1 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:16,420 Speaker 1: Pushkin. 2 00:00:22,780 --> 00:00:26,180 Speaker 2: Hello, hello, everyone. It's Malcolm Gladwell. I'm here today to 3 00:00:26,220 --> 00:00:30,080 Speaker 2: bring you something special. A chapter from my new book, 4 00:00:30,900 --> 00:00:33,920 Speaker 2: The American Way of Killing, The Invention of an Epidemic. 5 00:00:34,300 --> 00:00:38,419 Speaker 2: It's chapter two, called The Slave Owner's Lament. And it is, 6 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:40,699 Speaker 2: to use a word we love here at Revisionist History, 7 00:00:41,220 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 2: the absolutely bananas story behind a Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 8 00:00:46,740 --> 00:00:51,229 Speaker 2: the Gun Rights Amendment, with guest appearances by 18th century Virginians, 9 00:00:51,570 --> 00:00:55,970 Speaker 2: a brilliant Australian linguist, the delightfully named historian Carl Bogus, 10 00:00:56,470 --> 00:00:59,950 Speaker 2: a lot of cranky Supreme Court justices, and most of all, 11 00:01:00,330 --> 00:01:05,670 Speaker 2: a charismatic African slave named Jemmy. I am pleased to 12 00:01:05,710 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 2: announce the publication of my new book, The American Way 13 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:12,990 Speaker 2: of Killing, The Invention of an Epidemic. Four episodes in 14 00:01:13,090 --> 00:01:16,650 Speaker 2: all on maybe one of the most complicated and perplexing 15 00:01:16,669 --> 00:01:20,229 Speaker 2: of American social issues. My new book is coming out 16 00:01:20,270 --> 00:01:23,150 Speaker 2: September 29th. You can find all of my book tour 17 00:01:23,180 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 2: dates on my website, global.com. Come and see me. And 18 00:01:26,940 --> 00:01:28,500 Speaker 2: if you're in the New York area, I'll be at 19 00:01:28,539 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 2: the 92nd Street Y in conversation with Katie Tour of 20 00:01:31,979 --> 00:01:36,120 Speaker 2: NBC News on the evening of September 29th, which should 21 00:01:36,139 --> 00:01:41,270 Speaker 2: be really fun. Doing this book opened my eyes. and 22 00:01:41,310 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 2: I hope it will do the same for you. You 23 00:01:44,259 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 2: can get The American Way of Killing at whatever bookstore 24 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:51,420 Speaker 2: you frequent or online platform you like. And you can 25 00:01:51,540 --> 00:01:57,460 Speaker 2: find the audiobook version at pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever 26 00:01:57,520 --> 00:01:58,320 Speaker 2: you get audiobooks. 27 00:02:05,790 --> 00:02:12,870 Speaker 3: I won't close my eyes and forget my sorrows I 28 00:02:12,889 --> 00:02:21,540 Speaker 3: don't care if the devil takes tomorrow. Ashes to ashes 29 00:02:21,560 --> 00:02:28,360 Speaker 3: if I must. I won't leave all my troubles. 30 00:02:27,890 --> 00:02:38,350 Speaker 2: Dust to dust. Chapter 2. The Slave Owner's Lament In 31 00:02:38,390 --> 00:02:41,780 Speaker 2: the early years of the 18th century, In the long 32 00:02:41,880 --> 00:02:45,700 Speaker 2: stretches of marshland known as the South Carolina Low Country, 33 00:02:46,260 --> 00:02:48,980 Speaker 2: the local authorities decided they needed to dig a network 34 00:02:49,020 --> 00:02:54,000 Speaker 2: of canals leading off the Stono River. The Stono is 35 00:02:54,040 --> 00:02:58,060 Speaker 2: a tidal channel just south and west of Charleston, snaking 36 00:02:58,100 --> 00:03:02,400 Speaker 2: its way between Johns Island and James Island. In the spring, 37 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 2: its banks would overflow, flooding roads and homes and farmland, 38 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:09,890 Speaker 2: and the idea was to build the equivalent of storm 39 00:03:09,960 --> 00:03:13,620 Speaker 2: sewers off the river. They were six feet deep and 40 00:03:13,620 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 2: 15 to 20 feet wide, so substantial that many are 41 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:20,640 Speaker 2: still there today. Digging them out of the heavy mud 42 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:26,970 Speaker 2: was a massive undertaking. The historian Peter Charles Hoffer writes, quote, 43 00:03:27,310 --> 00:03:30,670 Speaker 2: bending over shovels and mattocks in the snake and insect 44 00:03:30,810 --> 00:03:34,790 Speaker 2: infected waters, the diggers were exposed to the elements, disease 45 00:03:35,230 --> 00:03:39,260 Speaker 2: and exhaustion. He went on, the summer heat would create 46 00:03:39,400 --> 00:03:43,150 Speaker 2: terrible thirst. But the brackish water at the diggers' feet 47 00:03:43,470 --> 00:03:49,370 Speaker 2: was filled with deadly bacteria, parasites, and waste. This was 48 00:03:49,450 --> 00:03:52,430 Speaker 2: not a task the white colonists of South Carolina would 49 00:03:52,490 --> 00:03:55,690 Speaker 2: ever dream of doing themselves. It was a job for 50 00:03:55,710 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 2: their slaves. Imagine a group of two dozen or so bondsmen, 51 00:04:02,580 --> 00:04:06,660 Speaker 2: as slaves were often euphemistically called, digging ditches off the 52 00:04:06,700 --> 00:04:12,270 Speaker 2: Stono River. It's early September, 1739. The profits from rice 53 00:04:12,300 --> 00:04:15,950 Speaker 2: cultivation in that part of South Carolina were so large 54 00:04:16,409 --> 00:04:19,010 Speaker 2: that it was often cheaper for plantation owners to work 55 00:04:19,029 --> 00:04:22,250 Speaker 2: their slaves to death and buy replacements than to try 56 00:04:22,290 --> 00:04:27,010 Speaker 2: and keep their existing slaves alive. So these are men 57 00:04:27,130 --> 00:04:29,430 Speaker 2: fresh off the boat from Angola and what was then 58 00:04:29,470 --> 00:04:34,590 Speaker 2: called Congo with a K. It was a Saturday. They 59 00:04:34,630 --> 00:04:36,850 Speaker 2: had been out in the hot sun all day and 60 00:04:36,930 --> 00:04:39,530 Speaker 2: faced the prospect of having to do the same thing 61 00:04:39,570 --> 00:04:43,330 Speaker 2: the following day, because ditch digging was considered so urgent 62 00:04:43,750 --> 00:04:47,830 Speaker 2: that the normal Sunday day of rest was suspended. They 63 00:04:47,870 --> 00:04:52,480 Speaker 2: were exhausted. Their white overseer had left early. They were 64 00:04:52,520 --> 00:04:55,500 Speaker 2: on their own. Across the river from where they were 65 00:04:55,540 --> 00:04:59,520 Speaker 2: working was a general store called Hutchinson's. At the end 66 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,990 Speaker 2: of the workday, they crossed over the river and made 67 00:05:03,050 --> 00:05:08,040 Speaker 2: their way to the store for food and refreshment. No 68 00:05:08,080 --> 00:05:10,860 Speaker 2: one knows exactly when and why this ragged band of 69 00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:16,659 Speaker 2: slaves changed course. But between the ditches and Hutchinson's, exhaustion 70 00:05:16,720 --> 00:05:20,600 Speaker 2: turned to anger. One of the group, Jemmy, emerged as 71 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,540 Speaker 2: the leader. The store was closed. They broke in. They 72 00:05:24,580 --> 00:05:28,200 Speaker 2: found two men inside. They killed them both. Someone would 73 00:05:28,240 --> 00:05:31,349 Speaker 2: later allege that the rebels cut off their victims' heads 74 00:05:31,890 --> 00:05:35,350 Speaker 2: and impaled them on a stake outside. They looted the store, 75 00:05:35,690 --> 00:05:39,770 Speaker 2: taking rifles and ammunition and alcohol with them. They started 76 00:05:39,830 --> 00:05:43,930 Speaker 2: off marching down the road, beating drums and crying, Liberty! 77 00:05:44,890 --> 00:05:47,210 Speaker 2: Other slaves joined them. It was now the middle of 78 00:05:47,250 --> 00:05:50,010 Speaker 2: the night. When they saw the houses of slave owners, 79 00:05:50,370 --> 00:05:53,430 Speaker 2: they made a decision. Is this someone who treats us 80 00:05:53,530 --> 00:05:57,349 Speaker 2: with even a modicum of kindness? If so, they skipped 81 00:05:57,370 --> 00:06:00,800 Speaker 2: the house. If not, they burned the house down and 82 00:06:00,830 --> 00:06:06,660 Speaker 2: killed everyone inside. One contemporary account reads, They marched on 83 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 2: with colors displayed and two drums beating, pursuing all the 84 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:14,840 Speaker 2: white people they met with and killing man, woman, and 85 00:06:14,940 --> 00:06:18,469 Speaker 2: child when they could come up to them. End of quote. 