Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Militia Law: The Statute that Transformed the State

Abstract

For nearly a hundred years inhabitants of the proprietary owned by William Penn and his descendants argued among themselves over who would take up arms and defend the land. This impasse ended on March 17, 1777, when legislators of the newly proclaimed Commonwealth of Pennsylvania enacted a law that compelled all men between the ages of eighteen and fifty-three to enroll in the militia, attend stipulated exercise days, and muster for active duty, or pay a fine for each and every neglect of duty. To enforce this statute the House installed a lieutenant and five sub-lieutenants in each of eleven counties and the city of Philadelphia. The rise of seventy-two unheralded men to serve the state as high-ranking civil officials brought an end to a system of patronage that had long been the exclusive domain of the well-born and prosperous. Briefly put, in March 1777 the Revolution in Pennsylvania "got legs."