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My 14th Amendment paper is online
At SSRN, right here.
It deals with the original public understanding of the 14th Amendment, as distinct from its Congressional history. The question under this standard is -- what did the American people think they were being asked to ratify? Key to that in the legislative history of Sen. Howard's speech upon introducing it in the Senate, where he says one of the purposes is to force the States to obey the US Bill of Rights. The question then becomes did the American public know of this statement?
Pretty clearly. It was carried on the front page of the NY Times and the NY Herald (then the biggest newspaper in the country), in the Philadelphia Inquirer, and in quite a few smaller papers.
The thrust of the 14th was to strike down the "Black Codes," I found those were prominently discussed in newspapers as well. The primary focus was upon laws forbidding blacks to own land, or to enter certain occupations, and upon seizure of their firearms and those of other Unionists.
You can download the pdf by clicking on the button above the title. UPDATE: that takes you to a second page, again with the abstract, then you click on the "SSRN" button to download.
UPDATE: SSRN is undergoing database maintenance for about an hour (it's stated as 8-9 PM, I assume EST) right now.
Comments
Outstanding!
Once again, Mr. Hardy, your intellectual and scholarly firepower blow away yet another favorite canard of the anti-Second Amendment buffoons!
Keep up the excellent work.
You are a true model of "freedom fighter" in the best sense of the word.
Happy New Year!
Posted by: Tarn Helm at January 2, 2009 05:08 PM
Sad to say that when I click the Download button, I get another copy of the extract. I am not getting the actual PDF. Yet when I donwload PDFs from other sites, they work as designed. Please advise; is there another means of getting a copy?
Posted by: CarlS at January 2, 2009 05:46 PM
Disregard my previous comment about downloading .... I solved the issue by logging in to my SSRN account, navigating to your page, and thereby capturing all your articles. Now to read ...... Oh, and thanks for the research!
Posted by: CarlS at January 2, 2009 05:58 PM
Really excellent! I just finished printing it out and reading it, and can't compliment you better than those before me have already done. Great work!
The big balloon of anti-2A gas-baggery that depends upon the "Living Constitution" for interpretive befuddling and obfuscation desperately needs the sharp prick of a giant needle.
Posted by: DirtCrashr at January 3, 2009 07:51 PM
Can't thank you enough, David. Your efforts are genuinely appreciated.
Posted by: Virginian at January 3, 2009 08:01 PM
I don't have an SSRN account. Can someone please email to me at timw (at) practicaltactical (dot) net please?
Posted by: Tim Weaver at January 3, 2009 09:16 PM
You don't need an account. Make sure you have cookies enabled for the site.
Thanks a bunch, David. This paper answers many questions I've had about the 14th.
Posted by: TJP at January 5, 2009 10:02 AM
Mr. Hardy, What is the proper way to cite to this paper on SSRN?
Posted by: Ed Stone at January 5, 2009 11:29 AM