Rather is he not an insidious foe? Videos: Washington and the Newburgh Conspiracy. On December 23, , Washington strode into the statehouse at Annapolis, Maryland and surrendered his military commission to a grateful Congress. History is filled with example after example of military commanders seizing political power during times of revolution — Julius Caesar, Oliver Cromwell, Napoleon Bonaparte, Mao Zedong, and Muammar Gaddaffi are just some of the better-known examples.
We take it for granted today that the United States Armed Forces are subordinated to civilian rule, but in the 18th century, it was far from certain that any general would simply surrender power to a civilian authority.
But for George Washington, civilian control of the military was a core part of his beliefs. Watch our animated video presentation about George Washington and forming the U. Learn why Washington's crossing of the Delaware River was just the beginning of a glorious campaign against the British. Attending the Second Continental Congress in military uniform, George Washington was appointed as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army by his fellow congressmen.
After his appointment as Commander-in-Chief in Philadelphia, Washington traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to take command of the newly formed Continental Army positioned around Boston. With the arrival of heavy guns from Fort Ticonderoga, Washington made the bold decision to place these artillery pieces upon Dorchester Heights.
From this lofty position Washington could target the British ships in Boston harbor. British attempts to deny the American's this position failed and the British forces departed Boston on March 17, A British amphibious assault upon the American positions atop Brooklyn Heights led to a signal British victory.
Facing the prospect of a total defeat, Washington was able to save his remaining forces by shuttling them across the East River to Manhattan. Washington's lightning attack surprised the Hessians and led to the capture of almost two-thirds of the 1, man force - at the cost of zero American combat casualties.
This victory greatly bolstered the sagging morale of the Continental Army. Howe was able to successfully flank the American forces holding positions across the Brandywine Creek near Chadds Ford.
Despite losing yet another battle to Gen. William Howe, Washington and his French allies were impressed with the vigor and determination shown by the Americans at the Battle of Germantown. Upon the conclusion of the Philadelphia Campaign, Washington led his poorly fed and weary army to winter quarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
Washington's army was ravaged by disease, cold, and sickness during its time in Valley Forge. Washington repeatedly asked Congress and other local magistrates for support of his wasting army. While Valley Forge is more famous, the winter that Washington's army confronted in its winter quarters at Jockey Hollow, near Morristown, New Jersey, was the coldest in recent memory.
It was here at Morristown that the Continental Army was nearly starved out of existence. The constant lack of food and the never-ending hard winter led to the mutiny of several Continental regiments.
Washington declared that the army could "perish for want of food. After deciding to take advantage of the arrival of the French West Indies fleet off the coast of Virginia and the precarious position of Lord Conwallis' army, Washington and Rochambeau agreed to march their armies south in a bold attempt to attack the isolated British garrison.
After almost a month since the start of the American and French siege of Yorktown, Lord Cornwallis agrees to surrender his British and Hessian forces to Gen. This total victory over the British is the final major military action upon the continent.
Aware of the growing dissatisfaction within his officer corps stationed near Newburgh, New York, Washington deftly confronted a group of officers planning to march on Congress. Asking to speak to the officers during their gathering at the "Temple", Washington's plea for patience and continued loyalty won over the conspirators and defused a potential military coup.
Washington's actions reaffirmed his core belief that the military was subordinate to civilian rule - a central principle of the new United States.
Washington was appointed commander of the Continental Army on June 14, On June 14, , the Second Continental Congress, responding to the growing crisis near Boston, directed that one of its own constituents — George Washington — take command of the newly designated Continental Army. Prior to his appointment as head of the Continental Army, Washington had never commanded a large army in the field George Washington was but one of only a handful of candidates considered by the Second Continental Congress who possessed any significant military experience.
Washington and the Continental army narrowly escaped total destruction in the New York campaign of Unlike the successful Siege of Boston, the efforts to defend the city of New York ended in near disaster for the Continental Army and the cause of independence. Video: Valley Forge in the American Revolution 7. Prior to its decisive victory at Yorktown, the American military teetered upon total collapse Years of rampant military spending, economic mismanagement, and hyperinflation fueled by a successful British campaign to flood the colonies with counterfeit paper money had left the American financial coffers bare.
Washington deftly put down a growing military rebellion Despite having achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Yorktown in October of , threats to the Patriotic cause continued. Really, he is in many ways — particularly when he becomes the first President — the only person people could think of trusting in that role of having extreme power.
Why is that true? Why is he such a trusted character? What did he do to be so trusted? He is a person and all that that entails. That said, even during his lifetime, he was already being shaped into a legend.
To Adams, Washington is just so revered — and he writes this letter. Once again, Benjamin Rush, who keeps appearing and disappearing in this course. He and Adams write these amazing — Just in the same way that Jefferson and Adams write amazing letters in their old age, Adams and Rush do the same thing. They write these really great letters to each other. Page from letter by John Adams to Dr.
