9/23/2005

Hamilton and the militia

I am surprised to find the USV experience - and the modern "Total Army" concept - foreshadowed in a few lines written by Alexander Hamilton in Fedealist 29 (1788):
This desirable uniformity can only be accomplished by confiding the regulation of the militia to the direction of the national authority. It is, therefore, with the most evident propriety, that the plan of the convention proposes to empower the Union "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.'' [Emphasis in original.]
That seems to be one of the more Hamiltonian of Hamilton's ideas and I'm sorry to have seen it woven into present practice.