Can you cite the sources for all these requirements for militias?
They seem very authoritative. Thanks!
That the Militia are answerable to civilian authority is older than the country. Author David Hackett Fischer goes deeper into the details on the Militia, in the immediate time frame of the Battle at Lexington, in 1775, in his book, Paul Revere’s Ride. [See Chapter “The Muster - The Rising of the Militia,” pg. 149.]
Since the formation of the United States from the “united states” in the American Revolution, the level of federal burden or tyranny must affect enough people in a community or State, to compel their elected officials to authorize the Militia to muster for the common defense.
A “well regulated Militia,” that is, “well trained to Arms,” was an expectation that, when so trained, the Militia’s “military discipline” would lend this assembly of able-bodied men to respond to its civilian authorities -— the body of elected law-makers -— the lawful authority to apply force.
Our burden -— seeing as how the socialists certainly do not think it is their burden -— is to make good law [through our duly-chosen representatives] and make it work, and to remind both our neighbors and government of the limits on government.
If we do not understand the Founding Fathers’ and Framers’ original intent in the construction of our Constitution, nor understand that government’s powers are limited by the process of enumerating such powers -— that is, listing such powers -— then our burden is much greater.
These burdens must be addressed, whether or not armed force stikes one as being some sort of solution at this time.
. . .
I do not have readily available, a list of sources. Some are books deep inside an old footlocker. IIRC, the National Rifle Association has a collection of small booklets re the history of the militia. The NRA’s ILA Research & Information Division has a very long list of sources.
From some notes that I found ...
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Military Obligation: The American Tradition. A Compilation of the Enactments of Compulsion From the Earliest Settlements of the Original Thirteen Colonies in 1607 Through the Articles of Confederation, 1789. Compiled by Arthur Vollmer. Volume II of United States Selective Service System, Special Monograph No. 1: Backgrounds of Selective Service. 14 parts. Washington, 1947.
Gleeson, Paul F. “The Newport Light Infantry.” Rhode Island Historical Society, Collections, 33 (1940), 1-13.
Cole, David William. “The Organization and Administration of the South Carolina Militia System, 1670-1783,” Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation, University of South Carolina, 1953.
Minutes of the Albany Committee of Correspondence, 1775-1778. Edited by James Sullivan. 2 volumes. Albany, 1923-1925.
Burn, Richard. The Justice of the Peace, and Parish Officer. 4 volumes. 13th edition. London, 1776. [1st edition, 1754].
Howard, Simeon. A Sermon Preached To the Ancient and Honorable Artillery-Company, in Boston, New-England, June 7th, 1773. Being the Anniversary of the Election of Officers. Boston, 1773.
Dalton, Michael. Officium Vicecomitum. The Office and Authority of Sheriffs: Gathered Out of the Statutes, and Books of the Common Laws of this Kingdom. London, 1682.
Lambarde, William. The Duties of Constables, Borsholders, Tithing-men, and such other Low Ministers of the Peace. London, 1583.
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Those are examples of sources that can be found, pertaining to the history of the militia and the history of the sheriff “of the peace.”
Please do not think that I’ve read all those; they are examples of the biblio from what I have read; I just scrounged them up quickly, so you would have an idea of the extent and types of sources.
More examples ...
Alexander, Arthur J. “Exemption from Militia Service in New York State during the Revolutionary War,” New York History, 27 (1946), 204-212.
Alexander, Arthur J. “Exemption from Military Service in the Old Dominion during the War of the Revolution,” Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 53 (1945), 163-171.
Alexander, Arthur J. “Pennsylvania’s Revolutionary Militia,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 69 (1945), 15-25.
Anderson, John R. “Militia Law in Revolutionary Jersey,” New Jersey Historical Society, Proceedings, 76 (1958), 280-296; 77 (1959), 9-21.
Ansell, S. T. “Legal and Historical Aspects of the Militia,” Yale Law Journal, 26 (1916-17), 471-480.