Fear Of A Standing Army

From the Independent Institute, it was noted how some of the early American Presidents stood on the issue of a standing army:

"After the Revolutionary War, many prominent patriots opposed the idea of maintaining a peacetime army. Thomas Jefferson wrote to a friend that the new republic should maintain, not a standing army, but a naval force that “can never endanger our liberties, nor occasion bloodshed; a land force would do both.” James Monroe expressed similar views. James Madison, the father of the U.S. Constitution, was not certain that Congress possessed the authority to create a standing army. In 1783 retiring president George Washington, who came closer to advocating one than most of his contemporaries, recommended only a small regular army, to protect the frontier from Indian attacks, and a well-regulated militia."

More quotes from Thomas Jefferson about the military here.

See War of 1812 Chronicles post Fear Of A Standing Army


The author of this academic paper theorized that "the War of 1812 was the defining event that spurred the professionalization of the American Army (towards the appreciation of a standing army instead of the earlier fear)."