Fear Of A Standing Army

Hampering the efforts to prepare for war was the American fear of a standing army.

"But there was a fictitious fear of a standing army, largely born of the hatred of monarchical institutions*. It was a fear which in less than a generation nearly brought the country to disaster. So far as the army was concerned in the War of 1812, there is little to relate with pride." Source

A flash from the even more distant past (Revolutionary War era):

Source

*"A standing army has been kept in these colonies ever since the conclusion of the late war without the consent of our assemblies; and this army, with a considerable naval armament has been employed to inforce the collection of taxes."

"In the days of Washington and Jefferson as in the later days of Roosevelt popular reliance for defence has always been placed upon that well ordered militia... ."  [Source]