Militia Acts of 1792

Last updated

Two Militia Acts, enacted by the 2nd United States Congress in 1792, provided for the organization of militia and empowered the president of the United States to take command of the state militia in times of imminent invasion or insurrection.

Contents

The president's authority had a life of two years and was invoked to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in 1794. In 1795, Congress enacted the Militia Act of 1795, which mirrored the provisions of the expired 1792 Acts, except that the president's authority to call out the militias was made permanent. The Militia Act of 1862, enacted during the American Civil War, amended the conscription provision of the 1792 and 1795 acts, which originally applied to every "free able-bodied white male citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45, to allow African-Americans to serve in the militias. The new conscription provision applied to all males, regardless of race, between the ages of 18 and 54. The Militia Act of 1903 repealed and superseded the Militia Act of 1795 and established the United States National Guard as the body of the "organized militia" in the United States. [1]

Background

The Militia act's origins can be traced to "An Act for ordering the Forces in the several Counties of this Kingdom" by the English Parliament in 1665. [2]

A committee was formed on April 7, 1783, headed by Alexander Hamilton, also including James Madison, [3] to determine what the Military Peace Establishment of the country should be post-revolution. [4] Hamilton first presented the committee's plan on June 18, [5] [6] just two days before what would become known as the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783. After Congress reestablished itself in Trenton, New Jersey, the committee's altered report was presented on October 23. [7]

It was understood at the time that the president did not have the independent power under the United States Constitution to call out the militia and required statutory authorization by United States Congress to do so.

The Militia Acts were passed following the enormous losses suffered by General Arthur St. Clair's forces at the Battle of the Wabash in 1791, [8] when nearly 1,000 Americans died in battle against the Western Confederacy of American Indians. There was widespread fear that Indian forces would exploit their victory during the recess of Congress. St. Clair's defeat was partly blamed on his army's poor organization and equipment. [9] Upon the final required ratification enabling the Second Amendment reaching Congress January 8, 1792, Congress passed the Militia acts that May, the second on the last day before adjournment.

First Militia Act of 1792

The first Militia Act was passed on May 2, 1792, and provided authority to the president to call out militias of the several states, "whenever the United States shall be invaded, or be in imminent danger of invasion from any foreign nation or Indian tribe". (art. I, ss. 1)

The Act also authorized the president to call the militias into federal service "whenever the laws of the United States shall be opposed or the execution thereof obstructed, in any state, by combinations too powerful to be suppressed by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, or by the powers vested in the marshals by this act". (art. I, ss. 2) This provision likely referred to uprisings such as Shays' Rebellion.

The president's authority in both cases was conditional on the president, by proclamation, ordering the insurgents "to disperse, and retire peaceably to their respective abodes, within a limited time."

The president's authority in both cases was to expire at the end of the session of Congress after two years. By the Militia Act of 1795, Congress re-enacted the provisions of the 1792 Act, except that the president's authority to call out militias was made permanent.

Second Militia Act of 1792

Front page of a newspaper announcing the second Militia Act of 1792. Columbiancentinelxvii.jpg
Front page of a newspaper announcing the second Militia Act of 1792.

The second Militia Act of 1792 was passed on May 8, 1792, and provided for the organization of state militias and the conscription of every "free able-bodied white male citizen" between the ages of 18 and 45:

... each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia, by the Captain or Commanding Officer of the company, within whose bounds such citizen shall reside ...

Militia members were required to equip themselves with a musket, bayonet and belt, two spare flints, a box able to contain not less than 24 suitable cartridges, and a knapsack. Alternatively, everyone enrolled was to provide himself with a rifle, a powder horn, ¼ pound of gunpowder, 20 rifle balls, a shot-pouch, and a knapsack. [10] Exemptions applied to some occupations, including members of Congress, stagecoach drivers, and ferryboatmen.

