"To be chosen commander of the militia was a great honor. The militia general was the beau ideal of the men, the protector in chief of the women and children. Most important, his position owed to merit and ability, not to wealth or connections. Westerners could tolerate incompetence in judges, prosecutors, and other officials, without jeopardizing their very existence, but incompetence in militia officers meant that lives - perhaps many lives, and farms and even whole communities - would be lost. For this reason, the westerners chose their officers very carefully" (62).

"Virtue, talent, and experience no longer counted, only loyalty to the administration. Jackson was deeply alarmed. 'If a man cannot be led to believe as the President believes in politics (and God forbid that a majority should), he is not to fill an office in the United States. This, sir, I view as more dangerous than the...