a standing army was created in the united states in 1791.
a standing army was created in the united states in 1791.
when was a standing army created in the united states?
1791
some representatives mistrusted proposals to enlarge federal powers, because they were concerned about the inherent risks of centralizing power. federalists, including james madison, initially argued that a bill of rights was unnecessary, sufficiently confident that the federal government could never raise a standing army powerful enough to overcome a militia. federalist noah webster argued that an armed populace would have no trouble resisting the potential threat to liberty of a standing army. anti-federalists, on the other hand, advocated amending the constitution with clearly defined and enumerated rights providing more explicit constraints on the new government. many anti-federalists feared the new federal government would choose to disarm state militias. federalists countered that in listing only certain rights, unlisted rights might lose protection. the federalists realized there was insufficient support to ratify the constitution without a bill of rights and so they promised to support amending the constitution to add a bill of rights following the constitution's adoption. this compromise persuaded enough anti-federalists to vote for the constitution, allowing for ratification. the constitution was declared ratified on june 21, 1788, when nine of the original thirteen states had ratified it. the remaining four states later followed suit, although the last two states, north carolina and rhode island, ratified only after congress had passed the bill of rights and sent it to the states for ratification. james madison drafted what ultimately became the bill of rights, which was proposed by the first congress on june 8, 1789, and was adopted on december 15, 1791.
second amendment to the united states constitution
the armed forces that won the american revolution consisted of the standing continental army created by the continental congress, together with regular french army and naval forces and various state and regional militia units. in opposition, the british forces consisted of a mixture of the standing british army, loyalist militia and hessian mercenaries. following the revolution, the united states was governed by the articles of confederation. federalists argued that this government had an unworkable division of power between congress and the states, which caused military weakness, as the standing army was reduced to as few as 80 men. they considered it to be bad that there was no effective federal military crackdown on an armed tax rebellion in western massachusetts known as shays' rebellion. anti-federalists on the other hand took the side of limited government and sympathized with the rebels, many of whom were former revolutionary war soldiers. subsequently, the constitutional convention proposed in 1787 to grant congress exclusive power to raise and support a standing army and navy of unlimited size. anti-federalists objected to the shift of power from the states to the federal government, but as adoption of the constitution became more and more likely, they shifted their strategy to establishing a bill of rights that would put some limits on federal power.
second amendment to the united states constitution