He secured a future for his country emulating Cincinnatus, not Julius Caesar.
March was an important month for George Washington. He resisted the opportunity to become a military dictator in March. And he rode away from America’s presidency in March.
A man of action rather than ideas, the Virginia planter turned continental military commander turned national politician probably did more than any other person to make the United States. It was no easy task. And his most important act was perhaps the simplest: leaving office.
Looking back, we can see that his record was hardly pure. A troubled slave-owner, he disliked but did not challenge the institution. His generalship originally expected too much of poorly trained men, but his leadership helped sustain the fight. As president he underestimated the divisions among a people reluctantly living under a much-criticized Constitution. Yet he was the indispensable man, the chief executive most likely to be accepted as legitimate by all. Without him it is hard to imagine America having been born or survived.
Yet he walked away from the pinnacle of power.
More than once Washington could have been king, in form if not title. In 1783 after active hostilities had ended anger burst forth from soldiers long unpaid and taken for granted. Encamped at Newburgh, New York after the war’s effective end, they clamored for action against the Congress (serving under the Articles of Confederation). The threat was serious: Previously a memo on the subject had been sent to the legislature by several officers, warning that “any further experiments on their patience may have fatal effects.”
The national government, one in name only, had no money. Congress had no means to raise funds, instead depending on the states, which proved recalcitrant. So nothing was done, stoking soldiers’ anger. There is disagreement over whether the ultimate objective was to stage a coup or force action by appearing ready to stage a coup.
Washington forthrightly refused to direct the army against the civilian authorities. But in mid-March at Newburgh two anonymous letters circulated advocating that an ultimatum be sent to the Congress, claiming Washington’s support, and calling for a meeting of field officers. It was later learned that the documents were penned by an aide to the ambitious and vainglorious Horatio Gates, though the latter’s role is uncertain.
Washington took control, unexpectedly attending and addressing the gathering on March 15. He skillfully manipulated men hardened in battle with his famed Newburgh Address. He denounced the initial “anonymous summons” that brought the officers together: “How inconsistent with the rules of propriety, how unmilitary and how subversive of all order and discipline, let the good sense of the army decide.”
Recognizing that his leadership had been questioned, he observed: “But as I was among the first who embarked in the cause of our common country; as I have never left your side one moment, but when called from you on public duty; as I have been the constant companion and witness of your distresses, and not among the last to feel and acknowledge your merits; as I have ever considered my own military reputation as inseparably connected with that of the army; as my heart has ever expanded with joy, when I have heard its praises, and my indignation has arisen when the mouth of detraction has been opened against it, it can scarcely be supposed, at this late stage of the war, that I am indifferent to its interests.”
Then he cited the larger cause, criticizing “This dreadful alternative of either deserting our country in the extremist hour of her distress, or turning our arms against it, which is the apparent object, unless Congress can be compelled into instant compliance, has something so shocking in it, that humanity revolts at the idea.” After stating his belief that the Congress would do justice to their claims, he closed with a call on them:
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