ABSTRACT
Thomas Jefferson, who succeeded George Washington and John Adams to the Presidency in 1800, believed perhaps even more firmly than his Federalist predecessors that national defense rested primarily upon the shoulders of the armed citizenry, the militia, and the states. But Jefferson’s decision to send an American naval flotilla against the Barbary pirates off the coast of North Africa in 1804 suggested the importance of having a standing army and naval forces ready for action. While Jefferson believed that the maintenance and training of citizen-soldier armies were primarily the business of the states, he advised having a corps of officers trained, in service, and available to supervise the “call to arms” and any subsequent combat. The inveterate inventor and engineer, he also was concerned that the officers and directors of the military forces have special training beyond that relating to arms and drill.
