What factors shaped the nation’s force structure after the Revolutionary War?

"Force structure" is a phrase used by military experts to describe the organization of a nation's military forces, especially in terms of their specialties. This is actually a difficult question to answer for the period after the Revolutionary War, because the vast majority of the armed forces were demobilized after the war. Perhaps the most significant factor affecting force structure, then, was the strong suspicion on the part of most Americans toward a standing army, which they viewed as a tool for despotism and an expense.
The effect of this on force structure was that the military in the post-Revolutionary War period was essentially dominated by the militia, which were mobilized in response to threats on the state level. Until the Constitution was ratified, state militia formed the backbone of American forces, such as those deployed in the Ohio Valley against Native Americans. This was essentially a "national militia" that was not intended to be a permanent establishment. So the force structure of the United States military was most affected by the weak national government (before the Constitution was ratified) and the unwillingness to maintain a standing army.