Cedant arma togae! Let arms yield to the toga, wrote Cicero, in 44 BC. 

Let the military power yield to the legislative power. Avoid martial law. Though this dictum was pronounced over 2000 years ago, we see that the pattern of history leads more to the toga being yielded to the army. 

America could have fallen to the same fate, if it wasn’t for our indispensable man.  

It’s remarkable that this installment is not named Indispensable – the King rather than the Citizen.

We have read the beginning of George Washington. We have glanced over the campaigns of the war. We ended on Yorktown, in 1781. In 1782, while no new battles had appeared, the British still outnumbered the American forces. The French fleets were falling back to the West Indies to avoid hurricanes. Amid the rumours of peace, George Washington wrote “it is an old and true Maxim that to make a good peace, you ought to be well prepared to carry on the War.” But the peace was uneasy, and by no means final. At the same time, the Congress was still not providing the necessary equipment and support required. Under their current Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress had no ability to force the states to pay taxes or otherwise bring funds to their hands. So the soldiers remained unpaid while working harder and giving more of their time than if they went back home to a job. 

Nicola’s Letter

It was in this climate that Washington entered his headquarters and found a letter lying on his desk. Opening it, Washington read these words, recounting their lack of pay:

“The injuries the troops have received in their pecuniary rights have been, & still continue to be too obvious to require a particular detail, or to have escaped your Excellencies notice, tho your exalted station must have deprived you of opportunity of information relative to the severe distresses occasioned thereby […]  often occasioned by schemes of economy in the legislatures of some States, & publick ministers, founded on unjust & iniquitous principles; and tho, as the prospect of publick affairs cleared up, the means of fulfilling engagements encreased, yet the injuries, instead of being lessened, have kept pace with them. 

This gives us a dismal prospect for the time to come, & much reason to fear the future provision promised to officers, and the setling & satisfying their & the men’s just demands will be little attended to, when our services are no longer wanted, and that the recompence of all our toils, hardships, expence of private fortune &c. during several of the best years of our lives will be, to those who cannot earn a livelyhood by manual labour, beggary, & that we who have born the heat & labour of the day will be forgot and neglected by such as reap the benefits without suffering any of the hardships.

What was Colonel Lewis Nicola’s solution? To put George in charge.

“God forbid we should ever think of involving that country we have, under your conduct & auspices, rescued from oppression, into a new scene of blood & confusion; but it cannot be expected we should forego claims on which our future subsistance & that of our families depend.

Some people have so connected the ideas of tyranny & monarchy as to find it very difficult to seperate them, […] but if all other things were once adjusted I believe strong arguments might be produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive would be attended with some material advantages.

Republican bigots will certainly consider my opinions as heterodox, and the maintainer thereof as meriting fire & faggots, I have therefore hitherto kept them within my own breast. By freely communicating them to your Excellency, I am persuaded I run no risk, & that, tho disapproved of, I need not apprehend their ever being disclosed to my prejudice.

George Washington was furious and enraged, and his response was terse and decisive. 

“Sir,

With a mixture of great surprise & astonishment I have read with attention the Sentiments you have submitted to my perusal. Be assured, Sir, no occurrence in the course of the War, has given me more painful sensations than your information of there being such ideas existing in the Army as you have expressed, & I must view with abhorrence, and reprehend with severity—For the present, the communicatn of them will rest in my own bosom, unless some further agitation of the matter, shall make a disclosure necessary.

I am much at a loss to conceive what part of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address which to me seems big with the greatest mischiefs that can befall my Country. If I am not deceived in the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable—at the same time in justice to my own feeling I must add, that no man possesses a more sincere wish to see ample Justice done to the Army than I do, and as far as my powers & influence, in a constitution[al] way extend, they shall be employed to the utmost of my abilities to effect it, should there be any occasion—Let me [conj]ure you then, if you have any regard for your Country, concern for your self or posterity—or respect for me, to banish these thoughts from your Mind, & never communicate, as from yourself, or any one else, a sentiment of the like nature. With esteem I am Sir Yr Most Obedt Servt

Go:  Washington

George was hurt that someone would even think that he could heed such a letter. And it’s not simply because he thought the Congress was doing an amazing job. No, he was fuming at Congress too, telling them that “If both [military and civil officers] were to fare equally alike with respect to the emoluments (pay) of Office, I would answer for it that the Military character should not be the first to complain. But it is an inviduous distinction, and one that will not stand the test of reason or policy, the one set [of civil government officers] should receive all, and the other [military officers] no part (or that wch. is next to it) of their pay.” 

But George will not let the Republic which he fought – and was still fighting – for end trampled by his men, his beloved men, over something as temporary as their wage. He saw a grander future, grander than the age old pattern of ruler replaced by ruler. He quelched that idea.

1783

But it wasn’t as gone as he thought. 

Almost a year later, the peace treaty with Britain was under way, but the peace in America was desperately fragile. Hamilton, George’s aide, suggested that there was nothing George could do to keep the soldiers in check. The only solution was to do as they wished, but with George at the head, to keep them in moderation. George wrote back 

“The predicament in which I stand as Citizen & Soldier, is as critical and delicate as can well be conceived. It has been the subject of many contemplative hours. The sufferings of a complaining army on one hand, and the inability of Congress and tardiness of the States on the other, are the forebodings of evil” 

But George continued to try to walk that line as both citizen and soldier. 