86 00:06:19,490 --> 00:06:22,710 Speaker 2: By morning, they were more than a hundred strong and 87 00:06:22,830 --> 00:06:27,130 Speaker 2: miles from the Stono River. Since it was Sunday, most 88 00:06:27,170 --> 00:06:29,490 Speaker 2: of the white population of the Lowcountry was in church, 89 00:06:30,030 --> 00:06:34,140 Speaker 2: so Jemmy's band marched on without incident. Finally, they were 90 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:39,120 Speaker 2: spotted by South Carolina's lieutenant governor, William Bull. Bull had 91 00:06:39,140 --> 00:06:43,430 Speaker 2: been sounding the alarm for some time that South Carolina's slaves, quote, 92 00:06:43,820 --> 00:06:46,990 Speaker 2: which were the state's chief support, may in little time 93 00:06:47,030 --> 00:06:50,690 Speaker 2: become their enemies, if not their masters, and that this 94 00:06:50,750 --> 00:06:54,410 Speaker 2: government is unable to withstand or prevent it, end of quote. 95 00:06:56,010 --> 00:07:00,170 Speaker 2: One of his companions raced to a nearby church, Willtown Presbyterian. 96 00:07:00,610 --> 00:07:03,750 Speaker 2: He rounded up as many men as he could, News spread. 97 00:07:04,310 --> 00:07:07,430 Speaker 2: Other men grabbed their guns and joined. The rebels were 98 00:07:07,470 --> 00:07:12,370 Speaker 2: resting on Ponds Ponds Road near Jacksonboro. The two sides clashed, 99 00:07:12,970 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 2: and in a fierce and bloody encounter, the rebels were defeated. 100 00:07:24,300 --> 00:07:26,640 Speaker 2: If you were a slave owner in the South, you 101 00:07:26,720 --> 00:07:30,070 Speaker 2: knew about the Stono Rebellion, especially if you lived in 102 00:07:30,150 --> 00:07:34,650 Speaker 2: South Carolina or Virginia. You read about it in the newspaper. 103 00:07:35,310 --> 00:07:38,180 Speaker 2: Or someone who was there wrote you about it or 104 00:07:38,300 --> 00:07:41,580 Speaker 2: told you about it at church. Every white planter knew 105 00:07:41,640 --> 00:07:44,940 Speaker 2: that a day of reckoning was coming. In Barbados, where 106 00:07:44,980 --> 00:07:47,820 Speaker 2: many of the founding fathers of the South Carolina colony 107 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:51,760 Speaker 2: came from, the British could barely keep their slaves under control. 108 00:07:52,730 --> 00:07:56,310 Speaker 2: Uprisings were a constant worry on the slave ships coming 109 00:07:56,350 --> 00:08:01,000 Speaker 2: from Africa. Slaves ran away. They fought back. They engaged 110 00:08:01,100 --> 00:08:04,980 Speaker 2: in frequent acts of disobedience and resistance. You could whip 111 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:09,280 Speaker 2: your slaves into submission, starve them, punish them, or simply 112 00:08:09,460 --> 00:08:12,540 Speaker 2: sell the troublemakers to someone else. But at the end 113 00:08:12,580 --> 00:08:15,000 Speaker 2: of the day, you had to live with the reality 114 00:08:15,340 --> 00:08:17,260 Speaker 2: that it was only a matter of time before the 115 00:08:17,320 --> 00:08:22,570 Speaker 2: cauldron bubbled over. At the Monticello plantation in Virginia, where 116 00:08:22,610 --> 00:08:25,830 Speaker 2: Thomas Jefferson lived with his immediate family, there were as 117 00:08:25,890 --> 00:08:30,070 Speaker 2: many as 140 slaves at any given moment, and only 118 00:08:30,130 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 2: a few white overseers. In South Carolina, slaves composed over 70% 119 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:38,860 Speaker 2: of the total population of the colony. And if you 120 00:08:38,920 --> 00:08:41,699 Speaker 2: ventured out as far as the Stono River, the ratio 121 00:08:41,760 --> 00:08:45,439 Speaker 2: of black to white on plantations reached 10 to 1, 122 00:08:45,439 --> 00:08:49,219 Speaker 2: or even 15 to 1. If you had to ride 123 00:08:49,239 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 2: to town on business, or go to the state capitol 124 00:08:52,099 --> 00:08:55,010 Speaker 2: for a few days, leaving your wife and children at home, 125 00:08:55,550 --> 00:09:00,189 Speaker 2: could you feel safe? Thomas Jefferson said, would famously describe 126 00:09:00,229 --> 00:09:03,729 Speaker 2: the practice of slavery as grabbing a wolf by the ears. 127 00:09:04,809 --> 00:09:08,800 Speaker 2: It was too dangerous to continue, but too dangerous to stop. 128 00:09:09,979 --> 00:09:13,279 Speaker 2: And then comes the Stoner Rebellion, and that pit in 129 00:09:13,319 --> 00:09:19,059 Speaker 2: your stomach becomes a molten mass. What was behind Jemmy's insurrection? 130 00:09:19,739 --> 00:09:22,979 Speaker 2: They were headed south, which suggests that perhaps they were 131 00:09:23,010 --> 00:09:26,969 Speaker 2: trying to reach Florida, then under Spanish control, where escaped 132 00:09:27,189 --> 00:09:30,519 Speaker 2: slaves could find safe haven. But if that were the case, 133 00:09:31,339 --> 00:09:34,359 Speaker 2: why did the slaves go on such a rampage? A 134 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:37,869 Speaker 2: more plausible explanation, and to the slave owners of the South, 135 00:09:38,489 --> 00:09:41,750 Speaker 2: the more terrifying one, is that Jemmy and his followers 136 00:09:42,650 --> 00:09:45,470 Speaker 2: were just out for blood. This is how the law 137 00:09:45,510 --> 00:09:48,010 Speaker 2: professor Carl Bogus described it to me. 138 00:09:48,670 --> 00:09:51,889 Speaker 4: They beat drums and made noise and cried out liberty 139 00:09:51,949 --> 00:09:55,319 Speaker 4: and flew flags and asked people to join them. I 140 00:09:55,359 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 4: think clearly their objective, we're just going to kill as 141 00:09:57,959 --> 00:09:59,869 Speaker 4: many of you as possible. Of course, there was a 142 00:09:59,890 --> 00:10:00,670 Speaker 4: lot of rage. 143 00:10:02,089 --> 00:10:04,999 Speaker 2: This chapter is about the Second Amendment to the United 144 00:10:05,059 --> 00:10:09,289 Speaker 2: States Constitution. The sentence that squats at the very center 145 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:13,140 Speaker 2: of every discussion of the place of guns in American society. 146 00:10:14,020 --> 00:10:18,000 Speaker 2: It's about how the conversation around the Second Amendment is 147 00:10:18,239 --> 00:10:21,699 Speaker 2: every bit as dishonest as the conversation around assault rifles. 148 00:10:22,670 --> 00:10:25,730 Speaker 2: And why is it dishonest? Because it pretends that we 149 00:10:25,750 --> 00:10:27,769 Speaker 2: can talk about the meaning of the Second Amendment in 150 00:10:27,790 --> 00:10:30,530 Speaker 2: a without regard to the motivations of the men who 151 00:10:30,579 --> 00:10:35,210 Speaker 2: conceived of it back in the 18th century. As historian 152 00:10:35,270 --> 00:10:39,490 Speaker 2: Peter Charles Hoffer has written, The master portrayed himself as 153 00:10:39,530 --> 00:10:43,049 Speaker 2: the good father, the head of an extended household, in 154 00:10:43,089 --> 00:10:48,270 Speaker 2: which slaves were childlike laborers, women were submissive helpmeets, and 155 00:10:48,370 --> 00:10:52,109 Speaker 2: servants were obedient and loyal. Masters could put on a 156 00:10:52,150 --> 00:10:56,029 Speaker 2: stern face, like the biblical patriarchs, or act the loving 157 00:10:56,449 --> 00:11:00,939 Speaker 2: and affectionate father. Hoffer is speaking of the psychology of 158 00:11:00,959 --> 00:11:03,839 Speaker 2: the white men who grabbed their guns that Sunday morning 159 00:11:04,339 --> 00:11:08,059 Speaker 2: and rode off to confront Jemmy's band. But it was 160 00:11:08,120 --> 00:11:12,709 Speaker 2: all an act. He goes on. However he handled sentiment 161 00:11:13,250 --> 00:11:23,699 Speaker 2: and authority, the planter was an anxious man. The only 162 00:11:23,770 --> 00:11:26,710 Speaker 2: major country in the world other than the United States 163 00:11:27,089 --> 00:11:30,090 Speaker 2: to give its citizens the constitutional right to bear arms 164 00:11:30,709 --> 00:11:36,150 Speaker 2: is Mexico. Article 10 of the Mexican Constitution reads, The 165 00:11:36,309 --> 00:11:39,890 Speaker 2: inhabitants of the United Mexican States have the right to 166 00:11:39,929 --> 00:11:43,729 Speaker 2: keep arms at home for their protection and legitimate defense, 167 00:11:45,050 --> 00:11:48,009 Speaker 2: with the exception of those prohibited by the federal law 168 00:11:48,530 --> 00:11:52,709 Speaker 2: and those reserved for the exclusive use of the Army, Navy, 169 00:11:53,209 --> 00:11:58,629 Speaker 2: Air Force and National Guard. Federal law will state the cases, conditions, 170 00:11:59,130 --> 00:12:04,630 Speaker 2: requirements and places where inhabitants can be authorized to carry weapons. 