#GEORGE WASHINGTON COMMANDER IN CHIEF FULL#
#GEORGE WASHINGTON COMMANDER IN CHIEF SERIES#

The entertainment (public dinner) was held on Monday, 22 Dec., in the ballroom of Mann’s tavern, “where every thing was provided by Mr. At the same time, it was resolved that “a public entertainment be given to the Commander in Chief on Monday next,” but action on this was postponed until it was decided, on a roll-call vote that was all but unanimous, that “seven states in Congress assembled are competent to receive the resignation of a Commander in Chief” (same, xxv, 818–19). Congress immediately resolved that “his Excellency the Commander in Chief be admitted to a public audience, on Tuesday next, at twelve o’clock” (JCC, XXV, 818). and the next day wrote the president of Congress stating his intention to resign his commission and asking in what manner it would be “most proper … whether in writing, or at an Audience” (same, xxvii, 278). Washington arrived in Annapolis on 19 Dec. The unusual preparations by Congress and the extreme attention to small ceremonial details (see Document I) show that the delegates fully understood the unprecedented importance of the event. Thus the commander who had it in his power and who some thought aspired to be a Caesar came to Congress voluntarily to yield up his authority in a conscious gesture calculated to demonstrate before the world the subordination of the military to the civil authority. 1783 same, xxvii, 226).īut Washington must have sensed the need of a formal, dramatic incident to underscore these words. Yet he cannot help repeating, on this occasion, so interesting a sentiment, and leaving it as his last injunction to every Officer and every Soldier, who may view the subject in the same serious point of light, to add his best endeavours to those of his worthy fellow Citizens towards effecting these great and valuable purposes on which our very existence as a nation so materially depends” (2 Nov.

At Princeton Washington had recurred to this theme in his farewell advice to the soldiers who were about “to change the military character into that of the Citizen”: “And, altho the General has so frequently given it as his opinion, in the most public and explicit manner, that, unless the principles of the federal government were properly supported and the powers of the union increased, the honour, dignity, and justice of the nation would be lost forever. By thus determining, and thus acting, you … will, by the dignity of your Conduct, afford occasion for Posterity to say, when speaking of the glorious example you have exhibited to Mankind, ‘had this day been wanting, the World had never seen the last stage of perfection to which human nature is capable of attaining’” (15 Mch. … And let me conjure you, in the name of our common Country, as you value your own sacred honor, as you respect the rights of humanity, and as you regard the Military and National character of America, to express your utmost horror and detestation of the Man who wishes, under any specious pretences, to overturn the liberties of our Country, and who wickedly attempts to open the flood Gates of Civil discord, and deluge our rising Empire in blood.

#GEORGE WASHINGTON COMMANDER IN CHIEF FULL#

In the former, setting himself firmly against any incipient “dangerous combinations” in the army for the purpose of establishing military dictatorship, Washington urged his officers to “rely on the plighted faith of your Country, and place a full confidence in the purity of the intentions of Congress. 1783 has not received the attention accorded Washington’s address to the officers at Newburgh or his Farewell Orders to the Army at Princeton, it gave dramatic emphasis to his wise utterances on those two occasions. Nevertheless, though this event at Annapolis on 23 Dec.

#GEORGE WASHINGTON COMMANDER IN CHIEF SERIES#

The documents presented in the present series are evidence enough that Congress as well as the Commander-in-Chief fully appreciated the nature of the occasion. Washington’s surrender of his commission at a formal audience granted by Congress was a symbolic event of the highest significance. George Washington’s Resignation as Commander-in-Chief Editorial Note

George washington commander in chief