Peter Johnston introduced today's speaker, Bill Fowler, former history professor at Northeastern and graduate of Northeastern and Notre Dame. Bill has written a number of history books, including his current book, "Empires at War," about the French and Indian War.
But today Bill spoke about a time in the Revolutionary War that was periolous to the life of the American democracy. The troops and the officers were concerned with the failure of the Congress to honor its promises to pay the army due to the fact that the Congress was going broke. The troops had been offered half-pay for life, but there was no money to pay the officers.
On March 10, 1783, an anonymous letter was circulated among the officers of General Washington's main camp at Newburgh. It addressed those complaints and called for an unauthorized meeting of the officers to be held the next day to consider possible military solutions to the problems of the civilian government and its financial woes.
General Washington stopped that meeting from happening by forbidding the officers to meet at the unauthorized meeting. He suggested that they meet a few days later, on March 15, at the regular meeting of his officers. Meanwhile another anonymous letter was circulated suggesting Washington was sympathetic to the claims of the malcontent officers.
On March 15, the officers gathered in a church building in
Newburgh, effectively holding the fate of democracy of America in their hands. Unexpectedly, General Washington himself showed up, a very rare appearance. After reading a portion of a letter from a member of Congress explaining the financial difficulties of the government, General Washington stopped and said, "Gentlemen, will you permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."
The men were deeply moved and many were quickly in tears, looking with affection at this aging man who had led them through so much. After reading the remainder of the letter, Washington left without another word. The officers cast a unanimous vote to agree to the rule of Congress. The civilian government was preserved and the experiment of democracy in America continued.
NOTE: Parts of this writeup were paraphrased from The Great Speech Collection of "The History Place.
Bill took a few questions and then received a hand of appreciation from the group. He was yet another interesting speaker who has added so much to the quality of our meetings.
