This work explores the sociohistorical development of a formula for the legitimation of military service constructed around the idea of the citizen-soldier. As an intellectual history of the idea of the citizen-soldier, the dissertation traces the development of the legitimation formula in the societies of ancient Greece and Rome, renaissance Florence, 17th century England, and colonial America. Central to the formula was the notion that in republican societies, the civic virtue of both citizens as individuals and the society as a collectivity was manifested by the willingness to lay aside civilian pursuits and take up arms in time of crisis. Of equal significance in the formula was the corollary notion that entrusting military duties to professional or mercenary soldiers was indicative of the corruption of the civic virtue of both citizens and society.;Following the development of the formula in colonial America, the dissertation explores its usage as the basis for the legitimation of military service, and the organizing focus of the military establishment in the United States. It concludes by tracing the ideological work necessary to make the formula consistent with changing social structural conditions in the 19th and 20th centuries.
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