John Armstrong Jr. Quotes
Is it rather a country that tramples upon your rights, disdains your cries and insults your distresses? Have you not, more than once, suggested your wishes, and made known your wants to Congress? Wants and wishes which gratitude and policy should have anticipated, rather than evaded. And have you not lately, in the meek language of entreating memorials, begged from their justice, what you would no longer expect from their favour? How have you been answered? Let the letter which you are called to consider tomorrow make reply. If this, then, be your treatment, while the swords you wear are necessary for the defense of America, what have you to expect from peace, when your voice shall sink, and your strength dissipate by division? When those very swords, the instruments and companions of your glory, shall be taken from your sides, and no remaining mark of military distinction left but your wants, infirmities and scars? Can you then consent to be the only sufferers by this revolution, and retiring from the field, grow old in poverty, wretchedness and contempt? Can you consent to wade through the vile mire of dependency, and owe the miserable remnant of that life to charity, which has hitherto been spent in honor?
The Continental Congress had treated the army poorly throughout the war with few provisions, erratic pay, and little understanding of the reality of the war effort. He addressed the senior officers of the army urging that the army not disband as Congress had ordered until there was some assurance that they should be reasonably treated and that they would not become public charges. Many had lost everything they owned, not being able to tend their farms or businesses; others were wounded and permanently handicapped. The officers did not follow Armstrong and instead followed the lead of George Washington and returned to civilian life in good faith, but as Armstrong had predicted, Congress did little to compensate the army. Despite his urging disobedience to Congress, once the Constitution was ratified and the government became more stable, Armstrong received several major Presidential appointments and was confirmed by the Senate which he had so castigated.
John Armstrong Jr., 1758-1843, Revolutionary War Military Officer, U. S. Minister to France, U. S. Secretary of War, U. S. Senator (NY), The Newburgh Address To the Officers of the Army, March 1783
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After the American Revolution one of the great fears of many of the political leaders was a standing army. So there was little concern about the morale of the officers and enlisted men. Further, the national government and the governments of the individual states were broke. Washington and Hamilton wanted the soldiers to be paid their back wages and saw this as the highest priority for the new nation. Most others did not agree, and viewed the new military back wages as equal to the many other obligations. Hamilton, saw this as an active hostility to the military and was very overt about his castigation of Congress. Washington agreed but was far more diplomatic and could never accept the fact that the military did not owe loyalty to the nation and the Congress.
Those Americans who were on the British side of the Revolution often looked with disdain on the revolutionaries ham handed early attempts to operate a government. The Continental Congress was particularly weak. George Washington and the American military leaders were constantly complaining about the inept Congress but the Loyalists write satires like this and made fun of them. This was the equivalent of today’s television late night comedians.
Montgomery was killed later that year commanding the failed attempt to capture Montreal in Canada
Mechanics was a general term for people who made things, or fixed things. Ramsay was the first major historian of the American Revolution.
This is a very important quotation because it and {641523} show the great difficulty that Washington was under and the fact that he repeatedly asked Congress for assistance very little of which was provided.
The Gladstone government delayes and the force did not arrive on time. The town fell to the Madhi’s forces. Gordon was killed.
Maryland had not yet ratified, and was not to do so until March 1, 1781, yet Jay operationalized the new nation with this letter.
he always called him by his first name The name Mad Anthony Wayne stuck.
General Washington and his officers were constantly trying to get around the Southern bloc in the Continental Congress. South Carolina was willing because, perhaps more so than any other region of the country the South Carolina civilian population were suffering from the British military initiatives. See related quotes.
George Washington, 1732-1799, 1st President of the United States (VA), in a consolation statement to John Laurens who had reported failure getting the Continental Congress to accept one of Washington’s proposals. See related quotes.
Note the egalitarian and democratic nature of the method of selection of military officers. This was typical of frontier thinking—the men who were putting their lives on the line should have a say in who their leaders would be. The Governor and the legislature could only select the top officers like the Adjutant General or the Major General. Congress had retained the power to appoint general officers but allowed them and the civilian secretaries of the armed services to select all other officers. The latter enabled wealthy people to be appointed officers without any necessary competence and many even in the Civil War in effect bought their appointments by paying for the uniforms or bringing weapons. While America became more democratic and egalitarian over its first two centuries, the appointment of military officers is the one area where it became less democratic and egalitarian. The election of officers so popular in many states was gradually and finally abolished.
Garfield reminded Americans of how radical and unusual the concept of democracy had been at the time of the adoption of The Constitution, and that the American Revolution was one of ideas as well as armies.
Americans were by no means united in wanting to take up arms against Britain. Relatively few of the loyalist quotations have come down to us, but here is one. It also illustrates why some Americans wanted complete independence: So that they could escape their debts to English merchants. Most however had more noble and unselfish motives. As a matter of fact, the American Revolution is unusual in the sense that there were so many men of substance who sacrificed much of their material wealth for the American ideal. There were also the rogues and opportunists as Galloway describes.
He was not a very good agent in the sense of making accurate reports. At the time this was an unrealistically positive assessment, but it is likely that he was provided with “American propaganda”. France would only assist America if they thought that the Americans had a good chance, and the American diplomats’ propaganda efforts were successful in exaggerating the size of the army, the morale, the provisioning, and the pay.
He won the debate and the Congress created the first committee to investigate and oversee military affairs.
He lost the vote on this issue, and the Congress created the first committee to investigate and oversee military affairs.
the soldiers of King George The early American Revolutionary Army was not led by many competent seniors officers. Many of the general officers were such by virtue of socio-economic class rather than talent or merit. Rush ran the hospitals for the Revolutionary and talked to many officers and enlisted men, and also observed much of the British military practices.
He traveled to Japan and stayed for the rest of his life and became a very respected Japanese writer.
This issue has vexed American in every war in which the nation has been engaged. Lincoln’s policy, herein stated, has always been the American policy, yet it has caused the same dissatisfaction and complaint over and over. No one has found an alternative to have a remedy for the evil of harboring terrorists, spies, insurgents, whatever they are called.
John Armstrong Jr. was an American soldier and statesman who was a delegate to the Continental Congress, U.S. Senator from New York, and Secretary of War.
