Securing Civil Rights

Name: Securing Civil Rights
Author: https://www.simonandschuster.net/authors/Stephen-P-Halbrook/238966709
ISBN: 9781598133356

Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms

By Stephen P. Halbrook

Foreword by Robert J. Cottrol

LIST PRICE $22.95

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About The Book

Stephen Halbrook's groundbreaking study of freed slaves and the right to bear arms in the aftermath of the Civil War, cited in Supreme Court cases, now with a new foreword by Robert J. Cottrol.

What did it mean to take civil rights seriously—especially the “right to bear arms”—in the years following the abolition of slavery? By quoting legislative debates, Congressional hearings on Ku Klux Klan violence, and newspapers and law books of the time, constitutional scholar Stephen Halbrook shows that both supporters and opponents of the Fourteenth Amendment (1868) believed that it protected all Bill of Rights guarantees—especially the Second Amendment—from infringement by the states.

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.

“Trusting ex-slaves to own firearms was, by any definition, the cutting edge in true belief in civil rights,” Halbrook writes. “It remains to be seen whether contemporary society will accommodate the same rights of the freedmen that the Framers of the Fourteenth Amendment sought to guarantee.”

Although Halbrook concentrates on the right to keep and bear arms, he also includes a comprehensive analysis of the general 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 decision in the McDonald case (2010) and the Washington Supreme Court in State of Washington v. Christopher William Sieyes case (2010) as the leading account of the relationship between the Second Amendment and the states during Reconstruction, Halbrook’s insightful narrative will help a larger audience better understand why earlier generations of Americans viewed the right to bear arms as essential for securing civil rights.

About The Author

Stephen P. Halbrook

Stephen P. Halbrook is a Research Fellow with the Independent Institute who has argued and won three constitutional law cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Halbrook is the author of eight books including The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms; Securing Civil Rights: Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right To Bear Arms; That Every Man Be Armed: The Evolution of a Constitutional Right; A Right to Bear Arms: State and Federal Bills of Rights and Constitutional Guarantees; Target Switzerland (also in German, French, Italian, and Polish editions); and The Swiss and the Nazis: How the Alpine Republic Survived in the Shadow of the Third Reich. He holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University and J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center. His popular articles have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, San Antonio Express-News, Environmental Forum, USA Today, and Washington Times, and he has appeared on numerous national TV/radio programs such as “The Phil Donahue Show” and programs on Fox Business Network, Court TV, Voice of America, CNN, and C-SPAN.

Product Details

Publisher: Independent Institute (November 19, 2021)
Length: 264 pages
ISBN13: 9781598133356

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Raves and Reviews

“Halbrook touches two hotly contested issues in American constitutional history. It is a contribution to both the Second Amendment debate and the incorporation controversy over the extent the Fourteenth Amendment applies the Bill of Rights, and especially the right to bear arms, to the states. . . . Halbrook has written a book that contributes significantly to our understanding of the linkage between the Second and Fourteenth Amendments. Although his primary concern has been to bring back the Second Amendment from a moribund state in American jurisprudence, Halbrook’s efforts also shed considerable additional light on broader questions.”

– Journal of Southern History

“In the aftermath of the Civil War, there was an outpouring of discussion of the Second Amendment in Congress and in public discourse, as people debated whether and how to secure constitutional rights for newly free slaves. See generally S. Halbrook, [Securing Civil Rights:] Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms.”

– Antonin G. Scalia, Associate Justice, U.S. Supreme Court, in District of Columbia v. Heller

“In his thorough analysis of Congressional debates Halbrook makes quite clear the point that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment saw Second Amendment guarantees as essential to the political liberty of the individual American citizen.”

– American Journal of Legal History

“The Heller Court also analyzed post-Civil War case law and commentary to conclude a key purpose of the Fourteenth Amendment was to ensure freed blacks had the right to keep and bear arms. Id. at 2810-11; see generally Stephen P. Halbrook, [Securing Civil Rights:] Freedmen, the Fourteenth Amendment, and the Right to Bear Arms.”

– Richard B. Sanders, Justice, Supreme Court of the State of Washington, in State of Washington v. Christopher William Sieyes

“[Halbrook] provides overwhelming evidence that the Fourteenth Amendment was meant to protect the right of individuals to be armed and that this particular right was a major concern of its framers. He offers scholars in the field a wealth of quotations from the historical debates. . . . Above all, Halbrook helps restore the historical record of a badly served constitutional amendment.”

– American Historical Review