Rather than continue hijacks of other threads, perhaps we should start a designated
RKBA Second Amendment or For what purpose was the Bill of Rights written history type thread?
Historical things of interest found could be pointed out by anyone, such as:
Our bill of rights was essentially copied from other bills of rights.
The purpose of which were to protect individual rights from Government.
Examples
English Bill of Rights
Virginia Declaration of Rights
etc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... _of_Rights" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Bill of Rights is the collective name for the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution. These limitations serve to protect the natural rights of liberty and property. They guarantee a number of personal freedoms, limit the government's power ...
http://www.constitution.org/mil/rkba1982.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In Pennsylvania, a delegate argued "Congress may give us a select militia which will, in fact, be a standing army — or Congress, afraid of a general militia, may say there will be no militia at all. When a select militia is formed, the people in general may be disarmed." 34 Richard Henry Lee, in his widely read pamphlet "Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican" worried that the people might be disarmed by modeling the militia.
So, Amendment 2 was written. If a general militia/standing army is a necessary evil, (comma) the right of the People shall not be infringed ...
(Also, The People/property owners needed protection from Quartering armed Soldiers, hence, Amendment 3 was written about 45 minutes after Amendment 2, with Amendment 2 providing the ways and means to ensure Amendment 3 without day ... not waiting for a Court Decision on whether the soldiers/general militia were correct in eating all your food and taking your home ... and later write an apology card or get one from a HallMark Card Shop)
http://www.constitution.org/mil/rkba1982.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In Massachusetts, Sam Adams unsuccessfully pushed for a ratification conditioned on adoption of a Bill of Rights, beginning with a guarantee "That the said Constitution shall never be construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States who are peaceable citizens from keeping their own arms...." 40
No mention of any militia, but ... their own arms ... an Individual right, not as a part of a potential future militia nor army.
Prior to the Declaration of Independence :
Indians right to bear arms in Virginia (Another branch of my family, in addition to the Adamses). The Adamses relate their roots to the Mayflower through the Bass family,
John Q Adams thought that
Hannah Bass, granddaughter of John and Priscilla Alden, was the one who added new vigor to Adams family — known for its mere "industry, sobriety, and integrity" — and thereby affected his own makeup.
http://www.sail1620.org/history/notable ... adams.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
[John Quincy Adams → John Adams → John Adams →
Hannah Bass → Ruth Alden → JOHN ALDEN]
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Genealo ... ndants.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and the Nansemond Indians of Virginia are all surnamed
Bass, and related to the same Basses the Adamses are related to)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/cpquery/? ... =TOC_64589&" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
14) in 1797, Norfolk County issued a certificate stating that William
Bass was of Indian and English descent, and that his Indian line of ancestry
ran directly back to the early 18th century elder in a traditionalist section of Nansemonds on the reservation;
Documents indicating the Virginia Indians' right to bear arms, prior to the Revolution, prior to the US Constitution and US BOR:
http://books.google.com/books?id=fUzd7L ... ms&f=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Several pages, one says (page 161:
In 1727, William Bass Jr., one of Richard's sons, had to have an inquest at County Court to prove that he and his kinsmen were of Nansemond and English Descent only and that by the Treaty of The Middle Plantation in 1677 they were entitled to bear arms ...
(Basses have fought to keep this right for a long time as English Colonists->American Indians prior to the USA->American Citizens of the United States. You're welcome.
)
Virginia Declaration of Rights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Sta ... _of_Rights" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Virginia Declaration of Rights, well-known to Madison, had already been a strong influence on the American Revolution ("all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people ...";[7] also "a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish [the government]"). It had shaped the drafting of the United States Declaration of Independence a decade before the drafting of the Constitution, proclaiming that "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights of which ... [they cannot divest;] namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
etc
I'm not trying to make this a genealogy page (sorry if it seemed so) this is related to Bill of rights in the US Constitution and BEFORE THAT ...
the right to keep and bear arms ...
it's just that those parts I know ...
RKBA history from family oral history passed down from those who were there to kids/grandkids etc... Our family talks a lot about such things, always has now it's constant E-mails on a family e-mail list about gun rights (coming from others, NOT ME
... I'm headed to a Bass family reunion in Lubbock next weekend for the branch which went Braintree Mass+Virginia->N Carolina->Tennessee->Arkansas->Texas
No DOCUMENT "gives" us the right of self defense ... Abel had it ... apparently he wasn't a Prepper ... Cain caught him unprepared.
Put whatever you want that relates to RKBA/BOR/2A/ Other nations bills of rights etc here... even if it was one of your relatives throwing tea off a boat (you don't have to admit to it) 
