[On June 14th, 1775, the Continental Army was formed at the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia. So for the 250th of that momentous military moment, I’ve AmericanStudied a handful of iconic Revolutionary War figures, leading up to this special weekend post on that historic anniversary!]
Three
telling details about the formation and evolution of the Continental Army.
1)
New England Origins: Having grown up in
Virginia and now spent more than half of my life in Massachusetts, I’m well aware
of the longstanding debates over where the Revolution & thus the United
States really began (and of course my other brief hometown, Philadelphia, can
stake its own claim in that argument). I’m not necessarily trying to weigh in
on that question in an overarching way here, but it is important to note that
the first colonial armies were mustered in New England states—first Massachusetts in April 1775 (not
long after Lexington & Concord), and then New
Hampshire, Rhode
Island, and Connecticut
soon after. Those armies seemingly convinced the Second Continental Congress of
the need for a more truly nationwide force, and on June 14th they
voted to establish the Continental Army (and a day
later elected Virginian George Washington as its commander; sorry New
England).
2)
Invading Canada: In March, the historian Stacy
Schiff wrote an excellent
op-ed for the New York Times (that’s a gift link if you don’t
subscribe) tracing the long and mostly very silly history of American leaders
toying with the idea of invading and/or annexing Canada. Obviously that goal
was at least significantly different during the Revolutionary War, and so it
isn’t particularly surprising that the first major use of the Continental Army—almost
immediately after its creation, in fact—was to send Philip Schuyler’s
New York regiments to invade
our neighbor to the North. But I nonetheless agree with the headline at
that last hyperlinked article—that this was a hasty and ill-advised invasion,
one almost certainly doomed to fail (and fail
it did). Perhaps the best way to put it is this: while the Continental Army
was initially created as a defense force (and mostly used as such throughout
the war), once an army exists, it seems very difficult for its commanders not
to want to use it for attacks as well.
3)
A Wartime or Standing Army?: An awareness of
that fact was no doubt one significant factor in the widespread
American opposition, both at the time of its creation, throughout the
Revolution, and most especially into its
aftermath, to the Continental Army remaining in place as a standing army
(rather than being defined as a wartime one that would be dissolved once said
war was completed). It’s quite difficult, 75 years into the full explosion of
our military-industrial
complex, to contemplate a United States without standing armed forces (and
of course the relative absence of them didn’t end up being a great thing in
the Early Republic). But as with any aspect of our founding, I think we
should treat this concept as one that can and should still be debated—and
better remembering the framing debates over the Continental Army can help us do
so.
Next
series starts Monday,
Ben
PS. What
do you think? Rev War figures you’d highlight?
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