The Anti-Federalists by Jackson Main, 1961, Edited Excerpts
In
1780, in order to forestall a mass resignation of military officers, Congress
promised half-pay pensions for life to those who would remain in service for
the war’s duration. However, Congress lacked funds to honor this commitment.
Antifederalists feared the army’s political power and opposed military pensions
or any other measure which would differentiate the army from the general body
of the population and contribute to the formation of a military caste.
Veteran
army officers formed the Society of Cincinnati, a hereditary, secret
organization. The Cincinnati was widely suspected of a design to create
permanent nobility and exert political influence. It was known that in 1783
some of the officers of the army had conspired with members of Congress in an
attempt to force the states to grant federal taxes.
Massachusetts
men of property drew together, and many who had once doubted the value of a
strong government, now hailed the prospect, and applauded the Society of
Cincinnati which might help to obtain it. Antifederalists were later to accuse
the Society of deliberately fomenting Shay’s Rebellion as part of a deep plot
to overturn the government.
The Whiskey Rebellion by William Hodgeland, 2006, Edited Excerpts
The
officers formed the Society of the Cincinnati, a hereditary organization with a
chapter in each state. Every officer of the Continental Army was a member, and
each officer’s eldest male descendant, in every future generation, would be a
member too. The society unified the families of those who would become the
country’s most influential men, creating a hereditary interstate lobby with
roots in fear of coup. The society’s president was General Washington.
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