• A united front."USMC Iwo Jima War Memorial at Night, World War II, Veteran Soldiers, American Flag" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: BL1961 (Beverly) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Early Tries

• The Naval Appropriations Act was first conceived at the closing of the Civil War and beginning of the Reconstruction period. With the help of active and retired naval officers, Annapolis instructors and members of the senate, legislation was prepared. In 1887 Senator Washington C. Whitthorne, a former Confederate general, introduced the legislation to Congress. The bill failed to pass congressional approval, as did two others presented by Senator Whitthorne.
  
  

Progress

• The bill drew notice from a former naval officer and family member of a long-standing naval heritage, John Codman Soley. Soley elected to sidestep Congress for the time being and appeal to government directly at state levels. In 1888, Soley, along with the assistance of the Massachusetts Yacht Club, presented a bill before state legislators that requested "A Naval Battalion to be attached to the volunteer militia." The bill was passed, and a state level sea militia unit was created.
  
  Over the course of the next ten years, 16 other states passed bills creating state-level sea militia units.
  
  

Federal Legislation

• In 1891 Congress passed the first legislation that would lead to the Naval Appropriations Act. The act authorized the Secretary of the Navy to issue $25,000 for the arms and equipment of naval militias as necessary to maintain a strong reserve.
  
  At the turn of the century, New York and Massachusetts requested and obtained permission to train personnel onboard existing naval vessels. The efforts were such a success that Congress authorized the loan of old naval vessels to states for the specific training of personnel.
  
  

Downside

• Even though Congress was coming to terms with the need for a well-trained naval militia, the subsidies provided were still inadequate. More funding was needed but not granted. However, militia numbers grew despite the lack of funds. Often training vessels were inoperative, were castoffs from the the U.S. Navy, and most arrived in disrepair. It didn't take long for jurisdictional problems to arise, and arguments over who was in control began to surface, creating dissolution throughout all of the naval militias--state and federal alike.
  
  

Wars

• In the mid-1890s war loomed ahead with Spain. In preparation, all naval militia were inspected by the assistant secretary for the Navy, Theodore Roosevelt. Secretary Roosevelt declared his sympathies of the naval militias to Congress. In 1898 war was declared between the United States and Spain.
  
  Despite the recognition of state-level naval militias, nothing had ever been done to incorporate those services into the U.S. Navy in the event of conflict. Repeating Civil War history, mistakes were made, causing Congress to pass an emergency legislation creating the U.S. Navy Auxiliary Force. This new branch of reserves was now what once was state-level naval militias. The uniting of these forces offered a second line of defense for battling ships and personnel.
  
  Between 1898 and World War I, Congress witnessed a stronger reliance on the auxiliary forces. As World War I approached, Congress was again confronted with the problems of manning large naval forces. As World War I progressed the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Navy Auxiliary Forces became almost indistinguishable. Both were fighting as one unit, not as separate levels or factions.
  
  

Inevitability

• After the conclusion of World War I, Congress repealed all former laws governing state level and auxiliary militias. The president authorized the transfer of all personnel to the official U.S. Naval Reserve. All members were subject to reactivation, and many were used to teach incoming personnel. Many more were used in administrative and operational capacities.
  
  By 1922, the flaws had been worked out of the ever-changing legislation of the Naval Appropriations Act. Between 1922 and today, amendments have been created and added.