1812 James Madison - Private Soldier Pay is Too Low

Heading into the war of 1812, America had difficulties attracting good men into service for their country.   The pay for regulars in the army was around $14 per month plus one ration.  Monthly compensation for commissioned officers, Lieutenants and Captains were much higher, but for the private soldier the pay was lower than many unskilled jobs available in the country.  Furthermore, the administrative inefficiencies and slow communications often hindered regular payments.  By the end of 1814, the payrolls were 6 to 12 months or more behind schedule.  

In 1812, President James Madison, during his State of the Union Address presented Congress with the dilemma of low pay in the military.  Madison, wanted a vigorous prosecution of the war, and urged congress to bring their attention to the difficulties of "filling up the military establishment".   Madison put a positive spin on it by blaming the "happy condition of our country" where wages were rising of every kind of occupation.   Because of this, recruiting of regular troops were down and military campaigns had to resort to "other than regular troops" and the added expense of doing so.  Madison suggested that the remedy was to establish a new pay scale that is more favorable to the terms of enlistment.   Madison concluded "although patriotism alone has sent into the field some valuable corps of that description, those alone who can afford the sacrifice can be reasonably expected to yield to that impulse."  

"With a view to that vigorous prosecution of the war to which our national faculties are adequate, the attention of Congress will be particularly drawn to the insufficiency of existing provisions for filling up the military establishment. Such is the happy condition of our country, arising from the facility of subsistence and the high wages for every species of occupation, that notwithstanding the augmented inducements provided at the last session, a partial success only has attended the recruiting service. The deficiency has been necessarily supplied during the campaign by other than regular troops, with all the inconveniences and expense incident to them. The remedy lies in establishing more favorably for the private soldier the proportion between his recompense and the term of his enlistment, and it is a subject which can not too soon or too seriously be taken into consideration.

The same insufficiency has been experienced in the provisions for volunteers made by an act of the last session. The recompense for the service required in this case is still less attractive than in the other, and although patriotism alone has sent into the field some valuable corps of that description, those alone who can afford the sacrifice can be reasonably expected to yield to that impulse."

It took about 18 months before Congress approved and the President signed "An Act concerning the pay of officers, seamen and marines in the navy of the United States.".   The act provided a modest pay increase for enlisted personnel.

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29454
https://www.navycs.com/charts/1814-navy-pay-chart.html
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2011/fall/discharge-certs.html