Military

The colonists' most revered military institution was the militia, a model inherited from their forebears in England. The philosophical underpinnings of the militia model are easy to understand: "fear of a standing army," (Millet and Maslowski 1). A standing army can turn against its people, staging what now would be called military coups one after the other. During and especially after Independence, the validity, effectiveness, efficiency, and relevance of the militia model was called into question. This is why the United States Constitution eventually included the provisions for federalized systems of national security. Naturally, the existence of a standing army to "provide for the common defense" would be required. Independence required an organized military strategy against a powerful Empire; to protect the new nation, it was certain that the military would be necessary to preserve all that hard work. The Constitution therefore enabled the creation and maintenance of standing...
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