ABSTRACT

Though much has been written about the forces which contributed to the adoption of the federal Constitution of 1787, 1 the possible influence of the military experiences of the Revolutionary War has been relatively neglected. One of the purposes of the writers of the Constitution was “to provide for the common defence.” The Federalist treats military issues at some length. If provision for military defense of the United States was an important matter to the writers of the Constitution, it should also have seemed important to the former officers of the Revolutionary army, who remembered the severe trials of the war.