171 00:12:05,729 --> 00:12:09,410 Speaker 2: Those two sentences that make up Article 10 were written 172 00:12:09,510 --> 00:12:13,689 Speaker 2: in 1917, firmly in the modern era. You may or 173 00:12:13,709 --> 00:12:16,729 Speaker 2: may not agree with its intent, but there is no 174 00:12:16,890 --> 00:12:22,110 Speaker 2: uncertainty about what it means. It says, plainly, that the 175 00:12:22,189 --> 00:12:26,529 Speaker 2: Mexican government cannot take guns away from its citizens. At 176 00:12:26,550 --> 00:12:30,550 Speaker 2: the same time, though, it gives Mexico's lawmakers a very 177 00:12:30,689 --> 00:12:34,569 Speaker 2: clear set of instructions about how they can limit that right. 178 00:12:35,569 --> 00:12:41,949 Speaker 2: The government can define the, quote, cases, conditions, requirements, and places, 179 00:12:42,209 --> 00:12:46,829 Speaker 2: end quote, where guns are and are not allowed. Mexico 180 00:12:47,130 --> 00:12:50,030 Speaker 2: has had its own very serious problems with lethal violence 181 00:12:50,170 --> 00:12:53,920 Speaker 2: in recent years. But none of Mexico's problems with controlling 182 00:12:53,959 --> 00:12:58,420 Speaker 2: guns are caused by any ambiguities in the country's constitution. 183 00:12:59,410 --> 00:13:05,150 Speaker 2: Article 10 is crystal clear. By contrast, the Second Amendment 184 00:13:05,170 --> 00:13:10,470 Speaker 2: to the United States Constitution, America's equivalent to Article 10, 185 00:13:10,469 --> 00:13:15,790 Speaker 2: is a puzzle. A well-regulated militia being necessary to the 186 00:13:15,870 --> 00:13:19,130 Speaker 2: security of a free state, the right of the people 187 00:13:19,469 --> 00:13:24,439 Speaker 2: to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. That 188 00:13:24,599 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 2: sentence was written in the late 18th century, an era 189 00:13:28,359 --> 00:13:31,480 Speaker 2: closer to Shakespeare's time than our own, and no one 190 00:13:31,500 --> 00:13:34,479 Speaker 2: would write a sentence like that today. It starts with 191 00:13:34,530 --> 00:13:38,329 Speaker 2: what some linguists call an initial being clause, which is 192 00:13:38,370 --> 00:13:42,329 Speaker 2: a thought that precedes the main body of the sentence. So, quote, 193 00:13:43,089 --> 00:13:46,969 Speaker 2: a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a 194 00:13:47,069 --> 00:13:52,350 Speaker 2: free state, comma. Then, after that comma, is what's known 195 00:13:52,489 --> 00:13:57,010 Speaker 2: as the operative clause. Quote, The right of the people 196 00:13:57,089 --> 00:14:01,069 Speaker 2: to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. End 197 00:14:01,089 --> 00:14:06,859 Speaker 2: of quote. We don't use initial being clauses much anymore. Moreover, 198 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:09,760 Speaker 2: we would almost never use a being clause next to 199 00:14:09,800 --> 00:14:13,600 Speaker 2: an operative clause where the two clauses have different subjects. 200 00:14:14,699 --> 00:14:18,099 Speaker 2: That last quirk is what makes the Second Amendment so 201 00:14:18,300 --> 00:14:22,670 Speaker 2: awkward to our ears. we keep expecting that militia, the 202 00:14:22,710 --> 00:14:25,660 Speaker 2: subject of the initial clause, is also going to be 203 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:30,200 Speaker 2: the subject of the main clause. And to our grammatical bewilderment, 204 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:34,220 Speaker 2: it isn't. The first half of the Second Amendment is 205 00:14:34,359 --> 00:14:37,410 Speaker 2: perched on the second half like a top hat on 206 00:14:37,450 --> 00:14:42,110 Speaker 2: an elephant. So, what does it mean? What is the 207 00:14:42,150 --> 00:14:46,690 Speaker 2: relationship between those two clauses? Does the early reference to 208 00:14:46,729 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 2: a militia mean that the right of the people to 209 00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:53,040 Speaker 2: keep and bear arms applies strictly in the context of 210 00:14:53,100 --> 00:14:57,180 Speaker 2: military service? Or is the reason that the first half 211 00:14:57,460 --> 00:15:01,020 Speaker 2: has as its subject militia and the second half has 212 00:15:01,260 --> 00:15:05,029 Speaker 2: as its subject right that we're supposed to think of 213 00:15:05,050 --> 00:15:09,030 Speaker 2: them as separate thoughts, with the initial being clause acting 214 00:15:09,170 --> 00:15:15,109 Speaker 2: as a kind of throat clearing? Militias are necessary. Also, 215 00:15:15,790 --> 00:15:21,100 Speaker 2: owning guns is a right. For years, this was an 216 00:15:21,180 --> 00:15:24,960 Speaker 2: open question. It was the kind of thing that bookish 217 00:15:25,080 --> 00:15:29,640 Speaker 2: legal scholars or gun enthusiasts might argue over. But the 218 00:15:29,680 --> 00:15:33,100 Speaker 2: meaning of the Second Amendment wasn't something the Supreme Court 219 00:15:33,320 --> 00:15:37,710 Speaker 2: spent much time thinking about. In its entire history, through 220 00:15:37,729 --> 00:15:41,070 Speaker 2: the early years of the 21st century, only a handful 221 00:15:41,410 --> 00:15:44,250 Speaker 2: of Second Amendment cases had ever come before the court. 222 00:15:45,310 --> 00:15:49,380 Speaker 2: And they concerned narrow and tangential issues that like whether 223 00:15:49,420 --> 00:15:53,020 Speaker 2: Americans had the right to carry a sawed-off shotgun in public. 224 00:15:54,180 --> 00:15:57,290 Speaker 2: The First Amendment, which guarantees the right to free speech, 225 00:15:57,729 --> 00:16:01,650 Speaker 2: or the 14th Amendment, which grants all Americans equal protection 226 00:16:01,890 --> 00:16:05,450 Speaker 2: under the law, raised the kinds of questions that commanded 227 00:16:05,470 --> 00:16:09,830 Speaker 2: the Supreme Court's time. The Second Amendment was an afterthought. 228 00:16:11,790 --> 00:16:15,700 Speaker 2: All of that changed, however, when in 2008, the Supreme 229 00:16:15,780 --> 00:16:19,960 Speaker 2: Court agreed to hear a case called District of Columbia v. Heller. 230 00:16:21,180 --> 00:16:25,460 Speaker 2: It involved a police officer in Washington, D.C. named Dick Heller, 231 00:16:26,140 --> 00:16:28,220 Speaker 2: who thought he should be able to keep his handgun 232 00:16:28,260 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 2: at home, just as he was able to keep a 233 00:16:30,720 --> 00:16:35,350 Speaker 2: handgun on him while he was on duty. Under D.C. law, however, 234 00:16:35,729 --> 00:16:40,750 Speaker 2: personal handgun ownership was forbidden. Denied a gun, Heller sued, 235 00:16:41,410 --> 00:16:44,760 Speaker 2: saying that D.C. 's law violated the Second Amendment and 236 00:16:44,800 --> 00:16:47,340 Speaker 2: the case rose all the way to the Supreme Court. 237 00:16:48,140 --> 00:16:51,000 Speaker 2: Of course, if the United States had a version of 238 00:16:51,100 --> 00:16:56,190 Speaker 2: Mexico's Article 10 in its constitution, deciding District of Columbia v. 239 00:16:56,229 --> 00:17:00,749 Speaker 2: Heller would have been straightforward. Was the district's law permissible 240 00:17:01,330 --> 00:17:06,909 Speaker 2: under the authority given to the government to limit the cases, conditions, requirements, 241 00:17:07,330 --> 00:17:12,350 Speaker 2: and places where guns are allowed? Plainly, it was. But 242 00:17:12,390 --> 00:17:16,510 Speaker 2: the Second Amendment is not Mexico's Article 10. It is 243 00:17:16,650 --> 00:17:20,590 Speaker 2: an initial being clause attached awkwardly to an operative clause 244 00:17:20,990 --> 00:17:24,190 Speaker 2: like a top hat on an elephant. And in order 245 00:17:24,230 --> 00:17:28,100 Speaker 2: to figure out whether Heller's Second Amendment rights were violated, 246 00:17:28,440 --> 00:17:31,440 Speaker 2: the court first had to figure out what the Second 247 00:17:31,480 --> 00:17:35,780 Speaker 2: Amendment meant. In other words, before they could be jurists, 248 00:17:36,360 --> 00:17:42,220 Speaker 2: the Supreme Court justices had to be grammarians. So it 249 00:17:42,260 --> 00:17:47,359 Speaker 2: was that on Tuesday, March 18, 2008, the U.S. Supreme 250 00:17:47,420 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 2: Court assembled to hear this most consequential of cases. Imagine 251 00:17:51,980 --> 00:17:55,940 Speaker 2: the scene. The justices are seated in a row behind 252 00:17:55,980 --> 00:17:59,590 Speaker 2: a long, curved mahogany table in the court's central chamber, 253 00:18:00,310 --> 00:18:06,010 Speaker 2: an imposing room in the grand neoclassical revival style. 