Reply #12: True enough! [View All]

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

The force we have today, now known as the United States Marine Corps, has seen service and been raised prior the 11 July 1798 date upon which the current institution was raised again by an act of Congress.

From wikipedia:

The United States Marine Corps traces its institutional roots to the Continental Marines of the American Revolutionary War, formed by Captain Samuel Nicholas by a resolution of the Second Continental Congress on 10 November 1775, to raise 2 battalions of Marines. That date is regarded and celebrated as the date of the Marine Corps' "birthday". At the end of the American Revolution, both the Continental Navy and Continental Marines were disbanded in April 1783. The institution itself would not be resurrected until July 11, 1798. At that time, in preparation for the Quasi-War with France, Congress created the United States Marine Corps. Marines had been enlisted by the War Department as early as August 1797...

I look at the 11 July date as another milestone analogous to how I look at the passage of the Constitution. Without a doubt US Marines were first raised as a force on 10 November. So, AFAIC on 11 July Congress recognized and funded the USMC. :)