The American Militia

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http://www.faem.com/academy/wla05a.htm

In the United States the case is altogether different. The People, not the Government, possess the absolute sovereignty." James Madison, Report on the Virginia Resolutions, 1800. http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/found...speechs24.html

Forward.

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Constitutional Basis of the American Militia.

The English word 'militia' derives from the Latin root of 'miles', which means 'soldier'.

The Founding Fathers of the United States of America were honors students of ancient and modern history. In writing the Constitution and setting up the social institutions they carefully considered the lessons of the past from the Classical histories of Greece and Rome. They also took into account the Old Testament Biblical history of Israel from the time of the Judges to the end of Solomon. They even considered more modern lessons from the 18th Century English Civil War.

In each case the same lesson stood out. The citizen soldier is the foundation of all free republics. In the ancient republics there was no difference between being a soldier and being a citizen. To the Framers of the Constitution the two nouns "militia" and "people" merely described the same groups in the different conditions of war and peace. This armed citizenry was and remains the most proven safeguard against external foreign invasion and internal domestic tyranny.

The citizen soldier was the cause of Hannibal's defeat in the Second Carthaginian War. Hannibal won tremendous victories, including the Battle of Canae where he destroyed 50,000 Roman legionaries although greatly outnumbered. But this was still only a fraction of Rome's citizenry, or military manpower. The Senate and People of Rome were unbowed by this disaster. They called out fresh legions and placed them under the command of Fabian. Hannibal lost the war.

In the later times of the Roman Republic ultra rich conspiratorial elites (of a type the corporate mass media endlessly assure us do not exist today) plotted to undermine the liberties of the Roman citizens and to subvert the Roman Republic. One of their methods was to substitute smaller standing armies of paid professionals for citizen soldier formations drawn from the whole body of the citizenry.

In the so-called Greek city-state democracies the condition was the same. Only men who served as soldiers in the phalanx were eligible to vote as citizens in the assembly.

The father of Alexander the Great, Phillip II of Macedon, also known as the Hegemon, began suppressing this practice as potentially subversive of his dictatorial rule.

The Old Testament records a similar devolution of liberty when the regime substituted small numbers of paid professionals for armed citizen soldiers. In the time of the Judges the army of the 12 tribes of Israel was composed of every able bodied man. Later the second king of the tribe of Judah, Solomon, suppressed this citizen army and substituted in its place a small standing force of cavalry. Unsurprisingly the king of Judah also developed into a greedy tyrant who crushed the people with heavy taxes. At his death the 10 tribes of northern Israel revolted against his son Rehoboam and ended the united monarchy. Left with only a tiny army, scant resources and no army of the people Judah was then rapidly conquered by an Egyptian king called "Shishak."

In the 17th Century the English military dictator Oliver Cromwell (the same man who readmitted the Jews to England) came to supreme power at the head of a professional army called "The Ironsides." The problem of bringing these Ironsides under control comprises the entire history of the later part of the English Civil War. After this lesson the English Parliament refused to support large standing armies. The English Parliament instead relied on a Militia composed of the free citizens with a small standing military force to delay invaders (should the Navy fail to stop an invasion) until the Militia could mobilize.

The Framers of the Constitution derived a number of lessons from the above episodes. Their first conclusion was standing. Armies were the ever ready tools of ambitious tyrants and dictators and always a grave threat to the lives and liberties of the people. Their second lesson was those standing armies were a sometime necessary evil that could only be controlled with certainty by a far larger militia based on the whole people. Their third lesson was the only sure security of a free nation lay in a military power based on the entire citizen population capable of bearing arms and nothing less than that.

The Militia in The Federalist Papers

The Federalist Papers were originally newspaper essays written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison, three of the 39 men who signed the Constitution in Philadelphia. These essays were addressed to "The People of New York" as part of the ratification drive for the original Constitution. The three authors collectively signed themselves as "Publius".

Alexander Hamilton in The Federalist No. 29 on the militia http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_29.html


``The project of disciplining all the militia of the United States is as futile as it would be injurious, if it were capable of being carried into execution. A tolerable expertness in military movements is a business that requires time and practice. It is not a day, or even a week, that will suffice for the attainment of it. To oblige the great body of the yeomanry, and of the other classes of the citizens, to be under arms for the purpose of going through military exercises and evolutions, as often as might be necessary to acquire the degree of perfection which would entitle them to the character of a well-regulated militia, would be a real grievance to the people, and a serious public inconvenience and loss. It would form an annual deduction from the productive labor of the country, to an amount which, calculating upon the present numbers of the people, would not fall far short of the whole expense of the civil establishments of all the States. To attempt a thing which would abridge the mass of labor and industry to so considerable an extent, would be unwise: and the experiment, if made, could not succeed, because it would not long be endured. Little more can reasonably be aimed at, with respect to the people at large, than to have them properly armed and equipped; and in order to see that this be not neglected, it will be necessary to assemble them once or twice in the course of a year."

