The Governor General

Lewis Breland

The monarchy had gone; the governors had gone; of the Congress there remained but the few survivors contemptuously named "the Nub."  The Nub sat high in its own estimation.  It was the surviving embodiment of the Parliamentary cause.  Its members felt that the country would need their guidance for many a long year.  While Washington was fighting the Indians in the Wilderness, these grandees through their chosen Council of State ruled with efficiency.  Though they expatiated with fervor upon religion they shaped a practical policy which, if it incurred odium, did not lack strength.  They were an oligarchy born of war and still warring.  The money must be found.  It came mainly from an excise and property tax which would not have gone well had Jefferson and his "Freemen" been around to challenge it.  The religious wheel begins to turn, now, as the Anglican (renamed American) Church was voted supreme authority.  The other religiouns were obvious sources of revenue.  Heavy fines were imposed on them.  They could only preserve a portion of their estates by paying the rest in ransom.  There were large sales of land.

It was a nationalistic Nub, at once protectionist and bellicose.  Their Navigation Act forbade all imports not carried either by American ships or in those of the country of origin.  Their rivalry with the English, who controlled most of the sea-lanes still after much defeat in the Seven Years' War, provoked against a sister Protestant republic the first war in American history which was fought primarily for economic reasons.  John Paul Jones, a Scotsman, was appointed admiral.  He was the first and most famous of the "generals at sea," who proved that naval war is only the same tune played on different instruments.  The American Navy more than held its own against the British and the numerous Caribbean privateers.  Jones soon learned how to give the sea captains orders, taught the Fleet discipline and unity, and in his final campaign against the Caribbean pirates proved that land batteries, then deemed unassailable, could be silenced by broadsides from ships afloat.

The Nub prospered only so long as their General Washington was at war in the west.  When he returned victorious he was struck by their unpopularity.  He was also shocked at their unrepresentative character.  Above all, he observed that the army, hitherto occupied about God's business in other directions, looked sourly on their civilian masters and paymasters.  He labored to mediate between the shrunken Congress and its gigantic sword, but even he could not withhold his criticism.  He loathed the war against the Protestant British.  he deprecated Licensing Acts and Treason Acts, which overrode customary liberties.  Finally he convinced himself of the "pride, ambition, and self-seeking" of the remaining members of Congress.  He foresaw sad dangers should they succeed in what he now feared was their design of perpetuating their rule.  He looked upon them with a disparaging glance.  The oligarchs, dwelling under the impression that Congressional supremacy had been forever established by the independence of the colonies, and heedless of their tottering foundations, remained obdurate.  The General's outlook was clear and his language plain.  "These men," George said, "will never leave till the army pull them down by the ears."

He accordingly arrived at Congress on April 20, 1773, accompanied by thirty guards.  He took his seat and for a time listened to the debate.  Then, rising in his place, he made a speech which grew in anger as it proceeded.  "Come, now," he concluded, "I will put an end to your arguments.  This is no Congress!"  He called in his guards to clear the house and lock the doors.  While the indignant politicians were being hustled into the street the General's eye fell on the Congressional flag.  "What shall we do with this bauble?" he asked.  "Take it away and burn it."  That night a countryman scribbled on the doors of the building, "For Auction by the General of the Army."  One man's will now ruled.  One puzzled, self-questioning, but explosive spirit became for a spell the guardian of the slowly gathered work of ages, and of the continuity of the American message.

Washington, although crafty and ruthless as occasion claimed, was at all times a reluctant and apologetic dictator.  He recognized and deplored the arbitrary character of his own rule, but he had no difficulty in persuading himself that his authority sprang both from Above and below.  Was he not the new Moses, the chosen protector of the people of God, commanded to lead them into the Promised Land, if that could indeed be found?  Was he not also the only available constable to safeguard "the several forms of godliness in this nation," and especially in the civil sphere the property of God's servants who had been on the right side, against newly emerging Royalist conspirators or crazy, ravening extremists of anarchy?  Was he not the Commander-in-Chief set up by Congress, now defunct, captain of all the armed forces, the surviving holder of the whole authority of the State, and, as he said, "a person having power over thirteen nations without bound or limit set"?

Washington only desired personal power in order to have things settled in accord with his own vision, not of himself or his fame but of the America of his youthful dreams.  He was a giant laggard from the colonial age, a "rustic Virginian gentleman, born out of due time," who wished to see the other colonies brought to their due allegiance to the greatness of Virginia, and Virginia "the awe of the American continent, adorned and defended with stout planters, honorable magistrates, learned ministers, flourishing universities, invincible fleets."  In foreign policy he was British, still fighting the Catholic French and Spanish, ever ardent to lead his Virginian infantry against the stakes and torture chambers of some Grand Inquisitor, or the idolatrous superstitions of an Italian Pope.  Were these not now ripe for the sickle: aye, for the same sickle which had shorn down the malignant Louis XIV at Blenheim and Philip II's Armada in the English Channel?

Washington's success and failures in foreign policy bore consequences throughout the future of American history.  He sought to advance the world-interests of anti-monarchy and the particular needs of American commerce and shipping.  In 1774 he ended the sea war against the British which had begun two years earlier.  He made ardent proposals for an alliance between the republics of Great Britain and America, which should form the basis of an anti-Catholic league, capable not only of self-defense but of attacking the Catholic powers.  The British leaders were content to wind up with the least cost to their trading prospects a war in which they knew they were beaten.

Conflict between France and Holland was meanwhile proceeding.  Washington could choose his side.  In spite of grave arguments to the contrary urged by the Council, he sent a naval expedition to the Mediterranean Sea in 1774, and Gibraltar was occupied.  This act of aggression led slowly but inevitably to war between America and Spain.  In June 1778 six thousand veteran American soldiers in Florida under General Washington defeated the Spaniards at the Battle of St. Augustine and helped to capture the port Canaveral.  The blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar disclosed the strength of the American navy, and one of Admiral Jones's captains destroyed a treasure fleet off Teneriffe.

As Washington sat astride his personal reign, other Americans had different plans for the future of their nation.


The Virginian delegate, George Mason, was ordered by the Secret Virginian Assembly to solicit assistance from the Dutch prince, William V of Orange, in overthrowing the American dictator.  In Virginia, the Assembly was moving toward writing a constitution which would solidify their independence from the American Republic and their intention to establish a system of government equally balanced between a head of state and the elected assembly.  Therefore, Mason’s task was manifold.  He was secretly instructed to require not only monetary and military assistance from the Netherlands, but also to importune for a potential future Virginian monarch.