The militias were divided into "divisions, brigades, regiments, battalions, and companies" as the state legislatures would direct. [11] The provisions of the first Act governing the calling up of the militia by the president in case of invasion or obstruction to law enforcement were continued in the second act. [12] The statute authorized court martial proceedings against militia members who disobeyed orders. [13]

Use and subsequent amendments

George Washington was the first president to call out the militia in 1794 (just before the 1792 act expired) to put down the Whiskey Rebellion in Western Pennsylvania. Washington issued a proclamation on August 7, 1794, that invoked the act and called out 13,000 militiamen to put down the rebellion. [14]

Congress passed the Militia Act of 1795, which by and large mirrored the provisions of the expired 1792 act but made the president's authority to call out the militias permanent.[ citation needed ]

The Militia Act of 1808 provided funding for arms and equipment to state militias. The Militia Act of 1795 was, in turn, amended by the Militia Act of 1862, which allowed African-Americans to serve in the militias.[ citation needed ]

The 1792 and 1795 acts left the question of state versus federal militia control unresolved. Consequently, the federal government could not consistently rely on the militias for national defense. For example, during the War of 1812, members of the New York militia refused to take part in operations against the British in Canada, arguing that their only responsibility was to defend their home state. [15] On another occasion, the Governor of Vermont unsuccessfully attempted to recall his state's militia from the defense of Plattsburgh, claiming that it was illegal for them to operate outside Vermont. [16]

As a result, starting with the War of 1812, the federal government would create "volunteer" units when it needed to expand the size of the regular Army. These volunteer units were not militia, though they often consisted of whole militia units that had volunteered en masse nor were they part of the regular Army. They did, however, come under direct federal control. This solution was also employed during the Mexican–American War (1846–48), [17] and in the Union Army during the American Civil War (1861–65). [18] Some volunteer units were also organized during the Spanish–American War (1898). [19] [20] The federal government also mobilized several National Guard units which volunteered en masse and were accepted as volunteer units. [21] [22]

The 1795 act was superseded by the Militia Act of 1903, which established the United States National Guard as the chief body of organized military reserves in the United States. [1]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militia</span> Force of non-professional soldiers

A militia is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional or part-time soldiers; citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of regular, full-time military personnel; or, historically, to members of a warrior-nobility class. When acting independently, militias are generally unable to hold ground against regular forces; militias commonly support regular troops by skirmishing, holding fortifications, or conducting irregular warfare, instead of undertaking offensive campaigns by themselves. Local civilian laws often limit militias to serve only in their home region, and to serve only for a limited time; this further reduces their use in long military campaigns. Militias may also, however, serve as a pool of available manpower for regular forces to draw from, particularly in emergencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Guard (United States)</span> Military unit

The National Guard is a state-based military force that becomes part of the U.S. military's reserve components of the U.S. Army and the U.S. Air Force when activated for federal missions. It is a military reserve force composed of National Guard military members or units of each state and the territories of Guam, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia, for a total of 54 separate organizations. It is officially created under Congress's Article 1 Section 8 ability to "raise and support armies". All members of the National Guard are also members of the organized militia of the United States as defined by 10 U.S.C. § 246. National Guard units are under the dual control of state governments and the federal government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Posse Comitatus Act</span> United States law limiting use of the federal military in domestic policy

The Posse Comitatus Act is a United States federal law signed on June 18, 1878, by President Rutherford B. Hayes which limits the powers of the federal government in the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic policies within the United States. Congress passed the Act as an amendment to an army appropriation bill following the end of Reconstruction and updated it in 1956, 1981 and 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Conscription in the United States</span>

In the United States, military conscription, commonly known as the draft, has been employed by the U.S. federal government in six conflicts: the American Revolutionary War, the American Civil War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The fourth incarnation of the draft came into being in 1940, through the Selective Training and Service Act; this was the country's first peacetime draft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Guard Bureau</span> Federal agency responsible for the administration of the United States National Guard

The National Guard Bureau is the federal agency responsible for the administration of the National Guard established by the United States Congress as a joint bureau of the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. It was created by the Militia Act of 1903. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008, elevated the National Guard to a joint function of the Department of Defense. The 2007 NDAA, from the previous year, elevated the chief of the National Guard Bureau from a lieutenant general to a four-star general.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regular Army (United States)</span> Professional core of the US Army

The Regular Army of the United States succeeded the Continental Army as the country's permanent, professional land-based military force. In modern times, the professional core of the United States Army continues to be called the Regular Army. From the time of the American Revolution until after the Spanish–American War, state militias and volunteer regiments organized by the states supported the smaller Regular Army of the United States. These volunteer regiments came to be called United States Volunteers (USV) in contrast to the Regular United States Army (USA). During the American Civil War, about 97 percent of the Union Army was United States Volunteers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selective Service Act of 1917</span> Former United States conscription law

