STATE
MILITIA
People of the early years of the country were appre-hensive about the
new monster national government presented to them; there was a deep-seated
fear of a national or standing army. The early opposition to the idea
of national or standing armies was maintained under the Articles of
Confederation; that confederation had no standing army and wanted none.
The state militia -- especi-lly a part-time citizen army -- was the
only kind of army they wanted. From the time of the Declaration of Independence
through the victory at Yorktown in 1781, George Washington, as the comman-der-in-chief
of these volunteer-militia armies, had to depend on the states to send
these volunteers. To the American of the 18th century, his state was
his country, and his freedom was defended by this militia. (Warren E
Berger, Chief Justice of the U.S.) |