Page:Joseph Story, Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States (1st ed, 1833, vol III).djvu/92

 84 moment in the operations of an army; and it will enable them to acquire, in a much shorter period, that degree of proficiency in military functions, which is essential to their usefulness. Such an uniformity, it is evident, can be attained only through the superintending power of the national government.

§ 1200. This clause was not in the original draft of the constitution; but it was subsequently referred to a committee, who reported in favour of the power; and after considerable discussion it was adopted in its present shape by a decided majority. The first clause in regard to organizing, arming, disciplining, and governing the militia, was passed by a vote of nine states against two; the next, referring the appointment of officers to the states, after an ineffectual effort to amend it by confining the appointment to officers under the rank of general officers, was passed without a division; and the last, referring the authority to train the militia according to the discipline prescribed by congress, was passed by a vote of seven states against four.

§ 1201. It was conceived by the friends of the constitution, that the power thus given, with the guards, reserving the appointment of the officers, and the training of the militia to the states, made it not only wholly unexceptionable, but in reality an additional security to the public liberties. It was nevertheless made a topic of serious alarm and powerful objection. It was suggested, that it was indispensable to the states, that they should possess the control and discipline of the militia.