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Originally Posted by Tennessee Gentleman
Au contraire, the National Guard is the lineal descendent of the "well regulated" State militias referenced in the 2A. While the NG may be federalized (as could the state militias if Congress called them) it is a part of the Total Force of our military that, while a change, is not in great part different than the power the Fed assumed over the state militias in 1789.
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I'll give you a partial slide about the Guard being the lineal descendent. But the rest? Nope.
The Constitution allows for three reasons for the Congress to call up the militia. 1)To execute the laws of the Union; 2)To suppress insurrections; and 3) To repel invasions. (Art. I, section 8, clause 15)
All 3 reasons occur on U.S. soil. The constitution did not give the Congress authority to send the militia overseas. That was the legal objection by several States in the Spanish-American war.
Of all the State volunteer militia units (146 units), only 34 of the militias served abroad.
The reason? The constitution did not allow the Federal Government to assign militias to duty outside of the national boundaries. Several of the State Governors were all for defense in case of invasion, but refused to allow embarkation abroad of their militias. Of those that did serve abroad, some did so under the objections of some of their Governors, while others did so with the explicit consent of their Governors.
All this changed with
Militia Act of 1903, which established the State Militias as the primary organized reserve force of the U.S. Army.
The
National Defense Act of 1916, the State Militias became fully federalized as the National Guard. This Act also defined the two classes of militia that we have today: The organized militia (National Guard) and the unorganized militia. It was at this time, that several of the States organized their State Defense Forces as separate entities. These are recognized by federal law as being part of the unorganized militia. The Act of 1916 also gave the President authority, as CIC, of the Guard in times of war or national emergency.
The
National Defense Act Amendments of 1920, besides establishing the Militia Bureau (Later, the National Guard Bureau), also stripped the States of their power to appoint its own officers.
The
National Guard Mobilization Act of 1933, made the National Guard a component of the Army. All persons enlisting in a state National Guard unit simultaneously enlist in the National Guard of the United States, a part of the Army.
The
Armed Forces Reserve Act of 1952, included language (at the insistence of Pres. Eisenhower) that gave State Governors the power to deny federalization of their State National Guard for military duty outside of U.S. Territorial Jurisdiction.
Next was the
Montgomery Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1987. This provided that a Governor cannot withhold consent with regard to active duty, for purposes of training, outside the U.S. Every governor protested this law. It was however, upheld by the Supreme Court. See
Perpich v. Department of Defense, 496 U.S. 334 (1990). It should be noted here, that it doesn't matter what the actual activity is, as long as it is called "training."
The
Defense Authorization Act of 2007, stripped the Governors of their role of sole commander of their States National Guard, during emergencies within the State. Again, all 50 Governors protested this action by the Congress, to no avail. The President can take total control of a States Guard without any consent of the Governor.
I relate all of this, to show that the militia didn't just disappear. It didn't fall into disuse or neglect. The States lost their militias to the ever expanding power of the feds. Any control that the States may have today over their own militia, is at the whim of the federal government.
So yes, it is a great deal different than what the feds could do, back in 1798. Or even the next 118 years after that.