A History of the American People

revolts and Indian raids. That is what happened in South and Central America a generation later,
when the wars between the rebels and Spain and between pro- and anti-royalist elements went on
for decades, leading to Caesarism, military rule, army mutinies and revolts, and every variety of
cruelty. The nature of the revolutionary struggle in Latin America helps to explain the
weaknesses and instability of the independent civil societies which arose from it and the political
role played by the military almost to this day. The United States has been spared this. But it was
touch and go. There were some ugly incidents during and immediately after the war. Congress,
with its weak, indeed virtually non-existent executive, was a thoroughly bad war-manager. There
was no proper currency and, in effect, rapid inflation. Washington in practice managed the war
as well as commanded, and without him there would have been a social as well as a military
break down. Yet at one point, at the end of 1777, there were rumors he would be replaced by
Gates, who had beaten Burgoyne. Washington himself thought that there was a plot, led by
Thomas Conway (the 'Conway Cabal') and that Gates was privy to it. But nothing came of it.
After Yorkstown, feelings among some officers about the undersupplying of the army owing
to Congressional weakness and negligence led to pressures on Washington to take power-exactly
the kind of movement which was to ruin independence in Latin America. Colonel Lewis Nicola,
an Irish-born Huguenot, wrote to Washington urging him to take the crown.' The general wrote that the letterleft him with painful sensations.' He admitted the army was short of supplies, but
he said he would work to remedy things in a constitutional way.' With the war effectively over but many men still under arms and pay in arrears, there was a near-mutiny on March 10, 1783 at Washington's camp. It was led by twenty-four-year-old Major John Armstrong, who wrote the Newbrugh Addresses, protesting at Congress's treatment of its army and urging the officers not to be tame and unprovoked when injuries press down hard upon you.' But only the younger
officers were involved in this business, which has been described as the only known instance of an attempted coup in American history.' But Washington called all the disaffected officers together and persuaded them to put their complaints through regular channels. He was a great persuader. Three months later, in June, the last in a string of mutinies occurred when several hundred angry soldiers actually surrounded the State House in Philadelphia where both Congress and the Executive Council of Pennsylvania State were meeting. But this military mob dispersed on the approach of a regular army unit under General Robert Howe. The least suspicion of Caesarism was finally scotched by the prompt and decisive manner in which Washington himself terminated his military duties. On December 23, 1783 he presented himself at the Philadelphia State House, where Congress sat, drew a note he had written from his pocket and held it with a hand that visibly shook. He read out:Mr President [he was addressing
the presiding officer, Thomas Mifflin], the great events on which my resignation depended
having at length taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to
Congress and of presenting myself before them in order to surrender into their hands the trust
committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country ... and
bidding an Affectionate Farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I
here offer my commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life.' At this
point, he took his commission from his uniform coat, folded the copy of his speech and handed
both papers to Mifflin. He was self-consciously imitating Cincinnatus handing back his sword.
He then shook hands with every member of Congress, mounted his horse, and rode through the
night to Mount Vernon, reaching it the next morning.