Observations on the Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati
George Washington
4 May 1784
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EDITORIAL NOTE:
The Society of the Cincinnati was instituted at Fishkill-on-Hudson on
13 May 1783 when a group of army officers adopted an Institution (or constitution)
based on a draft drawn up by Henry Knox the month before. On 19 June 1783
the founders of the society elected GW its president. Although GW signed
the Institution, he appears to have done nothing about the society until
23 Sept. 1783 when he wrote Knox to ask him to point out "in precise
terms, what is expected from the President of the Cincinati
previous to the general meeting in May next--As I never was present at
any of your Meetings, & have never seen the proceedings of the last,
I may, for want of information of the part I am to act, neglect some essential
duty" (MHi: Knox Papers). The Institution of 13 May provided that officers
of the American army who had served honorably in the Revolution for at
least three years (and at their death "their eldest male branches") could
become members of the Society of the Cincinnati in the state where they
lived, "provided that they subscribe one month's
pay" to be used for the support of needy officers and their families.
The societies in each state were to meet each year on 4 July, and a general
meeting would be held periodically to elect officers and to consider matters
of general concern. The stated purposes of the Society of the Cincinnati
were (1) "to preserve inviolate those exalted rights and liberties of
human nature, for which they have fought and bled";
(2) "to promote and cherish, between the respective states, that union
of national honor so essentially necessary to their happiness, and to
the future dignity of the American empire"; and (3) "to render permanent
the cordial affection subsisting among the officers" (DSoCi). In October
1783 GW sent copies of the Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati
to some of the senior French officers who had served
in America and received enthusiastic responses about forming a French
society, which the king also promptly approved (see GW to Jefferson, 8
April 1784, n.3).
By the time GW arrived in Philadelphia for the first general meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati in May 1784, he had become convinced of the need for drastic action. See particularly note 16 in Winthrop Sargent's Journal. When the meeting convened, GW, as president of the society, sought first, in effect, to abolish the Society of the Cincinnati entirely. Failing that, he persuaded the members to alter the society's Institution radically, most notably in doing away with the provision for hereditary membership. In his Observations on the Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati, printed here as doc. I, GW sets down the alterations in the Institution which he insists upon in the meeting. Doc. II, Winthrop Sargent's Journal, provides the best surviving account of the proceedings of the meeting and of the role that GW played. Printed here as appendixes to Sargent's journal are letters directed to GW as presiding officer dated and received during the meeting itself and letters that went out during the meeting under GW's name as president of the society.
[Philadelphia, 4 May 1784] Strike out every word, sentence, and clause which has a political tendency. Discontinue the hereditary part in all its connexions, absolutely, without any substitution which can be construed into concealment, or a change of ground only; for this would, in my opinion, encrease, rather than allay suspicions. Admit no more honorary Members into the Society. Reject subscriptions, or donations from every person who is not a Citizen of the United States. Place the funds upon such a footing as to remove the jealousies which are entertained on that score. Respecting the Funds. It would be magnanimous, to place them in the first instance, in the hands of the Legislatures for the express purposes for which they were intended. This would shew a generous confidence in our Country, which might be productive of favorable sentiments & returns. If it should be thought that this wd be going too far--reserve them 'till our numbers are reduced to a certain ratio of what they now are--Or, for a certain number of years--then to be disposed of as above. The disposal of them by Will, or Deed, is too unimportant an object, in my opinion, for any member to be tenacious of. The Sums Subscribed were, in that moment, consigned to charitable purposes--No one ever expected to receive a farthing of it back, unless haplessly he should become an object of its charity--and in this case whether he receives the benefits mediately or immediately from the Society the effect to him, and obligation to them are precisely the same. Authorize the foreign Officers to hold Meetings in France (if it shall be permitted by their Government)--Empower them at these meetings to hear, & decide upon the pretensions of those, of their own body, who, under the letter, or spirit of the Institution, claim the priviledge of becoming members of the Cincinnati. As also the pretensions of foreigners not of any particu[la]r State line whose claims are founded on being Officers in the American Army. Americans, in foreign Countries, who belonged to the line of any State, are to make applicationto the Society of that State, who shall hear, & decide thereupon. Upon these principles Let the Institution be formed in as clear, distinct & explicit terms as language can convey. Let the Secret[ar]y transmit the same to the Senior Foreign Member in France, or the Senior Land & Naval Officer in that Kingdom (if it shall be adjudged better) for their government. Send copies also to the President of each State Society--Accompany all of these with a well composed letter, expressive of the reasons which induced us to alter the constitution. Then Abolish the General Meetings altogether, as unnecessary; the Constitution being given, a continuation of them would be expensive, & very probably from a diversity of sentiment, & tenacity of opinion might be productive of more dissention than harmony; for it has been well observed "that nothing loosens the bands of private friendship more, than for friends to pit themselves agst each other in public debate, where every one is free to speak & to act." District meetings might also be discontinued as of very little use, but attractive of much speculation. No alterations short of what is here ennumerated will, in my opinion, reconcile the Society to the Community--whether these will do it, is questionable. Without being possessed of the reasons which induce many Gentlemen to retain the order or badges of the Society, it will be conceived by the public that this order (which except in its perpetuity still appears in the same terrific array as at first) is a feather we cannot consent to pluck from ourselves, tho' we have taken it from our descendants--if we assign the reasons, we might I presume as well discontinue the order. [1] |
Notes
On the second day of the general meeting of the Society of the Cincinnati, 5 May, GW spoke twice calling for a fundamental alteration of the society's Institution, or constitution. These "Observations" are almost certainly notes that he made in preparation for his second speech of 5 May. Winthrop Sargent's journal of the general meeting indicates that GW again made most of these points in his long speech on 6 May. After hearing the report of the committee of twelve appointed to revise and amend the society's Institution in light of GW's criticism, GW on 10 May spoke at length against the committee's proposals, declaring that they retained too many features of the original Institution. A committee of five then undertook a second revision of the Institution, and, after further revision, its report was adopted as embodying the new Institution of the society. For GW's opposition to the original Institution and his role in having it altered, see Winthrop Sargent's journal (doc. II), and note 16 in particular.
1. For the crystallizing of GW's opposition to the original Institution of the Society of the Cincinnati as set out in these "Observations," see particularly his letter to Thomas Jefferson of 8 April and Jefferson's response of 16 April 1784, and notes of both documents.
AD, DLC:GW. W.W. Abbot, ed., The Papers of George Washington, Confederation Series, vol. 1, January - July 1784 (Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia), 329-32.