In 1781 in his Notes on the State of Virginia, Query IX, Thomas Jefferson described the militia: "Every able-bodied freeman, between the ages of 16 and 50 is enrolled in the militia. .... In every county is a county lieutenant, who commands the whole militia of his county. .... The governor is the head of the military, as well as the civil power. The law requires every militia-man to provide himself with the arms usual in the regular service."

In 1787 the Founding Fathers met in Philadelphia for the purpose of writing a constitution for the people of America. This is what they wrote:

            We the people of the United States, in Order to form 

            a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure      

            domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence,

            promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings

            of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain 

            and establish this CONSTITUTION for the United States

            of America.




                     ARTICLE  I



            Section 1.



            All legislative Powers herein shall be vested in a   

            Congress of the United States, which shall consist of

            a Senate and House of Representatives. ....



            Section 8.



            The Congress shall have the power  To lay and collect

            Taxes, ....  to provide for calling forth the        

            Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress   

            Insurrections and repel Invasions;  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; ....



                     ARTICLE  II



            Section 1.



            The executive Power shall be vested in a President   

            of the United States of America. ....



            Section 2.



            The President shall be the Commander in Chief of the 

            Army, and Navy, and of the Militia of the several    

            States, when called into actual Service of the United

            States; ....



                     ARTICLE  III



             Section 1.



            The judicial Power of the United States, shall be    

            vested in one supreme Court, and in such inferior    

            Courts as the Congress may from time to time ordain  

            and establish. ....



                     ARTICLE  IV



            This Constitution, and the Laws of the United 

            States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and

            all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the 

            Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme

            Law of the Land; and the Judges of every State shall

            be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or  Laws

            of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

           

            The Senators and Representatives before          

            mentioned , and the Members of the several State 

            Legislatures, and all executive and judicial 

            Officers, both of the United States and of the

            several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation

            to support this Constitution; but no religious Test

            shall ever be required as a qualification to any             

            Office or public Trust under the United States.



In 1791 the Constitution was amended to include the second

amendment: " A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the

security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and

bear Arms shall not be infringed."




In 1801 in his first annual message President Jefferson

said:  "We should at every session continue to amend the defects

... in the laws regulating the militia, ...."



In 1806 in his sixth annual message: "The criminal attempts

of private individuals to decide for their country the question

of peace or war, by commencing active and unauthorized

hostilities , should be promptly and efficaciously suppressed."



In 1808 in his eighth annual message: "for  a people who

are free, and who mean to remain so, a well-organized and armed

militia is their best security.  It is, therefore, incumbent on

us, at every meeting to revise the condition of the militia, and

to ask ourselves if it is prepared to repel a powerful enemy at

every point of our territories exposed to invasion."



In a January 26, 1811, letter to Destutt de Tracy, Jefferson

wrote that the governor of each state is " constitutionally the

commander of the militia of the State."



In other words, the "well regulated Militia" of the Second

Amendment is the same state militia of Articles I and II of the

Constitution.  It is very clear that the Founding Fathers (1)

gave Congress power to organize, arm, discipline, and govern the

state militias and (2) made the President Commander in Chief of

the Militia.



In 1916 the National Defence Act provided for drafting the

state militias, which we now call the National Guard, into 

United States service under certain circumstances and under

authority granted by the Constitution as approved by the states

in 1788.



Therefore, the current self-proclaimed "militias" (private

armies) have no legal significance or authority under the

Constitution of the United States of America, except for their

right to keep and bear arms as citizens according to the laws of the land.

Copyright 1996 Gene Garman