44-foot ceilings, 254 00:18:06,010 --> 00:18:13,920 Speaker 2: 24 ionic columns in marble, shipped from Liguria, Italy. Supreme 255 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,010 Speaker 2: Court case's begin with oral arguments, when the judges hear 256 00:18:18,050 --> 00:18:21,910 Speaker 2: lawyers from both sides advocate for their clients. And here 257 00:18:21,990 --> 00:18:25,629 Speaker 2: is how the proceedings that day begin. The lawyer for 258 00:18:25,650 --> 00:18:29,180 Speaker 2: the District of Columbia, Walter Dellinger, goes first. 259 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:33,780 Speaker 5: The Second Amendment was a direct response to concern over 260 00:18:34,740 --> 00:18:37,600 Speaker 5: Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which gave the 261 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:43,619 Speaker 5: new National Congress the surprising, perhaps even the shocking power 262 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:48,380 Speaker 5: to organize, arm, and presumably disarm the state militias. 263 00:18:49,160 --> 00:18:52,440 Speaker 2: To Dellinger, it was clear that the people drafting the 264 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:56,620 Speaker 2: Second Amendment were thinking about militias. That's why they put 265 00:18:56,660 --> 00:19:00,940 Speaker 2: the Being Clause, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the 266 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,420 Speaker 2: security of a free state, at the beginning of the sentence, 267 00:19:05,160 --> 00:19:07,920 Speaker 2: framing our understanding of the Operative Clause. 268 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:13,190 Speaker 5: The Amendment's first clause confirms... that the right is militia-related. 269 00:19:13,870 --> 00:19:16,370 Speaker 2: The Second Amendment is about the right to bear arms 270 00:19:16,910 --> 00:19:21,420 Speaker 2: in the context of military service. The D.C. ban on handguns, then, 271 00:19:22,000 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 2: is perfectly appropriate. Immediately, the Chief Justice of the United States, 272 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:29,300 Speaker 2: John Roberts, interrupts. 273 00:19:30,660 --> 00:19:31,540 Speaker 6: If you're right, Mr. 274 00:19:31,580 --> 00:19:35,880 Speaker 1: Dellinger, it's certainly an odd way in the Second Amendment 275 00:19:36,340 --> 00:19:39,119 Speaker 1: to phrase the operative provision if it is limited to 276 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:42,129 Speaker 1: state militia's Why would they say the right of the people? 277 00:19:43,870 --> 00:19:46,370 Speaker 1: In other words, why wouldn't they say state militias have 278 00:19:46,410 --> 00:19:47,450 Speaker 1: the right to keep arms? 279 00:19:48,940 --> 00:19:51,980 Speaker 2: The Chief Justice is saying that if the initial being 280 00:19:52,020 --> 00:19:55,220 Speaker 2: clause and the operative clause were intended to be read 281 00:19:55,360 --> 00:19:58,810 Speaker 2: as one seamless thought, they would have the same subject. 282 00:20:00,090 --> 00:20:01,710 Speaker 2: Dellinger shakes his head. 283 00:20:02,270 --> 00:20:02,530 Speaker 6: Mr. 284 00:20:02,550 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 5: Chief Justice, I believe that the phrase the people and 285 00:20:06,090 --> 00:20:10,340 Speaker 5: the phrase the militia were really in sync with each other. 286 00:20:11,180 --> 00:20:16,380 Speaker 5: You will see references in the debates of the Federalist 287 00:20:16,400 --> 00:20:19,830 Speaker 5: farmer uses the phrase the people are the militia The 288 00:20:19,870 --> 00:20:21,590 Speaker 5: militia are the people. 289 00:20:22,830 --> 00:20:26,720 Speaker 2: It may look like two clauses with different subjects, but 290 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 2: it should be read as two clauses with synonymous subjects. 291 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:34,900 Speaker 2: Got that? The oral argument is only a minute old, 292 00:20:35,420 --> 00:20:38,730 Speaker 2: and the Supreme Court has turned into the equivalent of 293 00:20:38,770 --> 00:20:43,130 Speaker 2: a fifth-grade classroom, with the students at the blackboard puzzling 294 00:20:43,250 --> 00:20:49,150 Speaker 2: over how to parse a sentence. It's Justice Anthony Kennedy's turn. 295 00:20:50,010 --> 00:20:53,150 Speaker 6: It seems to me that there is an interpretation of 296 00:20:53,190 --> 00:20:57,889 Speaker 6: the Second Amendment that conforms the two clauses and, in effect, 297 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:01,760 Speaker 6: delinks them. The first clause, I submit, can be read 298 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:06,340 Speaker 6: consistently with the purpose of simply reaffirming the existence and 299 00:21:06,380 --> 00:21:10,100 Speaker 6: the importance of the militia clauses. And so, in effect, 300 00:21:10,140 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 6: the amendment says we reaffirm the right to have a militia. 301 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:17,860 Speaker 6: We've established it. But in addition, there is a right 302 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 6: to bear arms. 303 00:21:19,690 --> 00:21:24,650 Speaker 2: The being clause, Kennedy is saying, can be delinked from 304 00:21:24,690 --> 00:21:28,330 Speaker 2: the operative clause. Kennedy is one of those people who 305 00:21:28,370 --> 00:21:31,530 Speaker 2: see the first clause about a well-regulated militia as an 306 00:21:31,550 --> 00:21:34,149 Speaker 2: hors d'oeuvre that has nothing to do with the entree. 307 00:21:34,940 --> 00:21:37,600 Speaker 2: And the entree in his reading is all that matters. 308 00:21:38,260 --> 00:21:40,400 Speaker 2: The right of the people to keep and bear arms 309 00:21:40,620 --> 00:21:45,500 Speaker 2: shall not be infringed. The Second Amendment guarantees that everyone 310 00:21:45,660 --> 00:21:48,160 Speaker 2: in the U.S. has the right to own and carry 311 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:54,620 Speaker 2: a gun. D.C. 's law is unconstitutional. Dellinger replies, no, no, no, 312 00:21:54,900 --> 00:21:57,800 Speaker 2: that makes no sense. That's not how being clauses work. 313 00:21:58,280 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 2: The function of a being clause is to clarify the 314 00:22:01,300 --> 00:22:04,700 Speaker 2: meaning of the rest of the sentence, to contextualize the 315 00:22:04,780 --> 00:22:09,400 Speaker 2: operative clause. Otherwise, why would the framers of the Constitution 316 00:22:09,840 --> 00:22:10,790 Speaker 2: have put it there at all? 317 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,250 Speaker 5: What you see is a clause that that literally transposes 318 00:22:15,270 --> 00:22:19,220 Speaker 5: to this because a well-regulated militia is necessary to the 319 00:22:19,240 --> 00:22:21,580 Speaker 5: security of a free state, the right of the people 320 00:22:21,600 --> 00:22:26,100 Speaker 5: to keep and bear arms shall not be... The. 321 00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:31,900 Speaker 2: Back and forth continues. Justice Antonin Scalia chimes in. No, no, no. 322 00:22:32,100 --> 00:22:38,100 Speaker 7: I don't see how there's any contradiction between reading the 323 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:42,710 Speaker 7: second clause as a personal guarantee... and reading the first 324 00:22:42,810 --> 00:22:46,840 Speaker 7: one as assuring the existence of a militia. The two 325 00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,020 Speaker 7: clauses go together beautifully. Since we need a militia, the 326 00:22:50,060 --> 00:22:51,800 Speaker 7: right of the people to keep and bear arms shall 327 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 7: not be infringed. 328 00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:54,740 Speaker 2: Dellinger tries to counter. 329 00:22:55,360 --> 00:22:58,680 Speaker 5: Yes, but once you assume that the clause is designed 330 00:22:58,700 --> 00:23:03,810 Speaker 5: to protect the militia, surely it's the militia that decides 331 00:23:03,890 --> 00:23:06,590 Speaker 5: whether personal possession. 332 00:23:07,710 --> 00:23:20,040 Speaker 2: Kennedy jumps in again. The exercise began with one student 333 00:23:20,120 --> 00:23:23,320 Speaker 2: at the blackboard with a piece of chalk, diagramming the sentence. 