Standing army
A permanent, professional military force kept in service in peacetime as well as in war. Many Americans of the founding era distrusted standing armies as a possible tool of tyranny and preferred citizen militias.
A permanent, professional military force kept in service in peacetime as well as in war. Many Americans of the founding era distrusted standing armies as a possible tool of tyranny and preferred citizen militias.
Example: The Declaration of Independence complains that the king “has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.” The Constitution lets Congress “raise and support Armies,” but no appropriation for that use may run “for a longer Term than two Years.”
Common misconception: The Constitution does not ban a peacetime army. It allows one, but places it under Congress’s control of money: army funding has to be approved again at least every two years.
Sources: National Archives, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription; National Archives, The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (Article I, Section 8)