With the conclusion of the war, the Continental Army was disbanded. In the modern era of American global military supremacy, the early American distrust of regular military forces is often forgotten. Professional soldiers were viewed as a critical component of tyranny. A vestige of this tendency is enshrined in the overlooked Third Amendment, forbidding the quartering of troops in private homes during peacetime, and only as prescribed by law during war. A small regular force was maintained to guard the frontier, bolstered by militia in times of war, and reduced again after peace was established.
This model was maintained throughout the nineteenth century and lasted until America’s first foray into imperialism. Leading up to the Spanish–American War, the regular Army was not deemed large enough for the enterprise. However, the Constitution disallowed the use of the militia for anything other than suppressing rebellion, repelling invasions, and executing the law. To circumvent this, Congress enacted a law allowing for the recruitment of a Volunteer Army, maintained only during the existence of war, or while war was imminent. Members were taken from state militias and new enlistments for a mandated two years, or at the conclusion of hostilities.
Although the U.S. Army was victorious, the war taught the regulars important lessons, signaling the death of the frontier Army. Fighting professional European armies in foreign lands was a bit different from fighting Comanches and Lakota Sioux. The Volunteer Army, mainly consisting of militia troops from various states, was woefully under-equipped with antiquated kit and weaponry. In response to this deficiency came the Militia Act of 1903. The militia system was transformed into what we now know as the National Guard. Federal funding was now available for the equipment and training required to modernize state military forces to meet regular Army standards.
The traditional restriction of militia serving overseas was permanently overcome with the National Defense Act of 1916, allowing National Guard members to be discharged from state militia service and drafted them into federal service when operating under federal authority. By 1933, the transition was completed. The National Guard primarily became a reserve component of the United States Army and secondarily a state militia force.
Today, the National Guard is tasked with an impossible mission. Domestically, it has been tasked with everything from Covid response, protecting Congress from the aftermath of “insurrection,” guarding the southern border, and local emergency response. On top of that, it serves to augment and supplant a regular Army that has been suffering historic recruitment and retention issues. The National Guard has two contradictory missions, domestic emergency response and expeditionary military activities. Because funding primarily comes from the federal government, war fighting takes a primary focus.