The Founding Fathers' "Individual Mandate", by Adam Winkler (Professor at UCLA School of Law)
Excerpt:
.... the individual mandate is not really so unprecedented. In fact the founding fathers adopted the first "individual mandate" back in 1792. It required individuals to outfit themselves with guns and ammunition, even if they had to buy those items from private sellers.
The mandate was included in a series of laws known as the Militia Acts. Early Americans were were fearful of a standing army so they relied on ordinary citizens organized into state militias to fight off Natives and invading armies. States, however, couldn't always be counted on to send their militias to help out other states. Comity was an unreliable basis for national security. And ordinary citizens couldn't always be relied upon to have the equipment they would need to be an effective fighting force.
Congress sought to rectify these problems by passing federal legislation. In the first Militia Act, Congress gave the President authority to call out the militias and imposed penalties on any militiaman who refused to obey orders. In the second Militia Act, Congress included an individual mandate: all free, able-bodied male citizens between the ages of 18 and 45 "shall, within six months... provide himself with a good musket or firelock" or "a good rifle." All men of age were also ordered to equip themselves with ammunition and "a knapsack" to carry supplies. Many citizens already had these items. Those who didn't had to go out and buy them, like it or not, presumably from a private seller.
Full article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/adam-winkler/the-founding-fathers-indi_b_523001.html