The Selective Service Act of 1917 or Selective Draft Act authorized the United States federal government to raise a national army for service in World War I through conscription. It was envisioned in December 1916 and brought to President Woodrow Wilson's attention shortly after the break in relations with Germany in February 1917. The Act itself was drafted by then-Captain Hugh S. Johnson after the United States entered World War I by declaring war on Germany. The Act was canceled with the end of the war on November 11, 1918. The Act was upheld as constitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1918.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Insurrection Act of 1807</span> United States law

The Insurrection Act of 1807 is a United States federal law that empowers the president of the United States to deploy U.S. military and federalized National Guard troops within the United States in particular circumstances, such as to suppress civil disorder, insurrection, or rebellion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militia Act of 1862</span> Military draft legislation of the American Civil War

The Militia Act of 1862 was an Act of the 37th United States Congress, during the American Civil War, that authorized a militia draft within a state when the state could not meet its quota with volunteers. The Act, for the first time, also allowed African-Americans to serve in the militias as soldiers and war laborers. Previous to it, since the Militia Acts of 1792, only white male citizens were permitted to participate in the militias.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militia (United States)</span> U.S. paramilitary force

The militia of the United States, as defined by the U.S. Congress, has changed over time. During colonial America, all able-bodied men of a certain age range were members of the militia, depending on each colony's rule. Individual towns formed local independent militias for their own defense. The year before the U.S. Constitution was ratified, The Federalist Papers detailed the Founding Fathers' paramount vision of the militia in 1787. The new Constitution empowered Congress to "organize, arm, and discipline" this national military force, leaving significant control in the hands of each state government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Defense Act of 1916</span> Former American law

The National Defense Act of 1916, Pub. L.Tooltip Public Law  64–85, 39 Stat. 166, enacted June 3, 1916, was a United States federal law that updated the Militia Act of 1903, which related to the organization of the military, particularly the National Guard. The principal change of the act was to supersede provisions as to exemptions. The 1916 act included an expansion of the Army and the National Guard, the creation of an Officers' and an Enlisted Reserve Corps, and the creation of a Reserve Officers' Training Corps. The President was also given expanded authority to federalize the National Guard, with changes to the duration and the circumstances under which he could call it up. The Army began the creation of an Aviation arm, and the federal government took steps to ensure the immediate availability of wartime weapons and equipment by contracting in advance for production of gunpowder and other material.

The Federalist Era in American history ran from 1788 to 1800, a time when the Federalist Party and its predecessors were dominant in American politics. During this period, Federalists generally controlled Congress and enjoyed the support of President George Washington and President John Adams. The era saw the creation of a new, stronger federal government under the United States Constitution, a deepening of support for nationalism, and diminished fears of tyranny by a central government. The era began with the ratification of the United States Constitution and ended with the Democratic-Republican Party's victory in the 1800 elections.

National service in the United States has a long tradition, extending to the founding of the country. National service takes multiple forms in the U.S., including community service, military service, and other forms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Militia Act of 1903</span> United States law establishing the National Guard

The Militia Act of 1903, also known as the Efficiency in Militia Act of 1903 or the Dick Act, was legislation enacted by the United States Congress to create what would become the modern National Guard from a subset of the militia, and codify the circumstances under which the Guard could be federalized. It also provided federal funds to pay for equipment and training, including annual summer encampments. The new National Guard was to organize units of similar form and quality to those of the regular Army, and intended to achieve the same training, education, and readiness requirements as active duty units.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Military forces of the Confederate States</span> Confederate States military organization and functional history

The military forces of the Confederate States, also known as Confederate forces, were the military services responsible for the defense of the Confederacy during its existence (1861–1865).

