Greeting: America and the Draft · Episode 2 of 12 · 25 min
The Militia and the Meeting House: Colonial Militias and the First Objectors
Long before there was a nation there was the militia muster, and the men who would not take up arms. From 1636 to 1783 the episode covers the universal militia obligation, what conscience cost the peace churches in fines, seized cattle and jail, and a Revolution where quotas, bounties and hired substitutes already sorted who served by wealth. In 1775 the Continental Congress first acknowledged conscientious scruples.
Who's who
- George Washington+5 more episodesCommander-in-Chief who relied on militia drafts and quotas
- William Penn+1 more episodeQuaker founder of Pennsylvania, a colony without a compulsory militia for decades
- Thomas Jefferson+10 more episodesPrincipal drafter of the July 1775 declaration on taking up arms
- Arthur J. MekeelHistorian whose tally counts 1,724 Quakers disowned for war participation
- Peter BrockModern historian of pacifism in the United States
- Philip RanletHistorian who argues men of means served often
Where it happens
- Massachusetts Bay Colony+1 more episodeCodified the universal militia obligation in the 1630s
- Pennsylvania+2 more episodesQuaker colony that passed its first militia law only in 1777
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania+6 more episodesCenter of Quaker testimony and the Free Quakers
- Winchester and Staunton, VirginiaWhere about twenty Philadelphia Quakers were exiled in 1777
Timeline
- December 1636Massachusetts General Court organizes the militia into three regiments
- 1661Quakers issue the Peace Testimony to Charles II
- July 1775Continental Congress resolves that those who cannot bear arms from religious principle should not be compelled
- March 1777Pennsylvania passes its first compulsory militia act
- September 1777About twenty prominent Quakers exiled to Virginia without trial
- 1783Peace comes with no national conscientious objector status
Still debated
The degree to which wealth let men buy out of Revolutionary service is debated, since some historians argue farmers and men of means served often. Rhode Island's 1673 exemption needs a primary-source check, and treatment of objectors varied widely by colony and decade.
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