The American militia system fulfilled many roles in colonial America. It offered protection for the colonists, provided a sense of community to the new settlers, and was an instrument of integration for subsequent immigrants. In the Revolution the militia did home-guard duty and acted as a reservoir of trained manpower for the Continental Line, although many militiamen fought alongside the regular army in crucial engagements. The emergence of a true standing army, and the general failure of the militia in the War of 1812, led to decreased reliance upon it. After 1900, Elihu Root demanded that the militia law and training be revised, leading to a nationalization of the system and the replacement of traditional militias with the national guard system. By World War I, the dual enlistment clause made militiamen simultaneously members of the militias of their own states and members of a national militia that could be deployed as the federal government chose. Still, as recently as the 1980s the national government and the states clashed over the training of militias beyond the nation's boundary.

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