334 00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:27,300 Speaker 2: But now the whole class is involved, everyone jostling for 335 00:23:27,340 --> 00:23:30,220 Speaker 2: space at the front of the room while they furiously 336 00:23:30,340 --> 00:23:34,109 Speaker 2: add their own notations. Asked to weigh in on one 337 00:23:34,130 --> 00:23:36,890 Speaker 2: of the most serious of all social issues facing the 338 00:23:36,970 --> 00:23:41,540 Speaker 2: United States, the Supreme Court has instead become hung up 339 00:23:42,240 --> 00:23:45,159 Speaker 2: on the grammatical structure of a sentence drafted more than 340 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,680 Speaker 2: 200 years before, written in a style of English that 341 00:23:49,760 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 2: no longer exists. The fight over assault rifles is a 342 00:23:57,400 --> 00:24:01,180 Speaker 2: dishonest conversation because it pretends to address a real issue, 343 00:24:01,850 --> 00:24:04,750 Speaker 2: when in fact every assault rifle ban devotes more pages 344 00:24:05,290 --> 00:24:08,450 Speaker 2: to the high-powered rifles exempt from the ban than the 345 00:24:08,490 --> 00:24:13,290 Speaker 2: ban itself. But the Second Amendment conversation is equally dishonest. 346 00:24:13,990 --> 00:24:17,450 Speaker 2: Because you can't debate 18th century grammar if all you 347 00:24:17,470 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 2: know is 21st century grammar. And you can't understand the 348 00:24:20,830 --> 00:24:24,420 Speaker 2: meaning of an 18th century sentence unless you know something 349 00:24:24,440 --> 00:24:29,400 Speaker 2: about the person who wrote that sentence. So let's start 350 00:24:29,440 --> 00:24:33,930 Speaker 2: again and try and imagine what an honest conversation about 351 00:24:33,970 --> 00:24:39,150 Speaker 2: the Second Amendment looks like. The Second Amendment was written 352 00:24:39,190 --> 00:24:43,220 Speaker 2: by James Madison, maybe the most intellectually distinguished of the 353 00:24:43,260 --> 00:24:47,740 Speaker 2: Founding Fathers. Madison once wrote, The use of words is 354 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:53,340 Speaker 2: to express ideas. Purpicuity, therefore, requires not only that the 355 00:24:53,500 --> 00:24:57,070 Speaker 2: ideas should be distinctly formed, but that they should be 356 00:24:57,150 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 2: expressed by words distinctly and exclusively appropriate to them. end 357 00:25:02,300 --> 00:25:06,300 Speaker 2: of quote. Madison was known for carefully reading the writings 358 00:25:06,360 --> 00:25:10,100 Speaker 2: of his contemporaries and removing a phrase or editing a 359 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:14,670 Speaker 2: passage that he didn't think was quite right. He was precise, 360 00:25:14,930 --> 00:25:20,470 Speaker 2: almost persnickety about language. As the literary critic Lewis Shadler 361 00:25:20,490 --> 00:25:24,550 Speaker 2: wrote once in an analysis of Madison's prose, quote, the 362 00:25:24,590 --> 00:25:29,250 Speaker 2: importance of having proper words in proper places was always 363 00:25:29,290 --> 00:25:33,150 Speaker 2: strong in his mind, end quote. In his work on 364 00:25:33,170 --> 00:25:38,270 Speaker 2: the single most important intellectual and civic project of his lifetime, then, 365 00:25:39,050 --> 00:25:42,790 Speaker 2: it is inconceivable that Madison just dashed off a quick 366 00:25:42,830 --> 00:25:48,210 Speaker 2: thought and left it at that. Madison never dashed anything off. 367 00:25:50,230 --> 00:25:53,700 Speaker 2: The reason the Second Amendment is problematic is simply because 368 00:25:53,860 --> 00:25:56,600 Speaker 2: it was written according to a set of rules and 369 00:25:56,640 --> 00:26:01,220 Speaker 2: grammatical norms that no longer exist. To understand what he 370 00:26:01,340 --> 00:26:04,780 Speaker 2: really meant then We have to think as he, a 371 00:26:04,800 --> 00:26:08,010 Speaker 2: man of the late 18th century, did. We need to 372 00:26:08,070 --> 00:26:11,950 Speaker 2: enter the mind of James Madison. There are two ways 373 00:26:12,010 --> 00:26:14,870 Speaker 2: to do this. The first is through the use of 374 00:26:14,910 --> 00:26:20,649 Speaker 2: what are called linguistic corpora. These are massive research databases 375 00:26:21,070 --> 00:26:25,700 Speaker 2: that contain hundreds of thousands of digitized documents going back, 376 00:26:26,100 --> 00:26:29,859 Speaker 2: in some cases, many hundreds of years. Think of them 377 00:26:29,940 --> 00:26:33,900 Speaker 2: as Google Docs. but for dusty old manuscripts buried deep 378 00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:37,940 Speaker 2: in library archives. For example, there is something called the 379 00:26:38,000 --> 00:26:41,980 Speaker 2: Corpus of Founding Era American English, maintained by Brigham Young 380 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:45,570 Speaker 2: University in Utah, which holds more than 120,000 separate documents 381 00:26:45,590 --> 00:26:47,370 Speaker 2: from the period 1765 to 1799, totaling over 130 million words. 382 00:26:57,590 --> 00:27:00,090 Speaker 2: If you want to know how many times George Washington 383 00:27:00,190 --> 00:27:06,370 Speaker 2: dangled a participle, the C-O-F-E-A can tell you. So what 384 00:27:06,440 --> 00:27:10,340 Speaker 2: do linguistic corpora tell us about how James Madison used 385 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:17,680 Speaker 2: being clauses? The most extensive empirical analysis of Madison's prose 386 00:27:18,380 --> 00:27:22,220 Speaker 2: has been done by an Australian linguist named Kari Sullivan. 387 00:27:23,360 --> 00:27:26,750 Speaker 2: Sullivan picked four corpora that were most relevant to the 388 00:27:26,770 --> 00:27:30,470 Speaker 2: period both before and after the writing of the Constitution, 389 00:27:31,170 --> 00:27:35,960 Speaker 2: a span covering 650 years. She made a database of 390 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,860 Speaker 2: every sentence containing a being clause. She found 1,363. Then 391 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:46,740 Speaker 2: she combed through each example, looking at the way the 392 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:51,820 Speaker 2: being clause was being deployed. Her first conclusion confirms why 393 00:27:51,940 --> 00:27:55,950 Speaker 2: Madison's sentence is so mysterious to us today. In the 394 00:27:55,990 --> 00:28:00,430 Speaker 2: past 100 years, she found, it has become extremely rare 395 00:28:00,810 --> 00:28:04,490 Speaker 2: to find a sentence in published English where an initial 396 00:28:04,510 --> 00:28:08,540 Speaker 2: being clause and the main clause that follows have different subjects. 397 00:28:09,360 --> 00:28:13,240 Speaker 2: She writes, quote, Since this type of being clause fell 398 00:28:13,280 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 2: into disuse about 100 years ago, it is reasonable that 399 00:28:17,040 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 2: modern readers would not have good intuitions about its grammaticality 400 00:28:22,050 --> 00:28:27,170 Speaker 2: or its meaning. End of quote. Then she asked, did 401 00:28:27,410 --> 00:28:34,310 Speaker 2: Madison use being clauses? Answer, all the time. She found 402 00:28:34,310 --> 00:28:40,960 Speaker 2: 976 examples in Madison's writing. Apparently, he loved that construction. 403 00:28:41,740 --> 00:28:45,020 Speaker 2: Here's an example. I am obliged to write in a 404 00:28:45,060 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 2: position that severely limits the use of any of my limbs, Mr. 405 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:54,780 Speaker 2: Jones and myself being lodged in a room not 10 406 00:28:54,780 --> 00:28:59,060 Speaker 2: foot square and without a single accommodation for writing. End 407 00:28:59,100 --> 00:29:04,720 Speaker 2: of quote. Finally, Sullivan turns to the crucial question. Were 408 00:29:04,760 --> 00:29:09,480 Speaker 2: the Justices Roberts, Kennedy, and Scalia correct in their reading 409 00:29:09,520 --> 00:29:12,740 Speaker 2: of the Second Amendment? That the initial being clause in 410 00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:16,900 Speaker 2: the Second Amendment does not modify the operative clause. That 411 00:29:16,920 --> 00:29:21,250 Speaker 2: they are separate thoughts. Remember what Kennedy said? It seems 412 00:29:21,330 --> 00:29:23,870 Speaker 2: to me that there is an interpretation of the Second 413 00:29:23,930 --> 00:29:28,030 Speaker 2: Amendment in that conforms the two clauses and, in effect, 414 00:29:28,730 --> 00:29:34,140 Speaker 2: delinks them? To answer that question, Sullivan went through all 415 00:29:34,140 --> 00:29:40,140 Speaker 2: 976 of Madison's initial being clauses to see how many 416 00:29:40,220 --> 00:29:44,100 Speaker 2: times Madison used a being clause in this particular way, 417 00:29:45,220 --> 00:29:49,020 Speaker 2: as a thought separate from the operative clause next to it. 418 00:29:50,110 --> 00:29:54,560 Speaker 2: Her answer? Never. In fact, no one in the late 419 00:29:54,780 --> 00:29:58,600 Speaker 2: 18th century used being clauses this way. That kind of 420 00:29:58,700 --> 00:30:04,060 Speaker 2: sentence construction, she writes, quote, became ungrammatical over a hundred 421 00:30:04,080 --> 00:30:06,980 Speaker 2: years before the writing of the Second Amendment. End of quote. 