09-19-2017, 06:00 PM
(09-19-2017, 03:36 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: That's actually not true at all. During the Revolutionary War, they had the Continental Army that was created by Congress (hence the uniforms, official training, paid service, etc) under a central leadership. Then they had the various supporting militias which were the aforementioned random dudes, some of them affiliated with States, and some of them just truly independent.
While it's true that the Continental Army was not intended to be a standing army and was dissolved after the war, the Revolutionary War ended after 1783, the 2nd Amendment was ratified in Dec 1791 and the creation of a standing army (Legion of the United States) was in combat of June 1792, literally just half a year after the ratification. The Legion of the United States stayed around until it got renamed the US Army.
At no time did they ever look at the 2nd Amendment, realize it wasn't what they wanted to say now that the US had a standing Army, and change it. Most of them were still alive in order to know if that is what they intended or not, too.
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So since the US started in 1776 that's...
-8 years of no standing Army
-233 years of standing Army
Or thereabouts.
But you are neglecting the language of the Constitution itself.
Article 1, Section 8
Quote:12: To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;
13: To provide and maintain a Navy;
14: To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
15: To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
16: 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;
Notice all of the wording, but 12 especially. It is rather clear that the intent for a standing, permanent army was not there. Navy? Yes, but not an army.
