Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff from How Stuff Works, Hey, brain Stuff,
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here. There's a popular yarn among American history
Speaker 1: enthusiasts that George Washington, in the waning months of the
Speaker 1: Revolutionary War, was offered the crown of the fledgling nation
Speaker 1: by a group of American military officers fed up with
Speaker 1: an ineffective Congress. Historians even have Washington's strongly worded rejection
Speaker 1: letter to prove it, but a closer reading of original
Speaker 1: historical documents tells a different story. In this version, the
Speaker 1: widespread frustration of army officers gets mixed up with the
Speaker 1: pro monarchy day dreams of one foolhardy Colonel Washington still
Speaker 1: comes out of hero, but he was never really close
Speaker 1: to being a king. Let's set the scene. The British
Speaker 1: suffered a decisive defeat at Yorktown to American and French
Speaker 1: forces in seventy one, resulting in the capture of seven
Speaker 1: thousand British troops and their leader, General Charles Cornwallis. The
Speaker 1: end of the war was finally near, but the beleaguer
Speaker 1: in American Army under the command of Washington was still
Speaker 1: considered on duty until the Treaty of Paris was signed
Speaker 1: in seventeen eighty three. Back in those preconstitution days, the
Speaker 1: Articles of Confederation handed most power to the States, not
Speaker 1: the federal government. Congress had no power to tax, for example,
Speaker 1: which was a problem when it came to paying and
Speaker 1: equipping the army. Congress had to constantly request military funding
Speaker 1: from the States, which were often slow to pay up,
Speaker 1: if at all. With peace nearly one the army feared
Speaker 1: that Congress was going to stiff them on back pay.
Speaker 1: The officer corps were especially worried about their pensions, which
Speaker 1: they were promised would secure them financially for the rest
Speaker 1: of their lives. Could they trust Congress to keep its
Speaker 1: word an exact payment from the states. Among those army
Speaker 1: officers sweating over their pension in seventeen eighty two was
Speaker 1: Colonel Louis Nicola, a sixty five year old Irish born
Speaker 1: military veteran who lent significant expertise to Washington's forces during
Speaker 1: the war. Nicola and Washington corresponded frequently, usually about Nicola's
Speaker 1: duties as a commander of the Invalid Core, a garrison
Speaker 1: of injured soldiers who were still fit enough to serve
Speaker 1: but Nicola's letter to Washington on May twenty two was
Speaker 1: something completely different. In this now infamous missive, Nicola opened
Speaker 1: with a reminder of what would be at stake if
Speaker 1: the military wasn't properly compensated, namely the threat of open mutiny.
Speaker 1: Niccola wrote, God forbid we should ever think of involving
Speaker 1: that country we have, under your conduct and auspices, rescued
Speaker 1: from oppression into a new scene of blood and confusion.
Speaker 1: But it cannot be expected. We should forego claims on
Speaker 1: which our future subsistence and that of our families depend.
Speaker 1: Then Nicola moved on to what he called his scheme.
Speaker 1: He admitted to Washington that he wasn't a quote, a
Speaker 1: violent admirer of a republican form of government, preferring instead
Speaker 1: a mixed form of government with elected representatives ruled by
Speaker 1: a benevolent monarch. And who better for such a leading
Speaker 1: role than Washington himself. Nicola wrote, some people have so
Speaker 1: connected the ideas of tyranny and monarchy as to find
Speaker 1: it very difficult to separate them. It may therefore be
Speaker 1: requisite to give the head of such a constitution, as
Speaker 1: I propose, some title apparently more moderate. But if all
Speaker 1: things were once adjusted, I believe strong arguments might be
Speaker 1: produced for admitting the title of king, which I conceive
Speaker 1: would be attended with some material advantages. Washington's response, dated
Speaker 1: the very same day, was withering. He wrote, be assured, sir,
Speaker 1: no occurrence in the course of the war has given
Speaker 1: me more painful sensations than your information of there being
Speaker 1: such ideas existing in the army as you have expressed,
Speaker 1: and I must view with abhorrence and reprehend with severity.
Speaker 1: I am much at a loss to conceive what part
Speaker 1: of my conduct could have given encouragement to an address
Speaker 1: which seems to me big with the greatest mischiefs that
Speaker 1: can befall my country. If I am not deceived in
Speaker 1: the knowledge of myself, you could not have found a
Speaker 1: person to whom your schemes are more disagreeable. Washington's rejection
Speaker 1: of an American monarchy was absolute, but was a single
Speaker 1: letter from a presumptuous colonel, the equivalent and of being
Speaker 1: offered the crown, as many believe. We spoke with Denver Brunsman,
Speaker 1: a history professor at George Washington University and scholar of
Speaker 1: the Revolutionary War and of Washington. He thinks it would
Speaker 1: be an exaggeration to say that Washington was ever seriously
Speaker 1: offered the title of king. He said, Niccolo was not
Speaker 1: someone who was in the position to do that, and
Speaker 1: I don't think he was part of any real large movement.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean there weren't people who had those sentiments,
Speaker 1: and I think Niccolo was representative of that. There were
Speaker 1: other individuals in the Officer Corps who were extremely frustrated
Speaker 1: with Congress and any hope for a possible solution. Brunsman continued,
Speaker 1: what's most important is Washington's reaction to even the notion
Speaker 1: of being king. She shuts down any possibility. I think
Speaker 1: that's impressive and shows why Washington was able to garner
Speaker 1: the trust of the American people. Today's episode was written
Speaker 1: by Dave Ruse and produced by Tyler Clang. For more
Speaker 1: on this and lots of other trustworthy topics, visit our
Speaker 1: home planet, How Stuff Works Come