Midwest
Same source
In Pennsylvania, John Smiley told the ratifying convention that “Congress may give us a select militia which will in fact be a standing army”, and worried that, [p.34] with this force in hand, “the people in general may be disarmed”. [122] Similar concerns were raised by Richard Henry Lee in Virginia. In his widely-read pamphlet, Letters from the Federal Farmer to the Republican, Lee warned that liberties might be undermined by the creation of a select militia that “[would] answer to all the purposes of an army”
It is clear from historical sources that the militia was to function as checks and balances against a tyrannical centralized army. It may have functioned as an additional army resource (like the national guard) but it’s individuality was deliberate in the checks and balance system.