Mike Parker: A significant anniversary took place on Sunday
While many of us have been focused on America’s 250th anniversary as we celebrate the Declaration of Independence and remember the war that followed, we would be remiss to forget that this year also marks the 251st anniversary of one of our most important institutions.
\Since being established on June 14, 1775 – more than a year before the Declaration of Independence – the U.S. Army has played a vital role in the growth and development of the American nation.
Drawing both on long-standing militia traditions and newly introduced professional standards, the Colonial Army won the new republic’s independence after an arduous eight-year struggle against Great Britain. At times, the Army served as the sole symbol of nationhood around which patriots rallied.
In the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament ordered the closure of the port of Boston to ships with the passage of the Boston Port Act, which took effect on June 1, 1774. This act was the first of the Coercive or Intolerable Acts, five laws passed by Parliament to suppress resistance to British authority over the American colonies.
The second act, the Massachusetts Government Act of May 20, 1774, stripped the Massachusetts colony of its sovereignty. Many throughout the 13 colonies viewed this act as the worst of the Intolerable Acts. They feared the British might impose similar laws on each of the other colonies, stripping them of their sovereignty.
Tensions worsened when Lt. Gen. Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America and royal governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, invoked the new law in October 1774 and dissolved the provincial assembly.
In response to Gage’s actions, the colonists formed their own alternative government, called the Massachusetts Provincial Congress. This provision gave the government control of the entire colony outside of Boston. The Patriots prepared for a possible military confrontation with the British forces that occupied the capital.
When Gage learned that this colonial “government” was amassing stores of weapons in Concord, about 20 miles from Boston, Gage sent a military expedition on April 18, 1775, to seize and destroy all the munitions his men could find. This action led to an exchange of musketry between local militia and British troops at the village green in Lexington and at the Old North Bridge in Concord on April 19, 1775. That action signaled the first step toward the Revolutionary War.
Militia units and volunteers from Massachusetts and other New England colonies quickly converged on Cambridge. They formed what became known as the New England Army of Observation and besieged the British forces stationed in Boston. For the time being, the rebellion was a regional affair.
The Massachusetts Provincial Congress looked to the Continental Congress, which convened on May 10 in Philadelphia, for assistance from the other 12 British colonies. After much discussion, the delegates resolved to create an army that would represent not just New England but all the British colonies on the North American continent.
On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress passed the following resolution:
Resolved, That six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; … [and] that each company, as soon as completed, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.
With this resolution, the Continental Congress transformed the New England Army of Observation into the “Continental” army, a united colonial fighting force that represented all 13 colonies. The Continental Army became America’s first official national institution.
The next day, the Continental Congress took a further step. That body selected a commander-in-chief, George Washington of Virginia. Washington was the favored choice because of his celebrated military record. The Congress also hoped a leader from Virginia could further unite the colonies.
Congress voted unanimously on the measure, and the next day it presented George Washington with his commission. It read, in part:
“We, reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, conduct, and fidelity, do, by these presents, constitute and appoint you to be General and Commander in chief, of the army of the United Colonies, and of all the forces now raised, or to be raised, by them, and of all others who shall voluntarily offer their service, and join the said Army for the Defence of American liberty, and for repelling every hostile invasion thereof: And you are hereby vested with full power and authority to act as you shall think for the good and welfare of the service.”
With these actions, the Continental Congress created a fully functioning Army, our first national institution, to defend the American colonies.
The rest is history.
Mike Parker is a columnist for the Neuse News. You can reach him at mparker16@gmail.com.
