I’m about to put some new flava in ya ear. For years gun right advocates have been throwing the Second Amendment out there. They been buying automatic military weapons, glocks and Uzi’s, they just running around here shooting people and standing they ground and just having a swell time. Let me tell you a story, but before I do, as you can see by the marker above, they still feeling some kinda way down there.
On this day in 1873 in a small town in Louisiana called Colfax, a group of white men killed between 50 and 150 African Americans. The men responsible for their deaths were Democrats. Not surprising since the majority of blacks were Republican at that time after having been granted freedom by the Republican President Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil War the newly freed men were given the right to vote and vote they did, but not without a cost. Most of the massacres involving African Americans in the 40 years before the twentieth century were precipitated on voting. This one was no different.
First a little background. Why did so many African American’s stay in the South after the Civil War and why did African American’s migrate to these former slave states? In one word.. cotton. Someone still had to pick that cotton. Only this time they could demand a wage. In short, that’s where the jobs were folks. Anywho, the Dixie Democrats were not about to let the new influx of negra’s control the government. Now on their own there were not enough African American’s numerically to out vote the southern racist, but just like today, there were enough to sway an election. That’s where the beating hangings and shootings come in.
To make a long story short, Some armed blacks took over the Colfax courthouse and held it for 3 weeks after one of the so called landslide Democratic victories. The Democrats claimed victory although they were the minority in the town. There were 771 African Americans and 621 whites. Anyway the racist finally got in there and killed the men holding the courthouse. You can read more about the Colfax massacre here. As a result of the massacre lawsuits were filed by James Roswell Beckwith, the US Attorney based in New Orleans. Various government forces spent weeks trying to round up members of the white paramilitaries, and a total of 97 men were indicted. In the end, Beckwith charged nine men and brought them to trial for violations of the Enforcement Act of 1870. It had been designed to provide federal protection for civil rights of freedmen under the 14th Amendment against actions by terrorist groups such as the Klan.
The men were charged with one murder, and charges related to a conspiracy against the rights of freedmen. Of course in 1873 the good old boy network in Louisiana set the men free. That’s when it hit the fan. The federal government took the cast to the Supreme Court. When the federal government appealed the case, it was heard by the US Supreme Court as United States v. Cruikshank (1875). The Supreme Court ruled that the Enforcement Act of 1870 (which was based on the Bill of Rights and 14th Amendment) applied only to actions committed by the state and that it did not apply to actions committed by individuals or private conspiracies The Federal government could not prosecute cases such as the Colfax killings. The court said plaintiffs who believed their rights were abridged had to seek protection from the state. Louisiana did not prosecute any of the perpetrators of the Colfax massacre; most southern states would not prosecute white men for attacks against freedmen. Okay, I can see you saying what new here. They were not going to imprison a white man in Louisiana for killing a black man in 1873. Where is the flava?
The flava is in their ruling:
All U.S. citizens are subject to two governments, their state government and the other the national government. The Government of the United States, although it is, within the scope of its powers, supreme and beyond the States, can neither grant nor secure to its citizens rights or privileges which are not expressly or by implication placed under its jurisdiction. All that cannot be so granted or secured are left to the exclusive protection of the States.
The Court found that the First Amendment right to assembly “was not intended to limit the powers of the State governments in respect to their own citizens, but to operate upon the National Government alone,” thus “for their protection in its enjoyment … the people must look to the States. The power for that purpose was originally placed there, and it has never been surrendered to the United States”. The Government of the United States, although it is, within the scope of its powers, supreme and beyond the States, can neither grant nor secure to its citizens rights or privileges which are not expressly or by implication placed under its jurisdiction. All that cannot be so granted or secured are left to the exclusive protection of the States.[
In addition the Justices held that the Second Amendment restricts only the powers of the national government, and that it does not restrict private citizens from denying other citizens the right to keep and bear arms, or any other right in the Bill of Rights. The Justices held that the right of the people to keep and bear arms exists, and that it is a right that exists without the Constitution granting such a right, by stating “Neither is it [the right to keep and bear arms] in any manner dependent upon that instrument [the Constitution] for its existence.” Their ruling was that citizens must look to “municipal legislation” when other citizens deprive them of such rights rather than the Constitution.
The right there specified is that of “bearing arms for a lawful purpose.” This is not a right granted by the Constitution. Neither is it in any manner dependent upon that instrument for its existence. The second amendment declares that it shall not be infringed, but this, as has been seen, means no more than that it shall not be infringed by Congress. This is one of the amendments that has no other effect than to restrict the powers of the national government, leaving the people to look for their protection against any violation by their fellow citizens of the rights it recognizes… Bam!!!
So you see, the Supreme Court Of The United States ruled in 1875, in United States v. Cruikshank, that the right to carry arms is “not” a Constitutional right. That’s the law of the land…
- Some provisions of the decision were later overthrown, but not the one concerning the bearing of arms.
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