Quote:
|
There are instruments so dangerous to the rights of the nation and which place them so totally at the mercy of their governors that those governors, whether legislative or executive, should be restrained from keeping such instruments on foot but in well-defined cases. Such an instrument is a standing army.
|
Judging from the context of this quote, I think the contemporary equivalent of Jefferson's "standing army" would be the police force--the modern-day police force didn't exist until 1820, so I imagine such a thing would have been unknown to Jefferson.
Not that I'm advocating anything.