Whose Revolution Was It Anyway?

[Sanford Levinson]

Though how significant, when alll is said and done, were the state militias.  One of Michael Belleisles's arguments in his now discredited book (because of the data on gun ownership)--the rest of the book received far less criticism, so far as I am aware)--is that the relatively amateur militias contributed quite little, as against Washington's more professional soldiers and, once more, the French.

Jack rakove has taken me to task for overemphasizing local militias in my reading of the 2nd Amendment.  I don't recant so far as the ideological history of the amendment is concerned, but I agree with Jack that ideology is not always a good guide to what actually happened. 

Sandy
- Sanford Levinson
(Sent from a Blackberry) 
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