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« High speed photography | Main | Carnival of Cordite »

Coxe, Madison and "healing strictures"

Posted by David Hardy · 17 October 2006 02:13 PM

One of the more significant indications of original intent on the Second Amendment is the newpaper article by Tenche Coxe, circulated while the First Congress was debating the Bill of Rights, and referring to the Second Amendment as protecting Americans' possession of "their private arms."

Madison wrote Coxe a thank-you note, saying, among other things, that the Constitution was already indebted to the "healing strictures of your pen."

I just happened to do a search for the contemporary meaning of "stricture" in that context, and found some uses:

In modern medical terminology, it usually means the narrowing of a passage, but this medical dictionary notes an earlier use: "A stricture is also anything that closely restrains or limits. Shakespeare used "stricture" in the sense of strictness, as in "A man of stricture and firm abstinence.""

Here's another use: "An adverse remark or criticism; censure."

It looks as if Madison's remark meant "healing criticism (presumably of the Constitution's detractors) or argument."

· Second Amendment wording

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