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- Title
FORGING THE EAGLE'S SWORD: PRESIDENT WASHINGTON, THE CONGRESS AND THE ARMY.
- Authors
Staude, Ryan
- Abstract
President George Washington and Congress battled over military policy in the early republic due to the administration's early military failures. Having seen the Continental Congress's inefficiency in prosecuting the Revolutionary war, and well aware of the nation's bias against standing armies, Washington sought to build an army that could simultaneously quell the Northwest Indians and not stir objections among the legislature or the populace. When his efforts in 1790 and 1791 failed, the Congress tried to wrest control of the army from the executive branch. The debate focused on what type of soldier (professional or militia) should compose the American army. Washington and Secretary of War Henry Knox argued for professionals, while a vocal group of congressmen encouraged the legislature to establish a citizen soldier army. This essay examines the establishment of a nascent military force in America, and Washington's struggle with the Congress to maintain control over the army in the early 1790s.
- Subjects
UNITED States; WASHINGTON, George, 1732-1799; MILITARY policy; SEPARATION of powers; HISTORY of the United States Army; UNITED States politics &; government, 1789-1797
- Publication
White House Studies, 2009, Vol 9, Issue 2, p95
- ISSN
1535-4768
- Publication type
Essay