In the Capitol Rotunda, near John Trumbull’s famous painting of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence is another work of the artist depicting Congress accepting George Washington’s resignation as commander of the Continental Army. This picture’s significance eludes many modern viewers, but it marks the moment when the United States truly became a republic.
Congress declared American independence and was responsible for national affairs during the Revolutionary War, but it was a dysfunctional body that makes today’s legislative branch seem a model of well-oiled efficiency. States were cavalier about sending representatives; those sent weren’t very good; rarely were all state delegations present. Although British invasion chased it from Philadelphia, Congress always carried a printing press to run off thousands of Continental notes to try to fund the war. These were worthless: not backed by anything and easily counterfeited. At one point, people could only tell a genuine note by looking closely at the word “Philadelphia”. If it was misspelled, it was the real thing.
December, 1783, found a depleted Congress – down to 20 members – again chased out of Philadelphia, first to New Jersey, finally to Annapolis, Maryland, not by the British this time but by disgruntled American soldiers seeking back pay. Congress couldn’t tax, couldn’t regulate interstate commerce, couldn’t rule.
Real power lay with George Washington who had just led the triumphant Continental Army into New York City, finally evacuated by the British. Since 1775, when Congress commissioned him to lead troops, Washington and the army embodied America’s revolutionary cause. Without the army, and without Washington to lead it, there would have been no United States. Congress may have declared independence; Washington had to win it. Many anticipated that, having secured American independence, Washington would assume power to maintain it.
Washington had no intention of doing so. For eight years, often at great cost, he had demonstrated his subordination to the whims of Congress – no matter how idiotic. He had not come this far to become an American king; no matter how necessary many Americans thought that might be. He modeled himself on the Roman hero, Cincinnatus, who was called from the plow to command the army, and returned to his farm once Rome was safe.
On December 23rd, 1783, Washington surrendered his commission to Congress and rode home to Mount Vernon. Congress – and the country – were on their own.
Washington’s action reverberates through the ages. He not only established for all time the principle of civilian control of the military, but gave dramatic power to the ideal expressed in the Declaration that government derives its just powers from the consent of the governed.
His action told Americans of his time and ours that government is what we the people make of it – for better or for worse.
