I think Madison touched on this in one of the Federalist Papers:
“To these (supportive of an oppressive Federal Government) would be opposed a militia amounting to near half a million of citizens with arms in their hands...fighting for their common liberties, and united and conducted by governments (state and local) possessing their affections and confidence... Besides the advantage of being armed, which the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation, the existence of subordinate governments, to which the people are attached, and by which the militia officers are appointed, forms a barrier against the enterprises of ambition, more insurmountable than any which a simple government of any form can admit of.”