THE MILITIA MOVEMENT in the United States gained enormous strength in the mid-1990s and captured a great deal of media attention. But although what are now called militias are only a few years old—none dating before 1990—the movement itself can be traced back many years, all the way to America's beginnings.

"A little rebellion"

At the time of the American Revolution, the word militia was in common use. It referred to an army organized and trained at a local level. It was the militias of various colonies that fought the British; indeed, almost every one of the founders associated with America's revolution participated in a local militia.

When the former colonists won their independence and were faced with the task of establishing a nation, they resisted the idea of a powerful federal...