The Constitution and its amendments are the foundation of our democracy and the center

point of so many controversies in American politics.

We decided to take these important amendments one by one and go back to basics.

If freedom of speech and the right to bear arms are enshrined as fundamental values, we

want to understand them on a deeper historical level.

We put together this series on the amendments to do just that.

After a brutal war for independence, America was divided on the issue of state versus federal

power.

The American people had just won a war against Great Britain.

A government they believed had too much power.

The founding fathers believed it was necessary to protect those rights and arm the people

with the ability to fight back should the U.S. government ever prove to tyrannical.

A well-regulated militia.

Being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear

arms shall not be infringed.

But in the past 250 years, guns have been used in ways that the founding fathers never intended.

Gang violence, school shootings and assassinations have rocked our nation.

And many American citizens are questioning our right to bear arms.

Now more than ever, it is important to know and understand our rights.

We as a nation cannot move forward unless we understand our past.

This is constitutional primers.

President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. central standard time.

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