An Act for Arranging and Regulating the Militia Within This State, and for repealing all laws heretofore made for that purpose [Caption Title].

[?Concord:: General Court,.. Not Illustrated; 60 pp. including self-wrappers. Uncut; fore-edge ragged and chipped; front wrpper with ink notes; original side stitching. 8vo, uncut; fore-edge ragged and chipped; front page; original side stitching. OCLC lists nine holdings.Various notes on front self-wrapper which is titled “Militia Bill” Possible ownership signature of Rev. Joseph Boody (1773–1867) of New Durham above this title—a totally different hand has written John Boody on this cover page. The Boody or Boodey family is one of the older established (truncated) families of the area. Have not been able to find any political connection.This New Hampshire Act seems to be part of a movement affecting most of the states at this time. The War of 1812 (1812–1815) had shown that the Militia in general were badly trained and often failed completely when called upon to act. The war “repeatedly exhibited the melancholy fact of a large corps of militia going to the field of battle without understanding a single elementary principle, and without being able to perform a single evolution [maneuver]”—Report of the Select Committee on Militia Reorganization.” House of Representatives, January 17, 1817. The conclusion of many historians has been that the laws in effect under the Act of 1792, were not necessary bad, but they were not all obeyed by all of the States, all of the time. This was largely due to the confusion over Federal and States’ rights and the interpretations of these rights by the both sides and the fact that compliance with the requirements of the Act were left to militia officers who were political appointees and therefore were often reluctant to enforce unpopular elements of the law. They also tended to give very minor fines for non-compliance. (Inventory #: 4007)