The Right to Bear Arms but the Duty to Shoulder Them: A Review of Statutes and Conditions Surrounding Colonial Massachusetts and Virginia, 1607 to 1789

The life of the American colonist is often remembered as a gun-toting pilgrim in a brave new world. This thesis proposes to explore how Virginia and Massachusetts, the two oldest colonies and most prominent states, experienced warfare and training in the colonial period, culminating in their militia's capabilities and performance in the Revolutionary War. Rather telling is the vast difference in rights recognized between the two commonwealths upon statehood. The economic conditions, cultural shifts in firearm cultures, and American continental experiences conditioned the two colonies into having very different expectations and cognizance of their citizens' conditions to keep and bear arms. Be it an inherited tradition from England, a generalized tradition from other colonial immigrants, or a learned experience dealing with native cultures, the arming and tactics employed by colonial militia reflect are reflected by the rights and statues of states adopted during and after the American Revolution