If there was a US Civil War would the military take side against the president or the people?

Answer 1

As with every civil war in every region of the world, this would be a personal decision based on the individual soldier's interpretation of the oath they took. While the President holds the title of Commander in Chief, it is US militaryregulation that an unlawful order does not require obedience. Each soldier has to decide. The oath all service members take is to "Uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic...[emphasis added]." This leaves broad space for interpretation. Nowhere in the oath is defense of the people mentioned.

The entire oath is as follows:

I, ________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; and that I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.

Most service members take this oath very seriously. They are trained to follow orders. They are also trained to recognize a lawful order from an unlawful one. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prohibits the use of US troops on US soil for the enforcement of any law, state or federal, or the funding of such without an act of Congress, or unless it is expressly stated in the Constitution. The Constitution makes no mention of the use of US forces on US soil. Therefore, any command issued by the President for the use of US troops against the population of the US would be unlawful.

Answer 2

The only way to answer this question is if the details of the supposed civil war are presented. For example, as the question stands now, it presupposes that the military is neutral before the war begins. Currently, only the US armed forces has the power to enforce a victory. The closest the US has ever come to a "civil war" was when Radical Republicans, War Democrats and the military were actually speaking about relegating President Lincoln to domestic duties while the Union's military would run the war under the auspices of the Joint Congressional Committee overseeing the conduct of the war. Lincoln himself engaged such a discussion with Union General Joseph Hooker.

More details are therefore required, such as whether the US military was a united force. Certainly there is no real evidence that the military would indeed be unified. Therefore, all types of scenarios are possible.