Although a poor replacement for a professional military in
wartime, the militia embodied a set of ideas that defined attitudes
toward social order, civic responsibility, and the nature and
relative powers of the government. It was the supreme expression of
civic values in a traditional, communal, agrarian village society.
Rowe argues that the antebellum militia should be seen as a social
and political institution, rather than a military one, and contends
that it is a key to understanding the political and social values
of early 19th century America. Ultimately, changing social and
political values, demographic change and mobility, and finally the
dramatic expansion of federal power occasioned by the Civil War
would destroy the traditional militia.
Because the militia's functions, failures, and meanings were
most clearly apparent in new settlements along the frontier, Rowe
examines three case studies that represent successive leaps across
the Appalachians (Kentucky), the Mississippi (Missouri), and the
Great Plains (Washington Territory). The first generation of
settlers in Kentucky deliberately built a formal militia
organization, in part for self-defense, in part as an explicit
ideological and political statement. Despite both pre-existing
Franco-Spanish militia and federal attempts to use the Territory in
militia reform, American settlers in Missouri created a traditional
Anglo-American militia there. A generation later, settlers in
Washington Territory attempted to do the same, but the effort
dissolved in a bitter controversy over the territorial governor's
declaration of martial law.
General
Imprint: |
Praeger Publishers Inc
|
Country of origin: |
United States |
Series: |
Contributions in American History |
Release date: |
September 2003 |
First published: |
September 2003 |
Authors: |
Mary Ellen Rowe
|
Dimensions: |
235 x 156 x 23mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Hardcover - Cloth over boards
|
Pages: |
248 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-313-32410-9 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-313-32410-7 |
Barcode: |
9780313324109 |
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