By John F. Di Leo -
Reflections on one of America’s first presidents on the anniversary of his birth…
When Elias Boudinot IV signed onto the Treaty of Paris in 1783, in his capacity as President of the Confederation Congress, ending the War of Independence after eight long years, he did so not as a distant politician, but as one who had been in the thick of it from the beginning.
As a respected attorney, politician, and member of the establishment, Elias Boudinot was hardly anyone’s mental image of a rebel leader… but then, one could say that of so many of our Founding Fathers. Boudinot is therefore a wonderful example of that very rare, and very special, class of principled visionaries who risked everything – their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor – to establish an independent country of freeman, our liberty secured by a brilliant system founded on constitutionally limited government.
When Elias Boudinot IV was born in Philadelphia, on May 2, 1740 AD, no one would ever dream that such people, in such a place, would ever be revolutionaries. Philadelphia was then among the largest English speaking cities in the world, the home of proud British subjects, truly enjoying the freedom that England allowed in its distant colonies… long before Kings George II and George III commenced their ever-increasing steps toward tyranny in the 1750s and 1760s.
His grandfather and great-grandfather had been French Huguenots, fleeing France in the 1600s for a fresh start in a new land that then promised religious freedom.… far across the Atlantic Ocean. By the time young Elias IV was growing up, his father was an established local, running a bar and silversmith shop, even serving as the local post office. In those days, yes, that made you a member of the establishment. Elias studied law with his brother-in-law, eventually marrying his brother-in-law’s younger sister… By the mid-1760s, he was himself a respected young attorney, doing well in his career.
But then came the troubles that followed the French and Indian War, when King George III started placing restraints on the American colonies, and on the American people, in direct conflict with the rights that had been won by generations of British citizens over the centuries. From the Magna Carta to the Petition of Right and beyond, the British system had progressively limited its monarchy, restoring to individuals many of the rights that natural law bestows on the individual. These rights are not for government to grant or withhold; they are ours from birth as freemen. Once the majority in Parliament (King George III’s lackeys) started supporting the king in these efforts, revolutionary fervor began to rise in these colonies.
By the early 1770s, Elias Boudinot – still a proud British subject, opposed to revolution – was ready to join the effort to unify with the other colonies and get Parliament’s attention. He was a leader of his local Committee of Correspondence, in Essex County, and while he opposed outright independence as late as April of 1776, he was devoted to the Glorious Cause of demanding that our rights as British citizens be honored. By fall of that year though… even this prosperous attorney was all-in for the revolution. Public sentiment had changed that much, and that rapidly, in that difficult year, when the British expanded their long-standing hostility beyond Boston and across the entire Atlantic coast.
Boudinot’s first key role during the revolution was as Commissary General for Prisoners, a terribly difficult position because it required providing assistance that our government simply could not afford. The British position was that the Brits should provide food and drink, but not clothing or bedding, so the families of captured American soldiers had to find a way to provide clothing and blankets to their suffering relatives, often an impossibility from a thousand miles away. As Commissary-General, Boudinot begged Congress for funds to make such provisions, and received minimal support from our bankrupt government. What could he do? Though prosperous himself, he could hardly clothe and blanket 20,000 American prisoners of war, but he did what he could… he and General Washington agreed to fund much of their efforts out of their own personal funds. So yes, Washington and Boudinot went 50/50 on providing clothes and blankets to freezing prisoners during those hard early winters, because the nation’s war effort simply couldn’t spare a cent.
As Commissary-General for Prisoners, his role also included responsibilities for the prisoners of war that our own army had taken, so that’s thousands of redcoats that we could hardly afford to support, but we had to try. Boudinot knew the British recruitment methods – such as impressment into service of unwilling folk who happened to be near a wharf when recruiters went looking – so he empathized with them and did the best he could. Boudinot clearly cared more for the British POWs than Britain itself did.
And Boudinot noticed that morale was such among the British POWs that one of General Washington’s other goals for his role would surprisingly be possible as well: intelligence gathering.
Today, we know much of the concept of POW interviews and such issues from war stories of WWI, WWII and the Vietnam conflict, and in particular, the current ongoing debate over proper questioning of terrorists (who are not covered by the Geneva Convention). But in those days, thoughts on prison interview tactics weren’t as philosophically or scientifically based; the question was just whether we could be successful in seeking information or not.
As Commissary-General for Prisoners, Boudinot found many of the redcoats happy to share – knowingly or unknowingly – and he was indeed able to provide a good deal of helpful intelligence to General Washington during those years. To Elias Boudinot’s impressive resume, we can therefore add the unexpected title of spymaster, without too much exaggeration. The intelligence he provided at that crucial time was indeed helpful to the war effort, helping to keep the Continental Army intact, helping to plan troop movements throughout the war.
Boudinot eventually cycled out of that taxing role, becoming a member of the Continental Congress himself in 1778, eventually becoming President of the Confederation Congress during the final year of the War, from November of 1782 through November of 1783. Once the new Constitution was ratified, he served as a congressman from New Jersey for the first seven years of the new government, leaving only to accept President Washington’s appointment as Director of the US Mint, where he continued to serve from 1795 through his retirement in 1805.
Despite his many accomplishments and high titles, as congressman, director of the mint, and even president of congress, however, President Boudinot will forever be best remembered for his diligent and principled service as Commissary General for Prisoners, when he held the unenviable task of fighting for better living conditions for so many who risked their lives in their nation’s service.
Today, his name is all but forgotten by our history classes – pushed aside to make room for the people whose faces appear on our currency. But Elias Boudinot IV remains a wonderful example, representing thousands of the leaders of the day, who had everything to lose by joining a revolution… but who joined it anyway, out of their devotion to their fellow man, and to the Glorious Cause of American Independence.
Copyright 2018 John F. Di Leo
John F Di Leo is a Chicagoland-based trade compliance manager, speaker, actor and writer. A former county chairman of the Milwaukee County Republican Party in the 1990s and a president of the Ethnic American Council in the 1980s, his columns are found regularly in Illinois Review. Permission is hereby granted to forward freely, provided it is uncut and the IR URL and byline are included.
