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Chapter 4 - The Age of Free Security: The 19th Century


In 1799 Thomas Jefferson, soon to become president, expressed the
national sentiment perfectly: "I am for relying, for internal defence,
on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such naval force
only as may protect our coasts and harbors from such depredations as
we have experienced; and not for a standing army in time of peace,
which may overawe the public sentiment; nor for a navy, which by its
own expenses and eternal wars in which it will implicate us, will
grind us with public burthens, & sink us under them."

Jefferson's colleagues and successors from both the Democratic Party
and the Federalist Party reflected these markedly anti-military views.
For example, Jefferson's secretary of the treasury, Albert Gallatin,
voiced an opinion on these matters that was common at the time: "The
distribution of our little army to distant garrisons where hardly any
other inhabitant is to be found is the most eligible arrangement of
that perhaps necessary evil that can be contrived....I never want to
see the face of one in our cities and intermixed with the people." If
the Army was banished to the frontier and thus deprived of political
influence, the Navy also remained on the periphery of American life,
for it was assigned to coastal or overseas service and thus was
similarly isolated from politics. The minuscule size of both services
was a further guarantee of their almost invisible role in national
political life and of the principle of civilian control.

The military naturally wished to preserve considerable freedom of
action in making local tactical judgments that they were uniquely
qualified to decide, and their superiors--both civilian and
military--acquiesced in this arrangement. The determination of
national political objectives and strategic designs always, however,
remained in civilian hands. This distinction between tactical and
political-strategic decisions is of great importance. The American
tendency to grant considerable freedom of action to commanders in the
field, whenever their operational decisions did not contradict
political-strategic guidelines, often mollified the military services,
which were otherwise subject to rigorous civilian control.

Perhaps most important to the continuing commitment to civilian
control was the absence of significant and sustained threats to U.S.
national security until the 20th century. The stable balance of power
in Europe from the defeat of Napoleon to 1914 contributed immeasurably
to the security of the United States. By discouraging European
meddling in the New World, it allowed Americans to concentrate on
internal affairs:  political consolidation, westward expansion and
economic growth. The nation required only tiny armed forces that
emphasized peacetime missions, because it could count on geographic
barriers, the surrounding oceanic expanses, to ensure security.
Between 1815 and 1917, the age of "free security," the United States
fought only two brief wars with foreign powers. Both were against
relatively weak opponents, Mexico (1846 - 1848) and Spain (1898), and
the conflicts ended quickly and required only limited expenditure of
blood and treasure.

In these circumstances, the national preference for citizen-soldiers
instead of long-serving professionals remained firm. In 1826 a
secretary of war summarized the views of the people precisely: "Among
the political maxims which the United States had adopted as
unquestionable, there is no one more universally subscribed to than
that a well-organized and well-disciplined militia is the natural
defense of a free people." Moreover, as the highly respected jurist
Joseph Story noted, the nation paid little attention to the militia:
"It cannot be disguised, that among the American people there is a
growing indifference to any system of military discipline, and a
strong disposition to be rid of all regulations." Limited security
challenges minimized the tension between martial values and civil
values that troubled societies subject to dangerous external threats.