United States Volunteers also known as U.S. Volunteers, U.S. Volunteer Army, or other variations of these, were military volunteers called upon during wartime to assist the United States Army but who were separate from both the Regular Army and the militia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Veteran Corps of Artillery</span> Honor guard of the Military Society of the War of 1812

The Veteran Corps of Artillery is a patriotic organization established as an independent artillery unit in 1790 at New York by veterans of the Revolutionary War. In 1848, it consolidated with the Military Society of the War of 1812.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twenty Negro Law</span> American Civil War Confederate legislation

The "Twenty Negro Law", also known as the "Twenty Slave Law" and the "Twenty Nigger Law", was a piece of legislation enacted by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The law specifically exempted from Confederate military service one white man for every twenty slaves owned on a Confederate plantation, or for two or more plantations within five miles of each other that collectively had twenty or more slaves. Passed as part of the Second Conscription Act in 1862, the law was a reaction to United States President Abraham Lincoln's preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which was issued barely three weeks earlier. The law addressed Confederate fears of a slave rebellion due to so many white men being absent from home, as they were fighting in the Confederate Army. The Confederacy enacted the first conscription laws in United States history, and the percentage of Confederate soldiers who were conscripts was nearly double that of Union soldiers.

On April 15, 1861, at the start of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln called for a 75,000-man militia to serve for three months following the bombardment and surrender of Fort Sumter. Some southern states refused to send troops against the neighboring Deep South slave states of South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. The result was that most states in the Upper South of Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee also declared secession from the United States and joined the Confederate States.

Martin v. Mott, 25 U.S. 19 (1827) was a United States Supreme Court case concerning the president of the United States’ emergency powers and the authority to activate state militias for federal service. The court heard the case of Jacob E. Mott, a militia private who disobeyed orders to mobilize for service during the war of 1812 and then appealed his subsequent court-martial. The court’s ruling in the case against the militiaman had a significant impact on executive powers during national emergencies, according to legal scholars, and has been used to interpret the Insurrection Act of 1807.

References

  1. 1 2 Michael Dale Doubler, John W. Listman, Jr., The National Guard: An Illustrated History of America's Citizen-Soldiers, Washington, D.C.: Brassey's, Inc., 2003, ISBN   978-1-57488-389-3, page 53.
  2. "Charles II, 1662: An Act for ordering the Forces in the several Counties of this Kingdom. | British History Online".
  3. "Page 92 Continental Congress – Papers".
  4. "Founders Online: From Alexander Hamilton to George Washington, 9 April 1783".
  5. "Page 92 Continental Congress – Papers".
  6. "Founders Online: Continental Congress Report on a Military Peace Establishment …".
  7. "Journals of the Continental Congress – THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 1783".
  8. Schecter, Barnet (2010). George Washington's America. A Biography Through His Maps. New York: Walker & Company. p. 238. ISBN   978-0-8027-1748-1.
  9. "Samuel Hodgdon, 5th Quartermaster General". Fort Lee, Virginia: US Army Quartermaster Foundation. Archived from the original on May 14, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  10. "A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional Documents and Debates, 1774–1875".
  11. Militia Act of 1792, May 8, 1792, art. I, ss. 1(iii)3
  12. Militia Act of 1792, May 8, 1792, art. I, ss. 3
  13. Militia Act of 1792, May 2, 1792, art. I, ss. 5
  14. "Whiskey Rebellion: This Month in Business History (Business Reference Services, Library of Congress)". Library of Congress.
  15. Jesse Greenspan, History.com, How U.S. Forces Failed to Conquer Canada 200 Years Ago, July 12, 2012
  16. Spencer C. Tucker, The Encyclopedia Of the War Of 1812 (2012), page 132
  17. Public Broadcasting System, A Call to Arms: The American Army in the Mexican War: An Overview, A Conversation With Richard Bruce Winders, Historian and Curator, The Alamo, March 14, 2006
  18. Robert K. Krick, Gary W. Gallagher, The American Civil War: The War in the East, 1863–1865 (2001), page 7
  19. U.S. Army Center of Military History, Spanish–American War: Volunteer Forces, 1899
  20. Texas State Historical Association, Handbook of Texas Online, First United States Volunteer Cavalry, accessed July 3, 2013
  21. Spanish–American War Centennial Website, Unit Profiles, Rosters, and Photos, accessed July 3, 2013
  22. New York Times, The Volunteer Army Call: Further Instructions Issued to the Governors of States by the War Department; MODE OF ENLISTMENT GIVEN System for the Enrollment of the National Guard Organizations Much Simpler Than Had Been Supposed; Replies of the Governors, April 27, 1898