American Dialogue: The Founders and Us

by Joseph J. Ellis

For Madison discovered that Washington had already made the transition from Virginian to American that he was still negotiating. Washington’s conversion had occurred during the eight years he had served as commander in chief of the Continental Army, when he developed a caustic and critical attitude toward Congress and state legislatures for failing to provide money and men for the war effort, then sending his soldiers home as beggars without pensions rather than as heroes. Moreover, his criticism of the state-based government under the Articles continued after the war. “I do not conceive we can long exist as a nation,” he warned, “without having lodged some power which will pervade the whole Union in as energetic a manner as the authority of the different state Governments extends over the several States.” Washington did not need to be persuaded that the Articles must be revised; he was already convinced that they should be altogether replaced.