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The mansion was built by Sarah Winchester in the Santa Clara Valley of California after she was left the sole remaining heir to the company which made Winchester rifles. Her husband, the son of the founder of the company, and infant daughter had died leaving Sarah in sole possession of a sizable fortune. The distraught woman went to a medium after the death of her family and was told to continuously build a home to house the spirits of all those killed by Winchester rifles. She followed the medium's advice and in 1884 construction began in California and continued for 38 years until her death in 1922.

The Winchester House reached a height of seven stories before an earthquake in 1906 left the building  four-stories tall. It has become a tourist attraction due to it’s randomly constructed rooms made without a master building plan.

During 1786 and 1787, Daniel Shay led thousands of farmers in a rebellion against the Massachusetts State Government called Shay’s Rebellion. The participants were all fed up with the economic conditions after the Revolutionary War that saw them lose their land and possessions when they couldn’t pay their taxes. During this time, the federal government was unable to fund a national army so the responsibilty fell to the states and private citizens to defend themselves with their own men.

The rebellion's first priority was to overtake the Armory in Springfield. This invasion was stopped by a recently-formed Massachusetts state militia. When the rebels left to regroup their forces a privately-formed militia comprised of three thousand men marched on Springfield and put an end to the rebellion with few casualties.

When General George Washington heard about the uprising of his fellow citizens he came out of retirement to head the Constitional Convention. With Washington as it’s leader the convention ratified the US Constitution, giving the central government much more power than before.

The Second Amendment says “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.” In the atmosphere immediately following Shay’s Rebellion it didn’t seem economically feasible to keep a standing army capable of suppressing future rebellions. What the writers had in mind, instead of an indivdual having the right to bear arms, was that the state had the right to bear arms. It was the right of each state to keep a militia capable of controlling their population. The founding fathers assumed there would be future uprisings and wanted to make sure the states rights to take action was guaranteed. Thomas Jefferson, when he heard about Shay’s Rebellion, best articulated the founding fathers's attitude towards the uprising: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.”

Tate’s Invasion occurred in 1797. The French force, led by Colonel William Tate, was the last time a foreign force landed on British soil. The French force ultimately surrendered to British forces but the invasion led to the suspended conversion of banknotes issued by the Bank of England into gold.

In order to issue some sort of value for the notes the bank commissioned a prominent gun manufacturer, Matthew Boulton, to produce copper pennies. He received the contract because his facility was the only one able to produce to coinage in the amounts the bank needed. To gain the public’s trust in the new coins the government issued them as payment to members of the army and navy. This served to bind the England’s economy to their ongoing war efforts.

The Gordon Riots of 1780 began when Lord Gordon, head of the Protestant Association, led Londoners on an anti-Catholic protest that turned violent and became widespread rioting. Gun makers, in an attempt to keep firearms out of the rioters hands, sent their weapons to the Tower of London.

The Tower was the headquarters of the Ordnance Office, a government body in charge of small arms production. They would receive requests for weapons from recognized purchasers, make contracts with the various parts manufacturers, and deliver the weapons, stamped, in order to account for their distribution.

The influx of weapons sent over during the Gordon Riots filled the armory in the Tower of London. When the Ordnance Office was offered an additional five thousand guns from a foreign manufacturer a few months later they realized they had a problem on their hands: Should they purchase these weapons in order to keep them out of unwanted hands? If they did, would the English manufacturers take issue with the purchase and themselves arm opposing forces?

One solution was to open up additional warehouses. The Ordnance Office refused to follow through with this plan and instead shut down all orders, straining their relationship with gun manufacturers who so recently had shown their willingness to support the Office during the riots. The gun manufacturers had no choice but to wait until the Office decided they needed more weapons since their contracts with the government offered the most sure path to wealth.

The supply of firearms was a constant struggle in the infancy of gun manufacture. Before a standardized weapon was introduced most firearms were made according to the purchaser’s specifications. This led to production issues and concerns that gun manufacturers could equip enemy soldiers. Everything changed with the introduction of the “Brown Bess,” the official musket used by the British Army. The musket was a flintlock musket and could be fired at a rate of 3 rounds/minute, depending on the skill of the user.

Each individual part, from the barrel to the butt, had specific requirements which led to manufacture being the assembly of the various components. This served two purposes. One, the weapons could be replaced and repaired much more effectively and two, it took control of firearms away from individual producers. By splitting up the manufacture of parts the British government could be sure that there wouldn’t be any production funnels when they needed more weapons. For a nation who saw the majority of the 1700’s at war this was a gamechanger.

Rudyard Kipling wrote about the Brown Bess in his poem of the same name:

In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes, and brocade

Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise -

An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,

With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes -

At Blenheim and Ramillies, fops would confess

They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.

— Rudyard Kipling, "Brown Bess," 1911

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