Many of us fail to think about the magnitude of our Revolutionary war. It lasted over 8 years with up to 80,000 militia and Continental Army soldiers serving at one time. 1 in 20 free men or about 231,000 men served in the Continental Army along with 145,000 in the militia. The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1783. When James Monroe wrote his first State of the Union Address, the war had been over for 34 years, and America was entering the "era of good feelings", yet many of surviving veterans of the Revolution were penniless and struggling to survive. The current federal pension laws for most of these veterans listed disability or death of a serviceman as the basis to receive a pension award. President Monroe wanted the attention of Congress and the nation to turn to the "peculiar interest to the surviving officers and soldiers of our Revolutionary army". The United States owed their very survival to these men and their service in laying the foundation of our great nation. While many of these men have passed away, there were distressing reports that some of the survivors were not covered by the current pension laws, and were now reduced to poverty and distress. Monroe tugged at the patriotic heart of Congress, and urged them to bring honor to our country by providing for them. Time was running short, in just "the lapse of a few years more an the opportunity will be forever lost". It was the least they could do. In the lapse of 34 years since the war, so many of these great veterans had already been lost.
"It is contemplating the happy situation of the United States, our attention is drawn with peculiar interest to the surviving officers and soldiers of our Revolutionary army, who so eminently contributed by their services to lay its foundation. Most of those very meritorious citizens have paid the debt of nature and gone to repose. It is believed that among the survivors there are some not provided for by existing laws, who are reduced to indigence and even to real distress. These man have a claim on the gratitude of their country, and it will do honor to their country to provide for them. The lapse of a few years more and the opportunity will be forever lost; indeed, so long already has been the interval that the number to be benefitted by any provision which may be made will not be great."On March 18, Congress enacted a new pension laws for the Revolutionary Veterans of service without a restriction to disability or death. The pension was extended to all who had serviced in a Continental Military organization or in the U. S. naval service for 9 months or until the end of the war. The law was based upon financial need, and Congress ended up appropriating more funds than ever before for Revolutionary war pension payments. Because of financial difficult and accusations that many applicants were feigning poverty to obtain benefits, Congress passed remedial legislation in 1820 requiring certified documentation of their estate and income to the Secretary of War. Several thousand pensioners were dropped, but were reinstated with additional proof of need when Congress passed further legislation in 1823. Finally, in 1832 Congress extended the act to all who served in the Continental military or U.S. Navy regardless of need and extended the collection to his widow and children.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29459
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fayfamily/pensions.html
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Battle_of_Guiliford_Courthouse_15_March_1781.jpg
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