One thing is utterly certain from Hamilton's statements in The Federalist No. 29. 'All the militia' is comprised of the whole body of the citizenry and lesser part. The Militia is simply another name for the People in their role as citizen-soldiers. The phrase 'well-regulated militia' appears well prior to the drafting of the Second Amendment.

This is a happy usage since it clearly defines what is Constitutionally meant by this hitherto divisive phrase. What does Hamilton mean here by "well-regulated militia"? He means well trained and equipped as individuals as well as units. His last quoted sentence above unmistakably envisions guranteeing the entire citizenry is armed. In the context of The Federalist Papers the phrase "well-regulated" in connection with the militia has a completely opposite meaning from what the modern tyrants in Washington and their marketplace mob claim it to be.

"Well-regulated" applies to federal, state, local and private efforts to strengthen the militia. This phrase grants no power to any government in the United States to try to intentionally weaken that portion of the militia's strength arising naturally from the individual efforts of its members, who are the whole People. Governments may fail in their Constitutional duties to properly form and lead the militia. Governments may not go in the opposite direction and attempt to suppress the militia.

The only Constitutional "gun control" for the government is making certain every citizen has arms. In the 1980s the city government of Kennesaw, Georgia resumed its Constitutional duties towards the militia. The municipal council there enacted an ordinance requiring all adult citizens to procure and maintain a firearm with suitable ammunition in their home. This government was rewarded for its loyalty to the Constitutional peoples' militia with an instant dramatic drop in the crime rates.

In contrast the government of Australia recently disarmed the entire citizenry on the claim this step would create a safer environment for the citizenry. The natural order of Nature's God instantly punished this Marxist rebellion against the old English Common Law. Instead of dropping crime rates, and especially gun crime rates, soared. The proverb "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns" was proven true once again. This proof was made at the cost of the citizens and to the profit of the criminals.

Better "well-regulated" parts, called "select corps" in the 1780s, of the militia may exist and are again increasingly prudent for the government to nurture. But such "select corps" are not the entire militia. The federal government does not possess any power at all to arbitrarily designate a better equipped and trained portion as being the entire militia and then suppress the remainder of the militia by falsely claiming this select corps is the only "well-regulated" Constitutional militia.

Hamilton continued to say in No. 29:

``But though the scheme of disciplining the whole nation must be abandoned as mischievous or impracticable; yet it is a matter of the utmost importance that a well-digested plan should, as soon as possible, be adopted for the proper establishment of the militia. The attention of the government ought particularly to be directed to the formation of a select corps of moderate extent, upon such principles as will really fit them for service in case of need. By thus circumscribing the plan, it will be possible to have an excellent body of well-trained militia, ready to take the field whenever the defense of the State shall require it. This will not only lessen the call for military establishments, but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.''

Hamilton again makes clear the interchangeability of 'militia' and 'nation' in Constitutional usage. And when Hamilton says "nation" he means the whole People. Nation in constitutional usage is not a synonym for "government". Five years later in the Militia Act of 1792 the government indeed directed its attention as soon as possible to the "formation of a select corps of moderate extent". The Framers, now Presidents, Governors, Senators and Congressmen, defined this select corps of the militia as all able bodied white male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45. They listed certain specified exceptions such as members of Congress, the Vice-President, postal and transit workers.

Hamilton here is discussing practical military policy when he talks about a "select corps". He is not defining the total extent of the militia as something less than the whole nation. Were a government to attempt to embody every member of the militia and march them out of a district the civil society would collapse. Crops would fail, children would starve and women would be left vulnerable to the predations of the "merciless savages" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence.

Even standing bodies of state troops are not considered to be militia in The Federalist. See Hamilton in The Federalist No. 28: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_28.html

"Suppose the State of New York had been inclined to re-establish her lost jurisdiction over the inhabitants of Vermont, could she have hoped for success in such an enterprise from the efforts of the militia alone? Would she not have been compelled to raise and to maintain a more regular force for the execution of her design? If it must then be admitted that the necessity of recurring to a force different from the militia."

We see here that even individual STATES cannot raise a standing body of troops, claim this body to be the state's "well-regulated" militia and then suppress all other parts of the state militia. Hamilton here is contemplating the possible future existence of standing state military units. This is another remarkable display of foresight by a Framer. Such state military companies later appeared in different states at different times. And yet despite anticipating their appearance Hamilton still differentiated such forces in his mind from the "militia".

