The True George Washington [10th Ed.]Ford, Paul Leicester
History
The True George Washington [10th Ed.]
Ford, Paul Leicester
Generals -- United States -- Biography; Presidents -- United States -- Biography; Washington, George, 1732-1799
Under these circumstances a political deal was resorted to, and
Virginia was offered by John and Samuel Adams, as the price of an
adoption and support of the New England army, the appointment of
commander-in-chief, though the offer was not made with over-good grace,
and only because “we could carry nothing without conceding it.” There
was some dissension among the Virginia delegates as to who should
receive the appointment, Washington himself recommending an old
companion in arms, General Andrew Lewis, and “more than one,” Adams
says of the Virginia delegates, were “very cool about the appointment
of Washington, and particularly Mr. Pendleton was very clear and full
against it” Washington himself said the appointment was due to
“partiality of the Congress, joined to a political motive;” and, hard
as it is to realize, it was only the grinding political necessity of
the New England colonies which secured to Washington the place for
which in the light of to-day he seems to have been created.
As a matter of course, there was not the strongest liking felt for the
General thus chosen by the New England delegates, and this was steadily
lessened by Washington’s frank criticism of the New England soldiers
and officers already noticed. Equally bitter to the New England
delegates and their allies were certain army measures that Washington
pressed upon the attention of Congress. He urged and urged that the
troops should be enlisted for the war, that promotions should be made
from the army as a whole, and not from the colony- or State-line alone,
and most unpopular of all, that since Continental soldiers could not
otherwise be obtained, a bounty should be given to secure them, and
that as compensation for their inadequate pay half-pay should be given
them after the war. He eventually carried these points, but at the
price of an entire alienation of the democratic party in the Congress,
who wished to have the war fought with militia, to have all the
officers elected annually, and to whom the very suggestion of pensions
was like a red rag to a bull.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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