Exploring America's Gun Culture

Michael A. Bellesiles

THERE is a story from World War I that the last words of a French mutineer placed before a firing squad were: "I am honored by all this attention." Similarly, I am naturally honored that the William and Mary Quarterly has deemed a book I have written worthy of such extended discussion. That discussion will, I hope, lead to a reconsideration of a number of larger historical issues.	1
Since Arming America is often misrepresented, it may be appropriate to state briefly what I think the book is about. This study examines the development of America's gun culture from the first European settlements until 1877. The general thesis is that the gun culture now so ubiquitous in the United States has not always been a fixture of the nation's life but grew in response to increased production of firearms under federal supervision in the mid-nineteenth century and a dramatic rise in demand generated by the Civil War. Arming America seeks to explore a broad diversity of experience over time and to avoid sweeping statements about what Americans believed as a collective.	2
Arming America begins with the earliest use of firearms in Europe, with particular attention to political and cultural developments in England. The book then follows firearms to North America, investigating their use and impact on that continent as the European powers conquered the natives and imposed political control. I am interested here in showing the gun's range of uses and limitations in the daily life of colonial America and the often-frantic effort of colonial governments to acquire and preserve sufficient firearms for their defense. In the fourth chapter, I present the case for seeing the Eastern Woodlands Indians as the first gun culture in America. After looking at how North America's natives used and were affected by firearms, Arming America examines wilderness warfare and the myth and reality of the militia in the eighteenth century. The true test of the militia and of the role of firearms in American life came with the American Revolution. The militia had moments of astounding success and even more instances of deep humiliation, while the leaders of the new republic and its military forces did everything in their power to acquire sufficient firearms for their struggle with England.	3
The second half of the book turns to the role of the gun in the United States. Much of what follows traces the federal government's efforts to encourage arms production, foster the development of the militia, and arrive at a formula that would lead to a body of men trained in the use of firearms and avoid the cost of a large standing army. Most of these efforts failed miserably, as the War of 1812 amply demonstrated. At the same time, state governments walked a fine line between the desire to supply arms to reliable citizens for internal defense and the need to prevent those arms from falling into the hands of those they feared, whether Indians or blacks, the poor or political radicals. The book turns to a number of domestic political disputes with an eye toward the use of firearms and the level of violence. The creation of a hunting subculture in the late 1820s and the erratic progress of uniformed militia companies also garner attention. The final chapter of the book focuses on the remarkable improvements in firearms technology and production in the 1850s and 1860s, as well as the traumatic and decisive experience of the Civil War, to pinpoint the origins of America's gun culture.	. . .