The country's reversal of its historic isolationism would bring a change of potentially prodigious significance for the place of the military in American life. For over half of its history, America's geographic advantages had permitted the country to do without a sizable military. Probably even more important, the nation's political orientation had served to keep the military weak. Partly from their colonial experience, the post-Revolution leaders of the new nation were wary of the dangers and particularly the expense of a large standing army. The Founding Fathers gave over to the citizen-soldier the chief burden of national security. They relied on conscription of able-bodied male citizens into state militias when necessary to meet security needs. Furthermore, a nation that was dedicated to the proposition that “all men are created equal” could not readily accept the rigid hierarchy of status and authority implicit in military organization. Nor did the American presumption that the state existed to serve private economic ambitions leave much room for military values, military matters, or military ways.