CONVERTING MILITARISM TO CIVIC SERVICE - ALEXANDER HAMILTON

A BLOG POST ON VETERAN'S DAY 2024 - AN EXCERPT FROM

1964 SCOUT JAMBOREE SUMMER

ALEXANDER HAMILTON - "FROM PATRIOTISM TO CITIZENSHIP AND CITIZEN SOLDIERS"

“In the spring of 1783, in the cool confines of a modest brick house in upstate New York, 28-year-old Col. Alexander Hamilton called a once – undreamed of meeting to order. After eight years of desperate toil for independence, the officers of the Continental Army were preparing to transition back to their civilian lives. As their fighting force demobilized, they pledged not to forget the bonds of blood that had forged among them, nor should they allow others to forget the blood that had ensured independence. Those assembled set out to convert their temporary military service to permanent civic service, to form the backbone of a peaceful nation.

They chose a symbolic name for the new brotherhood The Society Of The Cincinnati." (www.battlefields.org/lkearn/articles/citizen-soldier)

 

           It is not an easy thing to create a balance between the military and civic spheres of life - especially in a representative democracy. It has been reported that in the colonial era, militias were a feature of nearly every community and that these were frequently boisterous, ad hoc fraternal societies. The role of women in these communities was that of "a moral chaperone."

           The term “Patriotism” is usually applied to those ad hoc, fraternal groups who have an emotional fervor perhaps borne in actual combat, but that is not necessary. Thomas Paine called some of his contemporaries “Sunshine Patriots” because they enjoyed posing as Patriots, but they could not be called upon when the going got rough. It seems as if Patriotism is part of the act of going to war.

           On the other hand, Citizenship is part of the act of going to peace, of living in a Civic Society.

           One may be able to gauge in a society its stance regarding war or peace by looking at its language and its posturing. In a Civic society, we hear talk of independence and tolerance.

           Even the Winter Soldiers of the 1970s knew that when the transition is made to civic spheres of life, the bonds of brotherhood forged in war must make way for citizenship. Many of them were swept into the Vietnam War via the type of broad-scale recruitment/enlistment activities which started with the Jamboree.

           When war is on the way, those in the government wish to transition from citizenship to militarism, and this is understandable. But the question of political honesty or dishonesty is always on the table.

We have seen in the history of the United States this transition to happen is to rev up the engine of Love of Country, of defending, of Brotherhood, and the liberal use of the word Patriotism.