@mysteryman,
mysteryman wrote:It does say "the right of the people".
As I understand the constitution, based on my reading of the Federalist Papers, at the time the Constitution was written the militia was the people.
Every male over 16 was considered part of the militia, especially since the US was mostly frontier at the time, and small towns and villages still suffered from indian attacks.
Of course, I could be wrong, and if I am I am sure one of the many constitutional experts here will tell me.
Mostly right, but a little bit wrong.
The need to defend against Native Americans was not the reason for the militia. They could have chosen to have a strong standing army had they wanted, and that could have fulfilled the role of defense and protection.
They chose to have a strong militia as part of a conscious decision to
not have a strong standing army. That's why many of the quotes from the era which extolled the virtues of the militia, also condemned standing armies as the bane of liberty.
You are correct about them making the entire population members of the militia.