422 00:30:08,250 --> 00:30:13,150 Speaker 2: People stopped writing sentences like that in the 1660s. A 423 00:30:13,210 --> 00:30:16,230 Speaker 2: stickler like Madison would no more use a standalone being 424 00:30:16,270 --> 00:30:20,950 Speaker 2: clause than a contemporary Supreme Court justice would sprinkle thee 425 00:30:21,010 --> 00:30:25,500 Speaker 2: and thou throughout an opinion. Here's how Madison liked to 426 00:30:25,650 --> 00:30:30,580 Speaker 2: use being clauses. It being requisite that the office of 427 00:30:30,620 --> 00:30:34,540 Speaker 2: accountant to the Department of War be placed in other hands, 428 00:30:35,500 --> 00:30:38,810 Speaker 2: you will consider it as ceasing to be in yours 429 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:43,820 Speaker 2: after this date, end of quote. Or in modern English, 430 00:30:44,560 --> 00:30:47,120 Speaker 2: why am I firing you? Because I want to give 431 00:30:47,160 --> 00:30:54,070 Speaker 2: the job to someone else. Observation and explanation separated by 432 00:30:54,110 --> 00:30:59,310 Speaker 2: a comma. Now the Second Amendment makes perfect sense. Why 433 00:30:59,390 --> 00:31:01,750 Speaker 2: should the right of the people to keep and bear 434 00:31:01,910 --> 00:31:05,990 Speaker 2: arms not be infringed? Because we don't want anything to 435 00:31:06,030 --> 00:31:16,580 Speaker 2: threaten the existence. The Second Amendment is about militias. But why? 436 00:31:17,470 --> 00:31:21,650 Speaker 2: Why were militias so crucial that a special provision was 437 00:31:21,710 --> 00:31:25,470 Speaker 2: made for them in the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, 438 00:31:25,890 --> 00:31:29,950 Speaker 2: behind only the right to free speech? To answer that, 439 00:31:30,550 --> 00:31:33,040 Speaker 2: we must once again take ourselves back to the mind 440 00:31:33,080 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 2: of James Madison. Madison was from Virginia. the largest of 441 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:42,480 Speaker 2: the slave-owning states. He grew up on a plantation. His 442 00:31:42,560 --> 00:31:47,420 Speaker 2: father owned 100 slaves. His grandfather was allegedly poisoned to 443 00:31:47,470 --> 00:31:51,930 Speaker 2: death by three slaves on the family plantation. James Madison 444 00:31:52,550 --> 00:31:56,090 Speaker 2: knew all about the Stono Rebellion. He was as petrified 445 00:31:56,650 --> 00:32:00,110 Speaker 2: as any other white planter. And for the petrified planter, 446 00:32:01,090 --> 00:32:18,190 Speaker 2: the militias were of special importance. Militias were an English invention, 447 00:32:18,810 --> 00:32:23,610 Speaker 2: with origins in the passe comitatus, or community force of 448 00:32:23,630 --> 00:32:27,010 Speaker 2: the Middle Ages. This was hundreds of years before the 449 00:32:27,070 --> 00:32:30,940 Speaker 2: invention of modern police departments. Law and order was imposed 450 00:32:31,060 --> 00:32:35,660 Speaker 2: through an informal process. Here is the historian Sally Haddon, 451 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:38,540 Speaker 2: the author of one of the definitive studies of the 452 00:32:38,620 --> 00:32:43,720 Speaker 2: colonial militia, Slave Patrol's Law and Violence in Virginia and 453 00:32:43,740 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 2: the Carolinas. 454 00:32:45,370 --> 00:32:51,430 Speaker 8: So every county, every shire has a shiree, a sheriff. 455 00:32:52,290 --> 00:32:56,560 Speaker 8: And somebody goes running to the sheriff and says, Sheriff, Sheriff, 456 00:32:57,300 --> 00:33:01,100 Speaker 8: somebody has kidnapped my daughter, has stolen my horse, has 457 00:33:01,140 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 8: done something against the law. And the sheriff has no troops. 458 00:33:04,460 --> 00:33:08,170 Speaker 8: Sheriff has nobody working for him. He's it. Where's he 459 00:33:08,190 --> 00:33:10,250 Speaker 8: going to get manpower from to go chase that person? 460 00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:13,700 Speaker 8: So he issues a hewing cry, and the hewing cry 461 00:33:13,740 --> 00:33:18,760 Speaker 8: basically says all able-bodied individuals are basically supposed to come 462 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,520 Speaker 8: to his aid and track down the person who's accused. 463 00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,760 Speaker 8: And the reason why people respond is, it could be 464 00:33:24,800 --> 00:33:29,840 Speaker 8: them tomorrow, right? It's your daughter today, it's my child 465 00:33:29,900 --> 00:33:31,720 Speaker 8: or my basket or my horse tomorrow. 466 00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:37,250 Speaker 2: Over time, that informal means of community protection turned into 467 00:33:37,290 --> 00:33:42,090 Speaker 2: a militia, an organized local force used for emergencies and 468 00:33:42,130 --> 00:33:46,350 Speaker 2: to confront threats to the community. When colonists came to 469 00:33:46,390 --> 00:33:49,270 Speaker 2: the New World, they brought the concept of the militia 470 00:33:49,330 --> 00:33:52,950 Speaker 2: with them. Is your town being threatened by Native Americans? 471 00:33:53,750 --> 00:33:56,720 Speaker 2: Call in the militia. Are you worried about the Spanish 472 00:33:56,850 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 2: lurking on your border? Call in the militia. In the South, 473 00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:05,540 Speaker 2: the militia took on even greater importance. Slaves were hard 474 00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,950 Speaker 2: to control, especially at night. They would leave under the 475 00:34:08,989 --> 00:34:12,330 Speaker 2: cover of darkness and visit friends at other properties. There 476 00:34:12,350 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 2: was a curfew. It had to be enforced. Traveling slaves 477 00:34:16,140 --> 00:34:18,979 Speaker 2: were supposed to have a pass from their master. Someone 478 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:21,040 Speaker 2: had to check to see if that rule was obeyed, 479 00:34:21,440 --> 00:34:25,660 Speaker 2: and if not, administer a whipping. All able-bodied men in 480 00:34:25,700 --> 00:34:29,950 Speaker 2: the community took turns volunteering for patrol duty. They were 481 00:34:30,049 --> 00:34:34,330 Speaker 2: carefully mapped out patrol routes, rules of engagement. If anyone 482 00:34:34,370 --> 00:34:37,529 Speaker 2: tried to tinker with the system, there were cries of outrage. 483 00:34:38,370 --> 00:34:43,210 Speaker 2: One plantation owner in South Carolina named Samuel McGowan writes 484 00:34:43,290 --> 00:34:47,030 Speaker 2: this in a letter to the state's governor. Our state 485 00:34:47,109 --> 00:34:51,509 Speaker 2: has no other reliance against foreign invasion or internal commotion 486 00:34:52,190 --> 00:34:56,459 Speaker 2: than her own citizens organized under the militia system into 487 00:34:56,500 --> 00:35:00,979 Speaker 2: an army of about 40,000 citizen soldiers liable to do 488 00:35:01,140 --> 00:35:06,779 Speaker 2: ordinary militia duty. The institution of slavery... requires that we 489 00:35:06,839 --> 00:35:10,880 Speaker 2: should keep up the patrol, and it is intimately connected 490 00:35:10,940 --> 00:35:17,129 Speaker 2: with and based upon the militia system. Why is McGowan 491 00:35:17,190 --> 00:35:22,009 Speaker 2: so adamant? Because everyone still remembered the Stono Rebellion. It 492 00:35:22,069 --> 00:35:25,209 Speaker 2: was a slave patrol that came running from Wiltown Presbyterian 493 00:35:25,250 --> 00:35:29,959 Speaker 2: Church to confront Jemmy's band on Ponds Ponds Road. The 494 00:35:30,020 --> 00:35:32,180 Speaker 2: reason the men at church that day had their weapons 495 00:35:32,239 --> 00:35:36,259 Speaker 2: with them is that able-bodied men in South Carolina had 496 00:35:36,339 --> 00:35:39,259 Speaker 2: to be ready to serve in the local militia, even 497 00:35:39,319 --> 00:35:42,520 Speaker 2: on a Sunday. And in response to the Stono rebellion, 498 00:35:43,000 --> 00:35:46,860 Speaker 2: the planters doubled down. They increased the number of patrols 499 00:35:46,940 --> 00:35:50,939 Speaker 2: along the Stono River. They convinced the state legislature to 500 00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,620 Speaker 2: prohibit slaves from growing their own food, learning to read, 501 00:35:54,779 --> 00:35:58,299 Speaker 2: earning money, or gathering in groups. If you are a 502 00:35:58,339 --> 00:36:03,640 Speaker 2: plantation owner and your slaves, your property, are, without warning, 503 00:36:03,899 --> 00:36:06,560 Speaker 2: going to march down the highway, killing every white person 504 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 2: in sight, you and your neighbors have to be ready. 