Access Restriction Quotes
This quotation is often provided by historians studying the gun culture of America. Even conservatives like Ames did not see a gun or an armed citizenry as important to America’s survival or well being. Contrary to popular belief, even the State Militias’ whose rights to bear arms was written into the Second Amendment did not bother to do so. In 1803 only three state militias had rifle companies. Firearms of the time were expensive, difficult to maintain, and hard to use. Unless one needed them for defense, it was too much of a bother. Even in the aftermath of the War of 1812 only 30% of Massachusetts adult men owned guns; by 1839, the rate was below 10%. It was on the frontier where guns were popular and necessary. See {613080}.
Access not being free did not refer to tuition, but to the concept of free competition. At the time West Point and Annapolis did not admit students on the basis of meeting any educational preparation or test criteria. A student had to have a political patron for admission. As a result, most colleges and university faculty would have little to do with the service academies and whereas most other schools were making major changes to teach the rapidly changing sciences that were growing, few would interact with the academies. It was during this period that the service academies fell behind academically and never did catch up. Even today a student must be nominated by a politician—usually a Senator of Congressperson. At least today, the applicant must pass reasonable qualification examinations and have a strong high school record. Back in 1869 it was pure politics and Eliot and other Academics saw the schools as extensions of corrupt patronage politics as many student’s families bribed politicians for their sponsorship.
