The Declaration of Independence is not "law."

Bit of whitewashing there, in that any pretense of creating a peaceful system of rebellion by violently rebelling is absurd.  They asserted their natural right to violently throw off tyranny, but sought to close the door to future claims.... just like every other regime...ever.  The nod to militias...not at all an example of the wise and noble intent of our founding fathers.  They were up to their eyelids in debt, and that specific mention to militia and guns, one of a kind in the constitution (both as a fighting force -and- the new voting force) was nothing short of softening the blow of their failure to pay.  It was the powder alarm that created those militias and..arguably, the american resistance in the first place.  Perhaps they thought that instituting new taxes -and- their own version of the powder alarm would be a bad idea, so early, what with having just fought a war..ostensibly, over those things.  They opted for the money (as always).

And if they'd lost they would have all been hung.

Rebels only attain legitimacy if they win.

BTW, George Washington thought the militia was as useless as balls on a cow.

Because they were, insomuch as they could not do what he needed them to do.

He did not even expect them to do much.

Quote:

• To place any dependence upon militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life - unaccustomed to the din of arms - totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill, which being followed by a want of confidence in themselves when opposed to troops regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, superior in knowledge, and superior in arms, makes them timid and ready to fly from their own shadows.
  • Letter to the president of Congress, Heights of Harlem (24 September 1776)
    

Yet another example of a founding father -not- being the wise leader with foresight aplenty.  Washington failed to grasp the nature of assymetric warfare because he didn't much like the rabble.  Meanwhile, his description of the militia was equally accurate with respect to his official forces..which he sustained long enough to train by trading the lives of militia in covering actions and raids.  While no one (or, at least, no one you and I would read) disputes the general ineffectiveness of the american militia, it's also plainly obvious that Washington used the militia as a scapegoat for his own problems as a commander and more generally as a focal point in a continuous plea for additional funding and actual troops.

That he felt we relied too heavily on militia is unremarkable. We did, partly out of necessity, and that reliance (and the bloc that was buiilt atop it) expresses itself plainly in the constitution...written by those men to whom washington was constantly making pleas for professional soldiers.

(June 14, 2017 at 4:35 pm)Minimalist Wrote: He did not even expect them to do much.

Quote:

• To place any dependence upon militia, is, assuredly, resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life - unaccustomed to the din of arms - totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill, which being followed by a want of confidence in themselves when opposed to troops regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, superior in knowledge, and superior in arms, makes them timid and ready to fly from their own shadows.
  • Letter to the president of Congress, Heights of Harlem (24 September 1776)
    

Applies equally well to today's "militia groups".

I strongly suspect that the next generation of militia nutballs will be far, far more worrisome than past or current militia nutballs.  They've had 16 years of ojt.

(one of the conundrums of the revolutionary militia, to me, anyway.. was that many of them had military experience as proxies for GB - but it doesn't seem to have taken, lol)

Cowpens was fought in 1781.  At that battle General Daniel Morgan implored his militia to give him just two fires before they ran away.  That meant the one they started with and one re-load.

I'd say that even then expectations were fairly low.

OFC, they didn't do well line fighting.  OTOH, since Cowpens is being mentioned, their effectiveness at Trenton greatly exceeded any expectations of them. That was the sort of shit that heavily favors militias though. A good use of bad men, lol.