Quote by Alexander Hamilton
""...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens. This appears to me the only substitute that can be devised for a standing army, and the best possible security against it, if it should exist.""

— Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton speaking of standing armies in Federalist 29

Historical Significance

Hamilton's detailed explanation of armed citizens as check on military tyranny

Context

Federalist Papers argument for citizen militia as alternative to professional army

Context

Federalist Papers argument for citizen militia as alternative to professional army

Historical Significance

Hamilton’s detailed explanation of armed citizens as check on military tyranny