Customer Reviews

George Washington's Expense Account

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Marvin Kitman has done a masterful job of giving us a different outlook on the Revolutionary War. When George Washington was made General of the Armies, congress offered him a salary but Washington nobly declined and instead requested that they only pay his expenses. The actual journal of his expenses are included in this book and then many journal entries are humorously interrupted by Kitman. Needless to say at war's end, the country would have been better off paying Washington a salary. Congress didn't make the same mistake when Washington became president and made the same offer. This book is easy and light reading and shows how ,in Kitman's words, George Washington became the father of the American expense account.

Was George Washington first in war; first in peace; and first in discovering the joys of an unlimited expense account? Hint: Generals earned $166 per month. At the end of 8 years of war George Washington presented an expense account of $499,261.51. That was when a dollar was a continental. Washington included interest for money he loaned himself and depreciation. He later offered to work only for expenses as president and got a salary in stead.

Did anyone ever hear the term "Worthless as a Continental". It refers to the Continental Dollar, which was, at that time, so inflated it was practically worthless. What may have sounded like a lavish feast would have cost unbelievable amounts of this worthless currency. If they had McDonald's back then, a Big Mac probably would have cost at least a $100.00. A horse cost thousands of dollars. Many merchants wouldn't even except it. You needed bushel baskets full of the stuff to buy anything of importance. When Washington submitted his expense account to Congress, the problem still existed. It wasn't until Washington was President and Alexander Hamilton fixed this problem that the dollar was worth anything.

The American Revolution lasted eight years, the equivalent of two presidential terms! Given the value of the Continental, using it for that length of time would definitely create one hell of a bill. I'm just surprised the expense account wasn't bigger.

The author must be one of those "Deconstructionists" that like to paint all of American History as a cynical lie.

This is recommended reading to those who revel in anti-American mythology and half truths.