Madison's Militia

In Madison's Militia, Carl Bogus illuminates precisely why James Madison and the First Congress included the right to bear arms in the Bill of Rights--and the reason will surprise readers. This gripping and wide-ranging history overturns the conventional wisdom about the Second Amendment--showing that the right to bear arms was not about protecting liberty but about preserving slavery.

Carl T. Bogus is a Professor of Law Emeritus at the Roger Williams University School of Law in Bristol, Rhode Island. He has also held visiting positions at the George Washington, Drexel, and Rutgers University law schools. He is the author of two previous books--Buckley: William F. Buckley Jr. and the Rise of American Conservatism (Bloomsbury Press) and Why Lawsuits Are Good for America: Disciplined Democracy, Big Business, and the Common Law (NYU Press)--and the editor of The Second Amendment in Law and History: Historians and Constitutional Scholars on the Right to Bear Arms (The New Press). His writings have appeared in professional journals as well as the New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, The Nation, American Prospect, American Conservative, and other popular venues.

- Introduction
- Chapter One: Showdown in Richmond
- Chapter Two: Debate in Richmond
- Chapter Three: Decision in Richmond
- Chapter Four: Southern Terror
- Chapter Five: The Militia--War in the North
- Chapter Six: The Militia--War in the South
- Chapter Seven: Mr. Madison Goes to Congress
- Chapter Eight: The Ghost of Patrick Henry
- Chapter Nine: The English Declaration of Rights of 1689
- Chapter Ten: Chimeras of Liberty
- Conclusion
- Author's Note
- Notes
- Index