JOHN D. BROWN,LLC
WEST PALM BEACH, FLORIDA

The founding fathers knew they needed to provide for the common defense, but they saw standing (permanent) armies controlled by a central government as an immediate threat to the viability of the new union. A standing army is one made up of professional, full-time soldiers like the US Army, the Marines, the Navy, and the Air Force. The founding fathers thought they had found a solution in a tradition of duty that went back hundreds of years in England, all the way back to the fyrd, which was the name of the Saxon army made up of all able-bodied free males. This tradition simply stated that it was the duty of every able-bodied free man between certain ages to provide their own arms and defend the land when called by their leaders. The founders took this idea and tweaked it. The militia would still be a temporary citizen army. But Congress, not the president, was the only authority that could declare war and summon the state militias. Furthermore, while the Federal government was responsible to provide the arms the militia would use when it mustered them for war, the state governments would be the ones to appoint the officers and train the soldiers. The problem is militias didn’t work to provide for the common defense. Not well enough. The founding fathers knew they needed to provide for the common defense, but they saw standing (permanent) armies controlled by a central government as an immediate threat to the viability of the new union. A standing army is one made up of professional, full-time soldiers like the US Army, the Marines, the Navy, and the Air Force. The founding fathers thought they had found a solution in a tradition of duty that went back hundreds of years in England, all the way back to the fyrd, which was the name of the Saxon army made up of all able-bodied free males. This tradition simply stated that it was the duty of every able-bodied free man between certain ages to provide their own arms and defend the land when called by their leaders. The founders took this idea and tweaked it. The militia would still be a temporary citizen army. But Congress, not the president, was the only authority that could declare war and summon the state militias. Furthermore, while the Federal government was responsible to provide the arms the militia would use when it mustered them for war, the state governments would be the ones to appoint the officers and train the soldiers. The problem is militias didn’t work to provide for the common defense. Not well enough. And Brownworth does it in a way that helps you understand how their dominance was possible and what their effect on the wider world was. Did you know, for example, that Russia comes from the word “Rus”, which was the name for the Swedish Vikings that started that nation? By the way, I do not recommend the TV series based on the books—too much sex for my tastes. But the books are fabulous. As are the audio versions. I’ve listened to six of them so far, and they have provided hours of enjoyment and interesting insights about the time and the events that took place.