On Preambles

[Paul Finkelman]

Of course it is worth remembering that Randolph opposed the Bank of the US and
Washington rejected his advice.  It is also worth noting that the "preamble" to
the US constitution was a separate section, disconnected from the rest of the
document.  The first part of the single sentence that is the2nd Amendment hardly
fits into that category.

What amazes me in this dicussion is argument that these very conservative
federalists, who are running the show, suddenly become anarchists,
revolutionists, moaist, etc. for the 2nd amendment.  I know Randy and Sandy
Levinson both have strong anarchist tendencies.  Fine.  But, do you really think
that James Madison and co company are in your camp?  In other words, you may
wish deeply that the 2nd Am. means what you say it means, and from some
non-historical, non-originalist perspective maybe you can get there.  But, how
can you imagine that this Congress full of rich white men, slaveowners,
businessmen, planters, would-be bankers, etc. are in favor of an unlimited right
of the rabble to own weapons?  They want the "well-regulated" militia to protect
them from the rabble, and to disarm the rabble whenever necessary.

Paul Finkelman


--
Paul Finkelman
Chapman Distinguished Professor
University of Tulsa College of Law
3120 East 4th Place
Tulsa, Oklahoma  74104-2499

918-631-3706 (office)
918-631-2194 (fax)

paul-finkelman at utulsa.edu



Randy Barnett wrote:

> Upon rereading this for class, it occurred to me that it was relevant to our
> discussion of the Second Amendment.  In his opinion to President Washington
> on the constitutionality of the national bank, Attorney General Edmund
> Randolph wrote of the Preamble to the Constitution:
>
> "[T]he Preamble if it be operative is a full constitution in itself; and the
> body of the Constitution is useless; but it is declarative only of the views
> of the convention, which they supposed would be best fulfilled by the powers
> delineated and that such is the legitimate nature of preambles."
>
> __________________________________________
> Randy E. Barnett
> Austin B. Fletcher Professor
> Boston University School of Law
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