amendment-was-ratified-to-preserve-slavery