Description
Book SynopsisOriginally published in 1974. In her study of primary materials in England and the United States, Schwoerer traces the origin, development, and articulation in both Parliament and in the popular press of the attitude opposing standing armies in seventeenth-century England and the American colonies. Central to the criticism of armies at that time was the conviction that ultimate military power should be vested in Parliament, not the Crown. Schwoerer shows how the many diverse elements of England's antimilitarism, including political principle, propaganda, parliamentary tactics, parochialism, and partisanship, hardened with every confrontation between the Crown or Protector and Parliament. The author finds a general predisposition to distrust professional soldiers early in the century, and from the 1620s onward she notes opposition to a standing army in times of peace. Highlighting the growth of the antimilitary tradition, Schwoerer traces the development of this attitude from the Petiti
Table of ContentsAbbreviations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1. Origin of the English Antimilitary Attitude
Chapter 2. The Petition of Right of 1628: The Antimilitary Sentiment Hardens
Chapter 3. Theory of Parliamentary Command of the Militia: 1641 - 1642
Chapter 4. The New Model Army Criticized: 1647 - 1660
Chapter 5. The Military Settlement at the Restoration: 1660 - 1667
Chapter 6. Principle and Propaganda in the 1670s
Chapter 7. Standing Armies: 1685 - 1689
Chapter 8. The Climax of the Standing Army Issue in Parliament and Press: 1697 - 1699
Chapter 9. Conclusion: Eighteenth-Century Echoes
Bibliographical Note
Index