505 00:36:12,060 --> 00:36:13,879 Speaker 2: So the members of the patrol have a kind of 506 00:36:14,089 --> 00:36:17,750 Speaker 2: intimate knowledge of the workings of the area that they're 507 00:36:18,430 --> 00:36:20,309 Speaker 2: drawn from. This is the guy next door. 508 00:36:21,069 --> 00:36:22,729 Speaker 8: In fact, this is the guy next door who knows 509 00:36:22,810 --> 00:36:26,469 Speaker 8: you and knows if you're an enslaved person, knows if 510 00:36:26,509 --> 00:36:29,049 Speaker 8: you drink, if you're married, how many kids you've got, 511 00:36:30,310 --> 00:36:34,129 Speaker 8: and could probably predict whether you're likely to run away 512 00:36:34,169 --> 00:36:34,469 Speaker 8: or not. 513 00:36:35,350 --> 00:36:38,569 Speaker 2: This was the fragile system of social control that the 514 00:36:38,629 --> 00:36:42,040 Speaker 2: South created for itself in the first half of the 515 00:36:42,180 --> 00:36:45,839 Speaker 2: 18th century. Then, in the spring of 1775, the Revolutionary 516 00:36:45,879 --> 00:36:53,370 Speaker 2: War began. The governor of Virginia, John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, 517 00:36:53,730 --> 00:36:57,009 Speaker 2: was a British appointee who intended to remain loyal to 518 00:36:57,049 --> 00:37:00,830 Speaker 2: the crown. He issued a proclamation in which he promised 519 00:37:00,890 --> 00:37:04,860 Speaker 2: freedom to any slave who wanted to join the British side. 520 00:37:04,879 --> 00:37:07,540 Speaker 2: The planters panicked. 521 00:37:08,440 --> 00:37:11,579 Speaker 8: There's a tremendous amount of fear that enslaved people will 522 00:37:11,600 --> 00:37:14,279 Speaker 8: begin to learn about this, that they will take advantage 523 00:37:14,299 --> 00:37:16,640 Speaker 8: of that kind of knowledge. That's the kind of rumor 524 00:37:16,680 --> 00:37:19,169 Speaker 8: that spreads like wildfire, right? 525 00:37:19,469 --> 00:37:19,649 Speaker 3: And. 526 00:37:20,629 --> 00:37:25,540 Speaker 8: It's something that is, it's not just an annoyance. It 527 00:37:25,580 --> 00:37:28,720 Speaker 8: can't be ignored. You know, if the British army shows 528 00:37:28,899 --> 00:37:32,800 Speaker 8: up in force, you know, who's going to run away? 529 00:37:33,480 --> 00:37:36,799 Speaker 2: The best estimates, Haddon said, were that as many as 530 00:37:36,799 --> 00:37:40,850 Speaker 2: 50,000 slaves took up Dunmore's offer and fled to the 531 00:37:40,890 --> 00:37:44,489 Speaker 2: British side. British ships started sailing up and down the 532 00:37:44,529 --> 00:37:50,189 Speaker 2: Carolina coast. The threat of more insurrections and desertions became real. 533 00:37:50,830 --> 00:37:55,930 Speaker 9: So if I own a plantation in South Carolina and 534 00:37:55,950 --> 00:38:01,339 Speaker 9: the British are sailing up and down the coast, I'm 535 00:38:01,379 --> 00:38:03,419 Speaker 9: even more anxious than I normally am. 536 00:38:04,020 --> 00:38:07,360 Speaker 8: Well, I mean, you've got reason to be. The British 537 00:38:07,399 --> 00:38:12,039 Speaker 8: attack Savannah, and then they attack Charleston. They take Charleston once. 538 00:38:12,500 --> 00:38:15,900 Speaker 8: They attack, and when they lose it, they take it again. 539 00:38:15,919 --> 00:38:23,180 Speaker 8: That's 1782. And so there are, I mean, these larger 540 00:38:23,359 --> 00:38:27,180 Speaker 8: seaport cities face the Atlantic. What's the big advantage that 541 00:38:27,219 --> 00:38:30,180 Speaker 8: the British have? Their Navy. I mean, they can basically 542 00:38:30,239 --> 00:38:33,570 Speaker 8: sail into Savannah Harbor or Charleston Harbor, open their gun ports, and, 543 00:38:33,589 --> 00:38:36,829 Speaker 8: you know, what are the Americans to do? 544 00:38:37,410 --> 00:38:40,789 Speaker 2: And who is among the most alarmed by Dunmore's proclamation? 545 00:38:41,790 --> 00:38:47,289 Speaker 2: James Madison. This is his governor, after all. Madison writes 546 00:38:47,330 --> 00:38:50,660 Speaker 2: to a friend, It is imagined our governor has been 547 00:38:50,739 --> 00:38:53,859 Speaker 2: tampering with the slaves and that he has it in 548 00:38:53,960 --> 00:38:57,479 Speaker 2: contemplation to make great use of them in case of 549 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:00,700 Speaker 2: a civil war in this province. To say the truth, 550 00:39:01,359 --> 00:39:04,730 Speaker 2: that is the only part in which this colony is vulnerable. 551 00:39:05,589 --> 00:39:09,089 Speaker 2: And if we should be subdued, we shall fall like 552 00:39:09,109 --> 00:39:12,350 Speaker 2: Achilles by the hand of one that knows that secret. 553 00:39:14,669 --> 00:39:22,060 Speaker 2: An out-of-control slave population was the Achilles' heel of the South, the, quote, 554 00:39:23,219 --> 00:39:26,480 Speaker 2: only part in which this colony is vulnerable, end quote. 555 00:39:27,580 --> 00:39:37,569 Speaker 2: Virginia had one chance at survival, a well-regulated militia. In 556 00:39:37,710 --> 00:39:42,379 Speaker 2: June 1788, delegations from all corners of Virginia gathered in 557 00:39:42,419 --> 00:39:46,439 Speaker 2: the Richmond Theater in the state's capital. The war had 558 00:39:46,480 --> 00:39:49,660 Speaker 2: been won. All eyes were to the future, and at 559 00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:53,739 Speaker 2: issue was whether to ratify the Constitution of the brand-new 560 00:39:53,839 --> 00:39:58,450 Speaker 2: idea known as the United States of America. Virginia was 561 00:39:58,489 --> 00:40:01,350 Speaker 2: the largest and most important of all the colonies that 562 00:40:01,390 --> 00:40:05,150 Speaker 2: had just defeated the British Army. Seven of the 56 563 00:40:05,149 --> 00:40:09,830 Speaker 2: signatories to the Declaration of Independence were from Virginia. George 564 00:40:09,870 --> 00:40:14,730 Speaker 2: Washington was a Virginian. So were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, 565 00:40:15,109 --> 00:40:17,709 Speaker 2: and James Monroe, each of whom would go on to 566 00:40:17,770 --> 00:40:21,750 Speaker 2: occupy the White House. In order to approve the Constitution, 567 00:40:22,270 --> 00:40:25,660 Speaker 2: nine of the 13 colonies needed to vote in favor. 568 00:40:26,600 --> 00:40:30,390 Speaker 2: And without Virginia's approval, the movement to create a federal 569 00:40:30,770 --> 00:40:35,290 Speaker 2: United States would in all likelihood die. On one side 570 00:40:35,690 --> 00:40:39,889 Speaker 2: was James Madison, the leading Federalist of his day. Without 571 00:40:39,930 --> 00:40:44,060 Speaker 2: a strong central government, Madison thought the states would lapse 572 00:40:44,109 --> 00:40:48,879 Speaker 2: into chaos and economic dysfunction. On the other side were 573 00:40:48,899 --> 00:40:53,940 Speaker 2: the Anti-Federalists, led by the former governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry. 574 00:40:54,759 --> 00:40:58,350 Speaker 2: he of the famous revolutionary war cry, give me liberty 575 00:40:58,770 --> 00:41:01,950 Speaker 2: or give me death. Henry read the draft of the 576 00:41:01,989 --> 00:41:08,230 Speaker 2: proposed Constitution and was deeply suspicious. For 25 straight days 577 00:41:08,509 --> 00:41:13,729 Speaker 2: in 1788, almost the entire month of June, all eyes 578 00:41:14,060 --> 00:41:19,420 Speaker 2: were on the Richmond Theater. Newspapers wrote daily updates. Crowds 579 00:41:19,700 --> 00:41:24,060 Speaker 2: thronged the public galleries. Countless others gathered in the streets outside. 580 00:41:24,790 --> 00:41:28,029 Speaker 2: This is how the law professor Carl Bogus describes the 581 00:41:28,069 --> 00:41:29,049 Speaker 2: Virginia Convention. 582 00:41:29,730 --> 00:41:37,569 Speaker 4: It is clearly one of the most dramatic events in 583 00:41:37,810 --> 00:41:42,779 Speaker 4: the formation of the United States. With this showdown between 584 00:41:43,899 --> 00:41:49,700 Speaker 4: this collection of luminaries, the Federalist body and the Anti-Federalist body, 585 00:41:49,779 --> 00:41:54,090 Speaker 4: both staffed with among the most famous people at the time— 586 00:41:54,930 --> 00:41:58,849 Speaker 4: battling about whether they're going to ratify the Constitution, and 587 00:41:59,190 --> 00:42:05,870 Speaker 4: that itself is rare. And what makes this extraordinarily rare 588 00:42:06,710 --> 00:42:10,390 Speaker 4: is we have a transcript of it, a pretty damn 589 00:42:10,430 --> 00:42:15,719 Speaker 4: good transcript of it, which was highly unusual then. Highly, 590 00:42:15,819 --> 00:42:16,719 Speaker 4: highly unusual. 