In medieval Western Europe, there were two competing systems of landed property; manorialism, inherited from the Roman villa system, where a large estate is owned by the Lord of the manor and leased to tenants; and the family farm or Hof owned by and heritable within a commoner family (c.f.
[6] Landed property was a key element of feudalism, and freed the owner for other tasks, such as government administration, military service, the practice of law, or religious practices.
In later times, the dominant role of landed estates as a basis of public service faded.
Development of manufacturing and commerce created capitalist means of obtaining income, but ordinarily demanding the attention of the owner.
Much of the United States, typically New England, Pennsylvania, and most states west of the original colonies, never had a landed aristocracy, so their armed forces and government agencies could never be organized on the basis of a landed aristocracy.