Congress And The Citizen Soldier PDF Download

This enquiry has used the dehates on Army appropriation and reorganization of the Array hills introduced in Congress during the years l 866 ~l 88 l in order to determine what the attitudes of the memhers of Congress were toward the regular Army and its role in the United States. It has been found that Congress was much concerned about the strength and organization of the Army and was even more concerned about the role of the military in politics. Several reorganizations and reductions of the Army were enacted during the first half of the period, all on appropriation bills. During the latter half of the period all attempts to reorganize and reduce the Array failed, even when attempted on appropriation bills. Republicans and the Democrats from Texas and the frontier areas refused to vote for an Army of less than 25,000 enlisted men. The strength of the Army was bound up with political issues arising from Reconstruction policies and the use of the Army for political purposes. Both parties were responsible for the reduction to 25,000 men, but only Democrats favored a smaller Army. The reductions which took place were made on account of retrenchment of expenses, the fear that a standing Army was dangerous to American institutions, the reliance on the citizen-soldier for foreign wars, and for the Democrats also on account of the alleged use by the Grant administration of the military to control elections. The Republicans denied any such use and insisted the Army had been employed to ensure everyone could vote, especially in the South. The controversy resulted in extensive debates in x^hich the Democrats took the position of State rights and narrow construction of the Constitution. The Republicans emphasized Federal responsibilities and a broad construction of the Constitution, but during the Foirty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses they had to give some ground to the insistence of the Democrats on legislation restricting the use of the /umiy by the executive. A clause forbidding the employment of the Army as a "posse comitatus" became lax^r, but the repeal of the right of the President to use the troops "to keep the peace at the polls" failed. However, the Army could no longer be used at the polls as a "police force." The Hayes administration had withdrawn the troops from the South as well as from the polls and the Democratic drive for restrictions during the Forty-fifth and Forty-sixth Congresses had past and possible future use in mind, not present use. The debates, especially from the Forty-third Congress on, though to some extent dealing with the Aimy on its ox'/n merits, are dominated to such an extent by politics and constitutional issues which arose on their account that the Army had become a political football.