Informing the Founders: A Short History of Standing Armies in England
The founding generation harbored a deep distrust of standing armies. This flowed not only from their first-hand experience with the British, but also from arguments against permanent military forces rooted in English tradition. John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon were...
Refuting the Claim that the Second Amendment was Intended to Protect Slavery
Note: This is the first in a three-part series examining a false “pro-slavery” interpretation of the Second Amendment that persists to this day. In efforts to undermine the Second Amendment, gun control advocates advance a variety of arguments claiming it...
Thomas Paine: Fear, Government Power and Standing Armies
From the earliest days of the republic, politicians have used fear to expand government power. This was the strategy the Federalist Party used to get a standing army. Thomas Paine called them out on it. The founding generation was extremely wary of standing armies....