So here in this letter he tries to come up with the top ten talents that Washington had that made him great, none of them having anything to do with book learning. I answer. An handsome Face. A tall stature, like the Hebrew sovereign chosen because he was taller by the Head than the other Jews.
An elegant Form. Graceful Attitudes and Movements. A large imposing Fortune consisting of a great landed Estate left him by his Father and Brother … and in addition to this immense tracts of land of his own acquisition.
There is nothing, except bloody Battles and splendid Victories to which Mankind bowed down with more reverence than to great fortune. Washington was a Virginian. This is equivalent to five Talents. Washington was preceded by favorable Anecdotes. They had not done Justice to his Bravery and good Council. They had exaggerated and misrepresented his defeat.
He possessed the Gift of Silence. This I esteem as one of the most precious Talents. He had great Self Command. It cost him a great exertion sometimes, and a constant Constraint, but to preserve so much equanimity as he did, required a great Capacity. Whenever he lost his temper as he did sometimes, either Love or fear in those about him induced them to conceal his Weakness from the World. Ooh, thank you, John Adams. Now it is true that in some ways Washington was sort of like any other Virginia gentleman.
He had inherited his estate, Mount Vernon, from his father and then enlarged it himself. Like a lot of other Virginia gentlemen he was a skilled horseman, which was a very prized skill in Virginia.
You probably remember or maybe you might remember earlier in the course I talked about William Maclay sitting next to a Virginian at a dinner party and saying that all they talked about was cockfighting and horses and alcohol. Horses are in there in the top three. A somewhat less impressive but expected one: Washington was a good dancer. Things you never knew about George Washington: he was a good dancer, which sounds seemingly trivial, but again as a gentleman generally and as a Virginian specifically being a good dancer is a way — another way of sort of publicly displaying your superior breeding.
Adams mentions grace, dignity — all of these things that would make a gentleman noticeable and someone who would seem to be superior. Dancing is one of them and luckily he was a good dancer and he liked dancing — not the image we have of George.
Also like other gentlemen of the time, Virginian and otherwise, Washington was ambitious. And this is going to come up again. He did want to earn status and reputation. He was ambitious to better himself. During the French and Indian War, he struggled to raise himself within the ranks of the army, and for the entirety of his life he was very focused on protecting and preserving his reputation.
He talks about it a lot. So a large landowner, skilled horseman, good dancer, ambitious, protective of his reputation. All of these things would have been true of many gentlemen from throughout this period. And plus, of course — this is obvious but worth stating because we forget it when we talk about Washington — like any other gentleman of the period Washington was human.
He could be self-interested. He could be gloomy. He could get excited. He was all of these things at various points during the war and after. He sometimes doubted himself.
He got bored. He got tired of all the pomp and ceremony that basically surrounded him for the last twenty-five years of his life. He was seen giving a ceremonial dinner as President, sitting at the head of the table at this formal dinner, staring into space and sort of banging a piece of silverware on the table, [whistles] — so not wanting to be there and so uninterested in what was going on. The Continental Congress abandoned Philadelphia, moving first to Lancaster for one day and then to York in Pennsylvania.
Though Howe was able to capture Philadelphia, he could not support Burgoyne. In the battles, t he American army convincingly defeated the British forces. The British suffered casualties compared to suffered by the Americans. Burgoyne was surrounded by an American army led by General Horatio Gates at Saratoga and, on October 17, , he surrendered his entire army, numbering 5, Th e comprehensive victory gave France the confidence that America could win the war and this resulted in the formal Franco-American alliance in Due to this, the Battles of Saratoga are considered the turning point of the American Revolutionary War.
However, Congress decided against any such action. T he defeat at Saratoga changed the British strategy and they now concentrated on the South.
Their southern campaign began with the taking of the port of Savannah in December, The British then won major victories at Charleston and Camden during the spring and summer of However, in late and early , the Americans handed the British crushing defeats at Battle of Kings Mountain and the Battle of Cowpens. During th is much c elebrated m arch, Washington send out fake dispatches to make the British Commander-in-Chief, Henry Clinton, believe that his army was going to attack New York.
This convinced Clinton that Lord Cornwallis in Yorktown was not in any danger. On September 28 , Washington completed encircled Yorktown beginning the siege against a contingent of 9, British troops. The s iege lasted for 20 days. Franco-American casualties were 88 killed and wounded.
The British lost men while were wounded and 70 missing. More importantly, Cornwallis had to surrender his entire remaining force of more than 7, It forced the British to negotiate an end to the conflict. A round six months after the Siege of Yorktown , in April , peace negotiations between the conflicting parties began in Paris. The American Revolutionary War was officially brought to an end with a set of treaties known as the Peace of Paris , which were signed in and Instead of seizing power, George Washington resigned as c ommander-in-chief after the Treaty of Paris and returned as quickly as possible to cultivating his lands.
Due to this, historians compare Washington with the ancient Roman aristocrat and statesman Cincinnatus , who served Rome during its crisis but after accomplishing his task resigned despite having near absolute authority.
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