Alexander Hamilton Quotes
There is such a hostility against the military by the Congress that the nation does not deserve the loyalty of any officer.
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.
Alexander Hamilton, 1755-1804, Aide-de-camp to General Washington, Member of the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention, U. S. Secretary of the Treasury (Federalist, NY), Statement to George Washington, 1783, Quoted in Thomas Flemming, The Perils of Peace
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
After the Revolutionary War, the army expected to be compensated and made provision for. But Massachusetts did very little for the Massachusetts line (the state troops were referred to as the “line”.) Shaw and many others looked to the new national government for a solution but a constitution had not even been discussed in convention in 1783 and would not for another 4 years. The Continental Congress could do almost nothing as they had few resources of their own and no power to require the states to do anything.
At the time veterans would have to wait for up to a year till they could get their records and their benefits from the Veterans Administration which had insufficient budget while the Defense Department had as much money as the Military-Industrial complex could lobby for.
During the American Revolution, conditions were very difficult for Washington’s soldiers who were ill armed, ill clothed, and ill fed while they were paid irregularly. At one point morale was so low that some of the soldiers revolted. Smyth observes that Washington and Congress disciplined the mutineers very mildly, especially when compared with the way the British would deal with such things. The British Governor Clinton tried to take advantage of the mutiny and the poor morale by announcing that all of Washington’s troops who wished could obtain amnesty and join the British forces where the pay and conditions were much better. Professor Smyth found it fascinating that none of the Americans would join the British and he credits it to the wise and mild discipline policies of Washington and Congress as well as the general perception of the justice of the American cause among the American troops.
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.
Many of the young men who were given this form to fill out, had never been in Japan and some did not even know there was an emperor there. Nonetheless the Japanese American divisions of enlistees were the most effective and most decorated fighting units for America while their parents who had not been born in America were still imprisoned in the internment camps. See {624010}.
There is frequently a disagreement between the military and civilian leaders just as there are disagreements among most political personnel. Hawks, and people who have had experience in the military tend to think that military advice on military matters should be determinative with the President and Congress. Others tend to believe that military advice should be considered, but if it were always adhered to, there would be no point in having civilian control over the military. See {639667} for an example of when military leadership advice prevailed and it was a mistake.
Alexander Hamilton was an American statesman, politician, legal scholar, military commander, lawyer, banker, and economist. He was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. He was an influential interpreter and promoter of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the founder of the nation's financial system, the Federalist Party, the United States Coast Guard, and the New York Post newspaper. As the first secretary of the treasury, Hamilton was the main author of the economic policies of George Washington's administration. He took the lead in the federal government's funding of the states' debts, as well as establishing the nation's first two de facto central banks, the Bank of North America and the First Bank of the United States, a system of tariffs, and friendly trade relations with Britain. His vision included a strong central government led by a vigorous executive branch, a strong commercial economy, government-controlled banks, support for manufacturing, and a strong military.
