In his first year, President John Quincy Adams continued pressing for a more uniform system of arming, and training the militia. The Militia system established in 1792, was in dire need of revamping, and Adams was continuing to push for the reforms of his predecessor James Monroe. In 1826, he created a "board of distinguished officers" to report on the defects of our militia system and provide recommendations. The militia system was created when Congress first passed the Militia Acts of 1792 providing for the organization of the state militias and granting the President of the United States the authority to take command of the state militias in times of imminent invasion or insurrection. President George Washington exercised this authority for the first time during the Whiskey rebellion in 1794. But the acts did not provide for the organization, training or arming of the militia by the federal government. This was left up to the states, and in many cases the providing of arms was left up to the soldiers themselves or the communities they came from.
After the war of 1812, Congress passed the Militia act of 1820 which repealed and replaced the act of 1792 and further define what was expected from the militia and the states, but as President Monroe explained in 1823, this act was "very imperfectly executed" due to the lack of uniformity of organization within across the militia system. Especially needed, was a system of instructions of the men. So, In 1824, President Monroe along with his Secretary of War Calhoun backed a plan to establish a system of instruction for artillery at West Point to prepare men as instructors out in the field. Congress responded by passing resolution "directing a system of Calvary Tactics, and a system of Instruction for Artillery, to be prepared for the use of the Calvary an Artillery of the Militia". This resolution authorized the Secretary of War to prepare such a system, but the plan was never fully realized.
When John Quincy Adams became president in 1825, he supported Monroe's plan, and in his first State of the Union Address, he expressed his desire to continue moving forward with this plan. In this address, he expressed that "[t]he organization of the militia is yet more indispensable to the liberties of the country". Adams reminded Congress that there were already laws to arm and equip the "whole body" of the militia, but that body was one of "dislocated members". Adams urged Congress to persevere in their deliberations regarding the militia act.
"The organization of the militia is yet more indispensable to the liberties of the country. It is only by an effective militia that we can at once enjoy the repose of peace and bid defiance to foreign aggression; it is by the militia that we are constituted an armed nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defense in the presence of all the other nations of the earth. To this end it would be necessary, if possible, so to shape its organization as to give it a more united and active energy. There are laws establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States and for arming and equipping its whole body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigor of unity and having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most important institution the power of which it is susceptible and to make it available for the defense of the Union at the shortest notice and at the smallest expense possible of time, of life, and of treasure are among the benefits to be expected from the persevering deliberations of Congress."Within months after this address, President Adams tasked a "board of distinguished officers of the Army and militia," to report on the "defective condition of our militia system" and offer improvements. The "Barbour Board" named after Secretary of War, James Barbour was chaired by Major General Winfield Scott and provided a full evaluation of the militia system along with improvements. The board reported a number of defects in the current militia system beginning with the "excess in numbers" of the militia act of 1792. The act of 1792, called for all able-body white male citizens of the united States, but since 1792 the general population of the United States had tripled, while the dangers of foreign aggression had diminished. But, it wasn't that the militia was too large, rather the burden of maintaining a large militia was too great. This burden was not paid for by the federal government who only supplied some arms and some training, but rather it was a burden on the people, especially in rural ares. In many areas of the country, neither the federal government, nor the states provided funds from arms and training. Some cities, had training facilities, and funds to arm their men, but in the rurual area it was up to the "most productinve class of the community" (aka farmers). According to the report, without the "aid of of a high war excitement", it was hopeless to expect large numbers of men from all over the country to to take off many successive days to receive instruction, especially in "thinly peopled districts" where there was no military encampment for training. A second defect noted by the report, was the dificulty of providing consistent artillery training across all the state militias. In this instance, the report was again recommending a plan similar to the one that President Monroe and Secretary Calhoun devised in 1824.
The board reported to the Honorary James Barbour, Secretary of War, recommended that the "well regulated, armed, and instructed militia" be limited to 400,000 men, and the establishment of systems of instructions for the different arms of militia, cavalry, artillery and infantry be created. The report included 16 very specific recommendations regarding the organization of the militia and establishing Camps of Instructions. Each state would have one adjutant general and one quartermaster general appointed at the brigadier level. Overall, there would be one adjutant general in the War Department to over see the entire militia. Uniform training and drill manuals would be created and federally-funded militia training camps were to be conducted annually in each state. Among the recommendation was also the exemptions of "all persons under the age of twenty-one years, in the several States, from service in the militia of the United States"
Unfortunately, Congress did not act on the Babour report and the attempts to better discipline and organize the militia amounted to nothing but stimulating discussion.
References
Presidency.ucsb.edu. (2017). John Quincy Adams: First Annual Message. [online] Available at: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29467 [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].House Documents, Otherwise Publ. as Executive Documents: 13th Congress, 2d Session-49th Congress, 1st Session, Volume 2. (2017). p.Doc. No. 62.
Wagner, D. (2017). 1823 James Monroe - Beginning of the Collapse of the Militia and the Second Amendment. [online] Stateoftheunionhistory.com. Available at: http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2017/09/1823-james-monroe-beginning-of-collapse.html [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].
Wagner, D. (2017). 1824 James Monroe - "The Artillery School". [online] Stateoftheunionhistory.com. Available at: http://www.stateoftheunionhistory.com/2017/12/1824-james-monroe-artillery-school.html [Accessed 27 Dec. 2017].
Wetterman, R. (2009). Privilege vs. Equality: Civil-Military Relations in the Jacksonian Era. ABC-CLIO.
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