One hundred years before the Bill of Rights…long before Thomas Jefferson penned the Declaration of Independence…before our 13 original colonies raised a flag, there were Americans fighting for freedom.
These brave Americans were not soldiers by trade. They were everyday people: farmers, blacksmiths, doctors, and shopkeepers. But to protect their new homes in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, they joined hands and formed militia units in times of common danger. They became known as the famous Minutemen—ordinary colonists who could be called upon at a minute’s notice to defend their colony.
It’s a proud heritage that includes the names of some of our proudest heroes: Paul Revere, Ethan Allen, and John Hancock. It also includes the names of 19 of our presidents, like Colonel George Washington, Captain Abraham Lincoln, and Captain Harry S Truman.
In 1787, a subject of extensive debate and compromise during the Constitutional Convention concerned the provisions for a National Guard. In the United States Constitution, the original language for the provision of a National Guard reads, in part: “…to provide trained units and qualified persons available for active duty in the armed forces, in time of war or national emergency and at such other times as the national security requires, to fill the needs of the armed forces whenever, during, and after the period needed to procure and train additional units and qualified persons to achieve the planned mobilization, more units and persons are needed than are in the regular components.”
During the colonial period, the Guard was largely confined within the nation’s borders. Later in the 1800’s, other conflicts found the Guard contributing to the nation’s defense both at home and abroad. The Guard contributed greatly to U.S. participation in both World Wars. The Guard’s evolution continued in the years following the Second World War, with participation in Korea, Vietnam, and in several Cold War mobilizations. Since its inception, the Guard has found a dramatically increasing role at home and throughout the world.
The “You Can” spirit that empowered those settlers to become citizen-soldiers is part of the Guard’s 367-year heritage. They were the backbone of our fight for independence at Concord and Lexington. They camped with Washington at Valley Forge. They charged up Kettle Hill with Teddy Roosevelt and stormed the cliffs of Normandy. They marched through the jungles of Vietnam and the sands of Desert Storm. The Guard has participated in every U.S. conflict from the Pequot War of 1637 to Operation Desert Storm in 1991.
Presently, over 350,000 patriotic Americans with the same “You Can” spirit are voluntary members of the Army National Guard. They are ordinary citizens who, like their forefathers, are always prepared to keep our nation “The Land of the Free.”