Colonists prefer to serve, the local militia
When the War of Independence began with the battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, the colonial insurgents did not have an army. Previously for its defense, each colony had been based on the militia (Set of armed volunteers not belonging to a regular army), formed by part-time soldier-citizens or by the temporary creation of "provincial regiments", for local defense during specific convulsions, such as the Franco-Indian War, for example. With the increase of tensions with Great Britain in years previous to the war, the colonists began to reform their militias in preparation for the possible conflict. The formation and training of militia increased after the approval of the "Intolerable Laws" in 1774. Settlers, like Richard Henry Lee, proposed the creation of a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea. After the battles of Lexington and Concord, thousands of the New England militiamen gathered to oppose the British troops that had been repressed in Boston.