“My wish to see the Union of these States established upon liberal and permanent principles, and inclination to contribute my mite in pointing out the defects of the present Constitution, are equally great. All my private letters have teemed with these Sentiments, and whenever this topic has been the subject of conversation, I have endeavoured to diffuse and enforce them; but how far any further essay by me might be productive of the wished for end, or appear to arrogate more than belongs to me, depends so much upon popular opinions, and the timper and dispositions of People, that it is not easy to decide.”

Newburgh Crisis

The Newburgh Crisis came to a head in March, 1783. 

An anonymous letter circulated around camp. It was traced back to one Major John Armstrong, on the staff of General Gates. 

It was inflammatory, and the soldiers were in a mood to listen – and act. 

“Tell [Congress] that […] the wound often irritated and never healed may at length become incurable.” 

It called for a meeting that night between general and field officers. George ordered the meeting canceled and instead scheduled a meeting 5 days later, where they could bring up their concerns and grievances and find a solution.

He wasn’t even going to go to that meeting, until another anonymous letter claimed that George was on the side of the rebels. He resolved to go and speak to them. 

After a fitful and sleepless night, George arose. He knew that the events of the day were just as important as the battle at Trenton had been years before. Then, the spirit of the country was low and without that bold attack England would’ve reclaimed the colonies. Now, the spirit of the army was low, and the risk was that the revolution would simply create a new England. 

Finally the evening came. Time for the meeting. George strode into the building in the middle, called the Temple of Honor. The faces around him were his friends. But they were not sympathetic now. In every other situation throughout the war, when the times were hard, he still had his officers. Now, even they were threatening his dream of a new Republic.  

They followed him through the darkest times. Would they follow him now back to the light? 

He stood there, gazing at the gathering. Without any formal introduction, he spoke. He apologized for coming, explaining that he was expecting they could share their grievances and come to a conclusion without him. 

The words he spoke were heartfelt and sincere. He told them “If my conduct heretofore has not evinced to you that I have been a faithful friend to the army, my declaration of it at this time would be equally unavailing and improper.” In other words, if you haven’t seen my love for the army through my actions, no words I say now can change that. But they had seen his love for them. 

He explained he was not against the grievances they had, but only their manner of redress. I can only imagine what they felt as he ended his remarks by saying,

“And let me conjure you, in the name of our common country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the military and national character of America, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the man who wishes, under any specious pretenses, to overturn the liberties of our country, and who wickedly attempts to open the floodgates of civil discord and deluge our rising empire in blood.

By thus determining and thus acting, you will pursue the plain and direct road to the attainment of your wishes. You will defeat the insidious designs of our enemies, who are compelled to resort from open force to secret artifice. You will give one more distinguished proof of unexampled patriotism and patient virtue, rising superior to the pressure of the most complicated sufferings. And you will, by the dignity of your conduct, afford occasion for posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to mankind, ‘Had this day been wanting, the world had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining.’”

This speech rivals Shakespeare’s St Crispin’s day speech from Henry V and should stand among the great speeches of military figures of history. George called upon the grand legacy they could create and implored them to act accordingly. How I wish I could have heard George speak! Despite these words many of the men remained largely unconvinced. The grandeur of legacy seemed like an illusionary compensation when compared to their lack of financial compensation. 

George read the crowd and could tell that he had only convinced a portion of them. He pulled a letter out of his coat pocket from Congress, to show how Congress was working on addressing their problems. He struggled to read it with his failing eyesight. He was now 51, after all. He sighed. He had never let his soldiers see his spectacles. Only his closest aides had ever seen him wear them. Well, it wasn’t to be helped. George took the spectacles out of his pocket and fumbled to put them on his face. George told his men, “Gentlemen, you must pardon me. I have grown gray in your service and now find myself growing blind.”

And just like that the young America was saved single handedly. The Newburgh Crisis was resolved. Emotion swept through the room. The sternest faces, who had looked death and starvation and winter and despair in the face and had still kept going, stopped here. They softened. Some soldiers wept. George left the room, and the officers voted to sustain him. A year later Thomas Jefferson acknowledged “The moderation and virtue of a single character have probably prevented this revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish.”  

Eyewitness Samuel Shaw wrote “I rejoice in the opportunities I have had of seeing this great man in a variety of stations;—calm and intrepid where the battle raged, patient and persevering under the pressure of misfortune, moderate and possessing himself in the full career of victory. Great as these qualifications deservedly render him, he never appeared to me more truly so, than at the assembly we have been speaking of. On other occasions he has been supported by the exertions of an army and the countenance of his friends; but in this he stood single and alone.

This moment made George Washington truly indispensable. There were better generals throughout history. But those generals took their place as king when the war ended. There were better orators than George, but no speech was going to make a difference here. It was the character of George that made him indispensable. It was his complete consecration to the American cause. It was his virtues he’d spent a lifetime developing. Of all the exemplary and eloquent Founding Fathers, none could fill his role here. George was indispensable. 

