“We the People” Was NEVER a Borderless Phrase! | PART 2

Quick Overview

The historical record demonstrates that the Founding generation understood “the people” in the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, to refer exclusively to American citizens who consented to be governed, explicitly excluding aliens and those who had not taken the oath of citizenship, which is supported by Federalist Papers and state constitutions that drew a rigid division between citizens and others.

Key Points: Founding generation understood “the people” in the Constitution as referring exclusively to citizens consenting to be governed, as evidenced in early state constitutions and Federalist Papers. Justice Story is quoted stating the right to bear arms is the "birth-right" of the yeomanry of America, secured for citizens, not aliens. The Federalist Papers explicitly distinguished between citizens and aliens, with Federalist No. 57 emphasizing the capacity of the people to choose their own rulers, who must be citizens. The majority opinion in the case being discussed cites historical evidence showing that concepts like 'citizen' and 'American' were used synonymously in representative government contexts, unlike 'alien' or 'foreigner'. Linguistic analysis of founding-era texts confirms that usage of "the people" correlated with terms like 'citizen(s)' and 'American(s)', but rarely with terms related to non-participants like 'alien(s)' or 'foreigner(s)'. Anti-Federalists, like those in the Pennsylvania Convention, demanded guarantees that Congress would never disarm any citizen except those engaged in actual rebellion, reinforcing the idea that the right was limited to citizens. The analysis suggests that the Founding generation's understanding of "the people" was connected to American citizenship, supporting the exclusion of non-citizens from the rights protected by the Second Amendment.

Context: This video segment continues an analysis (Part 2) discussing the historical understanding of the phrase “We the People” as used in the founding documents, particularly in relation to the Second Amendment. The speaker, Andrew Branca, references historical sources like the Federalist Papers, state constitutions (like Vermont's), and commentary from founding figures such as James Madison and Justice Joseph Story to argue that the term “the people” was never intended to be borderless or include non-citizens like aliens or illegal immigrants.