In The Federalist No. 46 http://lcweb2.loc.gov/const/fed/fed_46.html

James Madison made crystal clear the intended Constitutional role of the militia in controlling the federal government and its standing armies in the event of attempts at establishing unconstitutional tyrannies:

"Extravagant as the supposition is, let it however be made. Let a regular army, fully equal to the resources of the country, be formed; and let it be entirely at the devotion of the federal government; still it would not be going too far to say, that the State governments, with the people on their side, would be able to repel the danger. The highest number to which, according to the best computation, a standing army can be carried in any country, does not exceed one hundredth part of the whole number of souls; or one twenty-fifth part of the number able to bear arms. This proportion would not yield, in the United States, an army of more than twenty-five or thirty thousand men. To these would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands, officered by men chosen from among themselves, fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments possessing their affections and confidence. It may well be doubted, whether a militia thus circumstanced could ever be conquered by such a proportion of regular troops. Those who are best acquainted with the last successful resistance of this country against the British arms, will be most inclined to deny the possibility of it. Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of."

Madison's Military and Militia Mathematics

The total population of the United States according to the Census of 1790 was 3,929,214. http://sociology.about.com/library/bl_censusyear.htm

Now go back a few years to 1787 and take the total population of the United States. Remove the non-citizen Negroes and then divide by two to deduct white females. Now subtract the boys too young and the elderly men. We can see where Madison obtained his "near half a million" militia size. It was the maximum number of citizens he considered could be practically mobilized at that time for such a supreme crisis as a tyrannical or alien usurpation occurring in the federal government. Madison repeats Hamilton's view on what the militia is. To reiterate, the militia is comprised of the whole body of the citizenry and nothing less.

With our current historical perspective, Madison's calculations show incredible accuracy. Madison stated "one hundredth" (1%) of the population was the maximum number the federal government could sustain in a standing military force in peacetime. Let's check Madison's theory against modern experimental results. In 1980 the total census of the U.S.A. was 226,000,000. http://sociology.about.com/library/bl_censusyear.htm

In that year of Cold War the Department of Defense active duty end strength for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard was 2.2 million. This was precisely Madison's predicted percentage of 1% of the population as the maximum regular force the federal government would be capable of sustaining in peacetime.

Madison also gave another mathematical ratio in The Federalist No. 46. This was the relative size of the practically mobilizable Constitutional militia compared to the regular army. Madison's militia/army ratio was 500,000/30,000 or 16.67 militiamen to 1 regular soldier. Applying this ratio to the 1980 federal active duty force number yields a 1980 Madisonian militia strength of at least 35 million militiamen (2.1 million x 16.67). It's reasonable to argue that in extending sovereign franchise to women the United States simultaneously enlarged the militia. If true this extension doubled the 1980 size to at least 70 millions of militia. The only possible source of such immense numbers is the People themselves.

A modern red warning flag rises when we compare Madison's 1787 militia strength of 500,000, drawn from a total population of less than four million, to the size of the Army National Guard today. This modern "Army National Guard" numbers less than 250,000 compared to a population around 270,000,000 in the Year 2001 A.D. It is less than half the size of the standing regular army. In 1980 the Army National Guard numbered about 350,000 compared to a regular army of over 770,000. This was also less than half the size of the regular army.

Whatever this modern Army National Guard is, it is clearly something other than what Hamilton, Madison and Jay meant by their usage of 'militia' in The Federalist. They unequivocally showed in No. 46 it would be mathematically impossible for the federal government's standing army to ever outnumber the militia. Yet based on some people's explanations of the militia and the Second Amendment here are two instances of the federal army apparently outnumbering the 'militia' 2:1. The entire proposition is false. The argument starts from a defective understanding of what the American militia is.

The Militia in the Constitution of the United States of America

The Constitution did not establish the militia. The militia existed prior to the ratification of the Constitution. The Constitution itself recognizes the prior independent existence of the militia apart from the government of the United States. The Constitution merely delegates to the federal government certain powers solely designed to increase the effectiveness of the militia. The Constitution delegates no power to the federal government to limit the size of the militia to less than the entire people or to attempt to reduce its natural strength.

Attempts by the elements of the federal government to do this, so far from being Constitutional, actually mark the federal politicians and personnel concerned as having evolved into the illegitimate tyrannical regime that Madison designated as the enemy of the people/militia in The Federalist No. 46.

Article I of the Constitution delegates to Congress certain powers to support the militia: http://press-pubs.uchicago.edu/found...s/a1_8_16.html


"To provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the militia, and for governing such part of them as may be employed in the service of the United States, reserving to the states respectively, the appointment of the officers, and the authority of training the militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"

The Militia powers delegated to Congress are those of an 18th Century army Quartermaster General

The armies of the 18th Century had much smaller general staffs than modern forces. The usual single general staff officer was known as the Quartermaster General. The purpose of this officer was to reduce the administrative workload of the Commanding General. In doing this his clear duty was to take all possible measures to strengthen the combat power of the army. To carry out this duty the Quartermaster General's powers included prescribing courses of training for the army, specifying the tactical organization of the sub-units of the army and issuing regulations to implement the prescribed training and organization. The Quartermaster General was also responsible for ensuring the army was properly supplied. The Quartermaster General possessed no powers of command, such as appointing or dismissing subordinate officers of the army.