Peace Treaty and Mount Vernon

The next month a peace treaty with Britain was signed, shocking the world. These colonies had actually gone and beaten Britain. George turned in his sword to the politicians. He wrote a warning to the Congress, which was called Washington’s Legacy. 

He told them that America was a choice land, and that this was a great time to become a nation. He told them that the conduct of the citizens would determine their status as either a great or a wretched nation. He told the Congress that they owed it to the soldiers to pay them. He told the people that they needed to make an indissoluble union and forget local prejudices and become not the united States of America, but the United States of America. He ended by dedicating the nation to God. 

“I now make it my earnest prayer,” George wrote, “that God would have you and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection that he would incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination & obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large and particularly for their brethren who have served in the field—and finally that he would most graciously be pleas’d to dispose us all to do Justice, to love mercy and to demean ourselves, with that Charity, humility & pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion & without an humble immitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.” 

He gave a tearful farewell to his soldiers, calling their persistence and tenacity little short of a miracle. “I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honourable.”

And then he went home, arriving at Mount Vernon on Christmas Eve.

He thought he was done. And for the next few years, he was. 

1787

A new Constitutional Convention was called. George Washington’s name was on top of the candidate list. He wasn’t ready to go back into the public scene. He had health challenges to deal with and a farm to experiment on and manage. So, he wrote to the Virginia Governor and declined the opportunity.

Other convention members were not worried. They joked that the only one who didn’t know George Washington was coming was George Washington himself. They needed him there. His presence would put a stamp of approval on the plan that no one else could bring. And he had been dealing with the effects of a weak federal government since the beginning – and this was his chance to change that. His close friend and General Henry Knox told him that “It is highly conceived to be highly important to the success of the […] convention” They needed both his patriotism and his wisdom. Finally he conceded to go.

George was not confident about the success of the convention. He also didn’t want it to be just superficially addressing issues with the Articles of Confederation, but get to the root of the issues and cure them. He helped James Madison and Edmund Randolph formulate the Virginia Plan: The plan to have three different branches of government, with a bicameral Congress. 

The first day of the convention they nominated George Washington as the President of the Convention. He apologized for all the mistakes he might make, as he was not very familiar with presiding over civil meetings. When they started the meeting by swearing to secrecy the plans and ideas discussed the country became alarmed over time. Newspapers reminded them that George was at the head, so they had no need to fear. If he’d wanted power, he would already have had it. As President, he could not speak, but rather had to moderate. He saw his time there stretch on and on and on. 

When they designed the executive branch, the role of President was inspired from the man there at their head. He didn’t need to speak, for them to see his joy when a compromise was reached, or his solemnity at the debates that threatened the success of the convention. 

Another article can outline the Constitutional Convention in more depth. From the perspective of George, he was to preside, to lead them to the best decisions, not make the decisions for them. What he did say was to inspire them, not speak on specific issues. “Let us raise a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The event is in the hands of God.” George told them.

Eventually four months had passed. The document – the Constitution of the United States of America, was ready. That day when they gathered to sign it, Nathaniel Gorham made a last-minute recommendation: increase the number of representatives by decreasing the size of forty thousand per representative to only thirty thousand. George stood up to speak. This was the only speech he made on a specific issue in all his months there. He said that he had been unable to present this himself, as President of the Convention, but he put his full support behind this change, to let the citizens of the various states more readily adopt this Constitution. It was passed without further argument, and they signed the Constitution. 

When he signed, he said “Should the states reject this excellent Constitution the probability is that an opportunity will never again offer to cancel another in peace – the next will be drawn in blood.” There were things he disagreed with, but overall he was excited for this Constitution to bring about a secure foundation for the country he had fought for for so long. He saw it as unique, as giving all the power to the people, with as many checks as possible to keep one person or group from controlling the people. 

Barring one declaration, attached to the publication of the Constitution, he did not participate in the ratification fight, depending on the people to look over it and let it stand or fall on its own premises. His personal correspondence was sometimes leaked however, and it showed a strong hope in the Constitution.  When the ratification fight ended in success, he wrote this, which summarizes his feelings of all the events we’ve discussed.

“No one can rejoice more than I do at every step taken by the People of this great Country to preserve the Union—establish good order & government—and to render the Nation happy at home & respected abroad. No Country upon Earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. 

Wonderously strange then, & much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means, and to stray from the road to which the finger of Providence has so manifestly pointed. I cannot believe it will ever come to pass! The great Author of all good has not conducted us so far on the Road to happiness and glory to withdraw from us, in the hour of need, his beneficent support. By folly & misconduct (proceeding from a variety of causes) we may now & then get bewildered; but I hope, and trust, that their is good sense and virtue enough left to bring us back into the right way before we shall be entirely lost.”

Join us next time for the indispensability of his precedence as the first President of the United States of America. Until then, we’ll let George stay at Mount Vernon. 

Part 1: https://www.childrenoftherepublic.com/indispensable-the-beginnings/

Part 2: https://www.childrenoftherepublic.com/indispensable-the-general/