ABSTRACT
Despite the significant improvement of the new Constitution over the ineffective Articles of Confederation, the new nation remained nonetheless weak and vulnerable. The Quasi-War with France, troubles with the tribes of the Northwest Territory, Barbary pirates, and a new war with Great Britain forced the United States to defend its desire for economic growth and territorial expansion. The traditional fear of a standing army and support for a citizen militia blocked President George Washington’s efforts to establish a viable regular army at almost every turn. Of equal symbolic importance in the political conflict between Federalists and Republicans over the establishment of a permanent military was the founding of the United States Military Academy at West Point. Security concerns over both the West and the Atlantic had forced the new Republic to reconsider its defense needs, often at the expense of previously held high ideals about standing armies and centralized authority.