591 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:21,600 Speaker 2: The transcript of the Richmond debates tells us exactly why 592 00:42:21,660 --> 00:42:25,290 Speaker 2: Patrick Henry and those allied with him were so dubious 593 00:42:25,370 --> 00:42:29,969 Speaker 2: of the proposed Constitution. And it tells us exactly what 594 00:42:30,009 --> 00:42:33,989 Speaker 2: James Madison said and did to win them over. How 595 00:42:34,009 --> 00:42:39,000 Speaker 2: much attention had historians paid to the Virginia ratifying convention? 596 00:42:42,339 --> 00:42:47,939 Speaker 4: Little or none. I mean, I wasn't I hadn't read it. 597 00:42:48,339 --> 00:42:52,419 Speaker 4: I don't recall reading anything about it until I went 598 00:42:52,480 --> 00:42:55,000 Speaker 4: and searched it out and read it. 599 00:42:55,629 --> 00:42:58,450 Speaker 2: Yeah, which is weird because, as you argue, it's an 600 00:42:58,489 --> 00:43:03,950 Speaker 2: incredibly crucial... The Constitution is hanging in the balance. What 601 00:43:04,049 --> 00:43:07,370 Speaker 2: Bogus discovered was that in the pivotal debates in the 602 00:43:07,430 --> 00:43:11,500 Speaker 2: Richmond Theatre, one issue kept coming up again and again. 603 00:43:12,440 --> 00:43:17,760 Speaker 2: The militia. Patrick Henry said, was worried that the Constitution, 604 00:43:18,060 --> 00:43:22,820 Speaker 2: as proposed, would shut down the malicious system. Everything would 605 00:43:22,839 --> 00:43:25,399 Speaker 2: now be in the hands of the federal government, a 606 00:43:25,480 --> 00:43:29,569 Speaker 2: federal government likely to be dominated by northern states that 607 00:43:29,609 --> 00:43:33,890 Speaker 2: were either hostile or indifferent to the institution of slavery. 608 00:43:34,989 --> 00:43:37,690 Speaker 2: Here's what Henry said in one of the many speeches 609 00:43:37,730 --> 00:43:41,490 Speaker 2: he gave to the ratifying convention, referring to the part 610 00:43:41,609 --> 00:43:46,140 Speaker 2: of the proposed Constitution that gave Congress sweeping powers, over 611 00:43:46,219 --> 00:43:51,120 Speaker 2: state militias. By this, sir, you see that their control 612 00:43:51,379 --> 00:43:56,239 Speaker 2: over our last and best defense is unlimited. If they 613 00:43:56,299 --> 00:44:00,649 Speaker 2: neglect or refuse to discipline or arm our militia, they 614 00:44:00,730 --> 00:44:04,890 Speaker 2: will be useless. The states can do neither, this power 615 00:44:04,969 --> 00:44:11,310 Speaker 2: being exclusively given to Congress. Our situation will be deplorable indeed. 616 00:44:13,660 --> 00:44:16,419 Speaker 2: Henry didn't need to spell out what he meant by 617 00:44:16,460 --> 00:44:21,339 Speaker 2: that word, deplorable. He was speaking to a convention full 618 00:44:21,359 --> 00:44:24,279 Speaker 2: of anxious slave owners who went to bed every night 619 00:44:24,440 --> 00:44:28,480 Speaker 2: in Richmond over those 25 long days, worried sick about 620 00:44:28,540 --> 00:44:31,830 Speaker 2: the safety of their children and wives back home on 621 00:44:31,850 --> 00:44:38,150 Speaker 2: the plantation. James Madison had a mutiny on his hands. 622 00:44:39,169 --> 00:44:42,270 Speaker 2: If he wanted to save the Constitution... he needed to 623 00:44:42,310 --> 00:44:45,870 Speaker 2: find a way to win over the Virginia delegation. He 624 00:44:45,910 --> 00:44:49,510 Speaker 2: needed to reassure them that they could ratify the Constitution 625 00:44:50,049 --> 00:44:53,360 Speaker 2: without losing the armed patrol that was so essential to 626 00:44:53,399 --> 00:44:56,559 Speaker 2: keeping their slaves in line. So what did Madison do? 627 00:44:57,500 --> 00:45:01,839 Speaker 2: He wrote an amendment to the U.S. Constitution aimed squarely 628 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:05,200 Speaker 2: at the doubters in Richmond who had spent 25 days 629 00:45:05,690 --> 00:45:09,930 Speaker 2: questioning his loyalty to his home state. One sentence said, 630 00:45:10,399 --> 00:45:14,009 Speaker 2: with a meaning his fellow Virginians could easily deduce. 631 00:45:15,169 --> 00:45:20,509 Speaker 4: The Second Amendment for him is simply about reassuring his 632 00:45:20,569 --> 00:45:27,860 Speaker 4: constituents and the South generally, but especially his constituents and 633 00:45:28,000 --> 00:45:36,980 Speaker 4: other political actors in Virginia, that the Constitution is not 634 00:45:37,739 --> 00:45:43,400 Speaker 4: handing over the northern states a tool to undermine the 635 00:45:43,440 --> 00:45:50,219 Speaker 4: slave system by emasculating our militia. And I think that's 636 00:45:50,419 --> 00:45:51,399 Speaker 4: all he was focused on. 637 00:45:56,160 --> 00:45:59,749 Speaker 2: This is not the way that gun rights activists have 638 00:45:59,790 --> 00:46:04,750 Speaker 2: interpreted the Second Amendment. They have ignored Madison's predicament in Richmond. 639 00:46:05,450 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 2: They have ignored the anxiety of the plantation class over 640 00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:12,999 Speaker 2: their ownership of other human beings. They have ignored the 641 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:17,210 Speaker 2: grammatical norms of 18th century writing. The Supreme Court's final 642 00:46:17,430 --> 00:46:21,870 Speaker 2: opinion in the Heller case decided that Madison's problematic initial 643 00:46:21,910 --> 00:46:27,870 Speaker 2: being clause was merely prefatory, there only to, quote, resolve 644 00:46:28,089 --> 00:46:33,090 Speaker 2: an ambiguity in the operative clause, end quote. The opinion 645 00:46:33,129 --> 00:46:39,140 Speaker 2: went on with a shrug. But apart from that clarifying function, 646 00:46:39,600 --> 00:46:43,180 Speaker 2: a prefatory clause does not limit or expand the scope 647 00:46:43,739 --> 00:46:48,239 Speaker 2: of the operative clause, end quote. That is not an 648 00:46:48,379 --> 00:46:52,219 Speaker 2: honest reading of the evidence. But to be honest would 649 00:46:52,259 --> 00:46:55,759 Speaker 2: require acknowledging the Second Amendment for what it really is, 650 00:46:56,700 --> 00:47:01,640 Speaker 2: a grubby compromise intended to perpetuate the darkest chapter in 651 00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:08,330 Speaker 2: American history. A conversation becomes dishonest when either side avoids 652 00:47:08,390 --> 00:47:11,049 Speaker 2: the truth because it is too difficult. 653 00:47:11,830 --> 00:47:15,149 Speaker 4: If I say, close your eyes, and I say, the 654 00:47:16,049 --> 00:47:20,299 Speaker 4: Second Amendment, what image comes into your mind? I think 655 00:47:20,359 --> 00:47:22,719 Speaker 4: most people would say, it's the musket in the hands 656 00:47:22,759 --> 00:47:28,859 Speaker 4: of the Minutemen in Lexington and Concord. And I'm saying, no, 657 00:47:28,919 --> 00:47:35,540 Speaker 4: it's not. The real image that is the correct image is... 658 00:47:36,520 --> 00:47:39,680 Speaker 4: the musket in the hands of the slave patrollers. 659 00:47:39,149 --> 00:47:39,689 Speaker 6: In the South. 660 00:47:45,410 --> 00:47:48,270 Speaker 2: This was an excerpt from my upcoming book, The American 661 00:47:48,310 --> 00:47:51,529 Speaker 2: Way of Killing, The Invention of an Epidemic. You can 662 00:47:51,569 --> 00:47:54,649 Speaker 2: buy the print copy at whatever bookstores you frequent or 663 00:47:54,850 --> 00:47:58,060 Speaker 2: online services you use, and you can get the American 664 00:47:58,089 --> 00:48:03,419 Speaker 2: Way of Killing audiobook at pushkin.fm slash audiobooks or wherever 665 00:48:03,460 --> 00:48:07,390 Speaker 2: you get audiobooks. The audio version The cover design for 666 00:48:07,410 --> 00:48:10,189 Speaker 2: The American Way of Killing was done by Greg Kulik. 667 00:48:10,210 --> 00:48:14,310 Speaker 2: At Pushkin Audiobooks, the publisher is Nicole Optenbosch. The associate 668 00:48:14,330 --> 00:48:38,379 Speaker 2: publisher is as Jasmine Faustino, and the director of narrative 669 00:48:38,399 --> 00:48:42,919 Speaker 2: projects for Pushkin is Jacob Smith. The song Troubles that 670 00:48:42,960 --> 00:48:45,180 Speaker 2: you hear throughout the book was written by Drew Holcomb, 671 00:48:45,359 --> 00:48:49,960 Speaker 2: Hansi Music, BMI, administered by Downtown Music Publishing, and performed 672 00:48:50,020 --> 00:48:53,310 Speaker 2: by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors, courtesy of Magnolia Music. 673 00:48:54,230 --> 00:48:54,969 Speaker 2: I'm Malcolm Gladwell.