What is the Newburgh Address?

Answer 1

The Newburgh Address was George Washington's speech of March 15, 1783, in which he confronted many of the staff and general staff officers in his army who were planning what amounted to a military coup de tat against the Continental Congress. The attempted coup is known as the Newburgh Conspiracy, having been planned at Newburgh, New York.

The issue was over the Congress' repeated and long-standing failure to pay its soldiers and officers pay due to them. Many of the officers and men, having received no pay in over 8 months, will the Congress owing them years worth of pay, were so far in debt financing their own service that they were nearly bankrupt.

Many men felt that Congress was engaging in "premeditated injustice;" promising and owing money that it had never intended to pay and would never pay.

Washington directly confronted his men by denying permission to have what would have been an open meeting of the conspiracy (of which it was common knowledge as the conspirators were circulating open letters of their intentions). He then called his own meeting 5 days later.

The Newburgh Address is his speech of that day. Having presented Congresses case at that meeting, he realized that the conspirators had not been moved and the coup would go forward. He then proceeded to produce a letter from Congress he intended to read to them. Either because he could not read it, or he was staging the action for effect, Washington drew a pair of glasses from his pocket, which he had just been prescribed. He then stated, "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray but almost blind in the service of my country."

All of the officers, hearing this, and having known and served under Washington for years, were moved by this statement. After the speech the conspirators voted to disband the conspiracy and cancel the proposed coup.