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Samuel Shaw: Letter to the Rev. Eliot (April 1783)

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George Washington: Circular to the State Governments (June 8, 1783)

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George Washington: Letter to James Duane (September 7, 1783)

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George Washington: Farewell Address to the Armies of the United States (November 2, 1783)

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EVEN BEFORE HIS DECISIVEvictory at Yorktown in October 1781, George Washington had become the leading symbol—or the more-than-symbolic leader—of the American Revolution. By 1783 he was also becoming the most prominent and fervent advocate of American nationalism. Washington’s eight years as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army seemed to embody the collective sacrifices and commitments required for victory. But Washington’s vision of the American nation transcended the mere securing of independence from Britain. It was also deeply tied to the development of the interior and the generous territorial settlement that the American peace commissioners (John Jay, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin) had secured with the Treaty of Paris. Washington had been interested in these lands since his youth, and with the arrival of peace in 1783 he looked forward to resigning his command and returning to the active management of his Mount Vernon plantation and other lands he owned.

Washington again demonstrated his commitment to republican principles during the spring of 1783. Many of his subordinates within the officer corps were angry at Congress over issues of pay and pensions, and their discontent seemed to be verging toward mutiny when Washington appeared at a general meeting called to discuss their grievances. With a single gesture and a well-delivered speech, Washington defused the officers’ anger, reminding them that they had a higher calling than the fulfillment of their own ambitions.

As he prepared to retire from the army, Washington also took a role in urging the states to support the broad purposes of the Union. One of those purposes included the settlement of the national domain created by state cessions of territory above the Ohio River. Here Washington took an active role by giving Congress his ideas about the policy it should now follow toward Native Americans. Shortly afterward, he took his farewell from the army, leaving the soldiers with a final testament to their service and duty.

—George Washington—

SPEECH TO THE OFFICERS OF THE ARMY

MARCH 15,1783

HEAD QUARTERS, NEWBURGH, MARCH 15,1783.

GENTLEMEN: BY AN ANONYMOUS summons, an attempt has been made to convene you 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.

In the moment of this Summons, another anonymous production was sent into circulation, addressed more to the feelings and passions, than to the reason and judgment of the Army. The author of the piece, is entitled to much credit for the goodness of his Pen and I could wish he had as much credit for the rectitude of his Heart, for, as Men see thro’ different Optics, and are induced by the reflecting faculties of the Mind, to use different means, to attain the same end, the Author of the Address, should have had more charity, than to mark for Suspicion, the Man who should recommend moderation and longer forbearance, or, in other words, who should not think as he thinks, and act as he advises. But he had another plan in view, in which candor and liberality of Sentiment, regard to justice, and love of Country, have no part; and he was right, to insinuate the darkest suspicion, to effect the blackest designs.

That the Address is drawn with great Art, and is designed to answer the most insidious purposes. That it is calculated to impress the Mind, with an idea of premeditated injustice in the Sovereign power of the United States, and rouse all those resentments which must unavoidably flow from such a belief. That the secret mover of this Scheme (whoever he may be) intended to take advantage of the passions, while they were warmed by the recollection