The Army and Country after the War

The close of the Revolutionary War found America in anything but an enviable state. Financially there was a complete collapse. The army, unpaid, and with no prospect of being paid, was in a desperate and dangerous mood. The only man who possessed any controlling influence over it was its illustrious commander; and had he been ambitious of power the newly-formed government might have been overturned, and a monarchy erected upon its ruins. Happily, Washington was a patriot in the fullest sense. His one controlling thought was the good of his country, and all his great influence was used to abate the discontent of the soldiers, and to remove the perils which threatened the infant republic.

The country had become virtually bankrupt. The year 1782 opened without a dollar in the public treasury. Congress had required the payment of two millions on the 1st of April, yet not a cent had been received by the 23d of that month. Rigid reforms in expenditure had been introduced, yet the absolutely necessary 'expenses could not be met, and on the 1st of June only twenty thousand dollars, little more than was required for the use of one day, had reached the treasury. Robert Morris, the minister of finance, made every possible exertion to sustain the public credit. The bank he had established at Philadelphia, and the system of credit he had inaugurated, were of the utmost utility; but they could not accomplish miracles, and miracles were needed to pay money out of an empty purse.

Fortunately for America, the British public was thoroughly tired of the war, and the sentiment in Parliament soon became overpoweringly in favor of peace. Yet it was not certain that peace would be declared, while it was evident that Great Britain was seeking 'to make terms with the European allies of America. No important warlike operations took place, however. The British army lay quietly in New York, and its commander took measures to restrain those incursions of' hostile Indians upon the frontier settlements which had formed a terrible part of the British policy during the war. That the commissioners at Paris would succeed in making a treaty of peace became evident as time went on. Yet the army was still under arms, and still unpaid. The States grew more and more lax in forwarding their contributions to the minister of finance, and Congress was without power to lay a tax, or to enforce payment from the States. A state of affairs had been reached in which the fatal weakness of the established form of union became evident, and the necessity of a stronger central government vitally apparent. By the month of August only eighty thousand dollars had been received from all the States, a sum barely sufficient for the subsistence of the army. To pay the troops was impossible, and nearly every other debt remained unpaid. The events which succeeded this distressing state of affairs may be given in a selection from Chief-Justice Marshall's "Life of 'George Washington," in which they are detailed at length.]

IT was then in contemplation to reduce the army, by which many of the officers would be discharged. While the general declared, in a confidential letter to the Secretary of War, his conviction of the alacrity with which they would retire into private life, could they be placed in a situation as eligible as that they had left to enter into the service, he added, "Yet I cannot help fearing the result of the measure, when I see such a number of men goaded by a thousand stings of reflection on the past, and of anticipation on the future, about to be turned into the world, soured by penury, and what they call the ingratitude of the public; involved in debts, without one farthing of money to carry them home, after having spent the flower of their days, and, many of them, their patrimonies, in establishing the freedom and independence of their country, and having suffered everything which human nature is capable of enduring on this side of death. I repeat it, when I reflect on these irritable circumstances, unattended by one thing to soothe their feelings or brighten the gloomy prospect, I cannot avoid apprehending that a train of evils will follow of a very serious and distressing nature.. You may rely upon it, the patience and long-suffering of this army are almost exhausted, and there never was so great a spirit of discontent as at this instant. While in the field, I think it may be kept from breaking out into acts of outrage; but when we retire into winter quarters (unless the storm be previously dissipated) I cannot be at ease respecting the consequences. It is high time for a peace."

A resolution had been passed in 1780, granting half-pay for life to the officers. Yet not only was there no prospect of money to meet this requirement, but a spirit unfriendly to the law had arisen in Congress. This legislative hostility increased the irritation of the officers. In October the army went into winter-quarters. Washington remained in camp, not through fear of military operations, but from dread of some outbreak of violence in the army.