Military Peace Establishment Act

Calls for a military academy were first entertained by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton and others during the American Revolution.

[1] As President, however, Jefferson abandoned the constitutional reservations he had held against federal control of a national military academy.

[6][a] Jefferson also consulted Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours in a letter asking, "what are the branches of science which in the present state of man, and particularly with us, should be introduced into an academy?"

With emphasis on the importance of math and the sciences both Jefferson and du Pont maintained that the academy would be of great benefit to the nation.

du Pont in his letter to Jefferson proclaimed : "No nation is in such need of canals as the United States, and most of their ports have no means of exterior defense.

"[8] Two months after Jefferson's inauguration, Dearborn announced that the president had "decided on the immediate establishment of a military school at West Point" and also on the appointment of chief engineer Major Jonathan Williams, grandnephew of Benjamin Franklin, to the position of superintendent, and "to direct the necessary arrangements for the commencement of the school."

Superintendent Williams said "Our leading star is not a little mathematical school, but a great national establishment... We must always bear it in mind that our officers are to be men of science, and such as will by their acquirements be entitled to the notice of learned societies.

Jefferson and Dearborn instead began to relieve some of the most visible and partisan Federalists that were commissioned under John Adams' presidency.

Jefferson had wanted to do away with the standing army and the navy altogether, but in the face of repeated Federalist warnings he acquiesced by making only marginal reductions.

He ordered Treasury Secretary, Albert Gallatin to spend no more than $2 million annually, divided equally between the army and the navy.

The agents would be responsible for procuring and managing military stores, hospital supplies for the army, and goods for Indian annuities.

[12] Jefferson also had political goals in mind with his proposed Act, wanting to add more members of the military who embraced Republican values.

His intentions for the Act was not simply to reduce the military in size but to rid the Army of "detractors" and those with questionable loyalties.

He intended also to bring reform to the Executive branch, replacing Federalists who at the time dominated the officer corps.

With the military reduced to a few regiments, Jefferson maintained that much of the duty and responsibility of national security should be shouldered by the various state militias.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the military peace establishment of the United States from and after the first of June next, shall be composed of one Regiment of artillerists and two regiments of infantry, with such officers, military agents, and engineers, as are herein after mentioned.

And be it further enacted, That the commissioned officers who shall be employed in the recruiting service, to keep up by voluntary enlistment, the corps as aforesaid, shall be entitled to receive for every effective able-bodied citizen of the United States, who shall be duly enlisted by him for the term of five years, and mustered, of at least five feet sis inches high, and between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five years, the sum of two dollars : Provided nevertheless, that this regulation, so far as respects the height and age of the recruit, shall not extend to musicians or to those soldiers who may re-enlist into the service : And provided also, that no person under the age of twenty-one years shall be enlisted by any officer, or held in the service of the United States, without the consent of his parent, guardian or master first had and obtained, if any he have; and if any officer shall enlist any person contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act,—for every such offence, he shall forfeit and pay the amount of the bounty and clothing which the person so recruited may have received from the public, to be deducted out of the pay and emoluments of such officer.

And be it farther enacted, That the said corps shall be paid in such manner, that the arrears shall, at no time, exceed two months, unless the circumstances of the case shall render it unavoidable.

And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the military agents, designated by this "act, to purchase, receive, and forward to their proper destination, all military stores, and other articles for the troops in their respective departments, and all goods and annuities for the Indians, which they may be directed to purchase, or which shall be ordered into their care by the department of war.

And be it further enacted, That if any non-commissioned officer, musician or private, shall desert the service of the United States, he shall, in addition to the penalties mentioned in the rules and articles of war, be liable to serve, for and during such a period, as shall, with the time he may have served previous to his desertion, amount to the full term of his enlistment; and such soldier shall and may be tried by a court martial, and punished, although the term of his enlistment may have elapsed previous to his being apprehended or tried.

And be it further enacted, That every person who shall procure or entice a soldier in the service of the United States to desert, or who shall purchase from any soldier, his arms, uniform clothing, or any part thereof; and every captain or commanding officer of any ship or vessel, who shall enter on board such ship or vessel, as one of his crew, knowing him to have deserted, or otherwise carry away any such soldier, or shall refuse to deliver him up to the orders of his commanding officer, shall, upon legal conviction, be fined at the discretion of any court having cognizance of the same, in any sum not exceeding three hundred dollars, or be imprisoned any term not exceeding one year.

B. do solemnly swear or affirm, (as the case may be) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the United Slates of America, and that I will serve them honestly and faithfully against their enemies or opposers, whomsoever; and that I will observe and obey the orders of the President of the United States, and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to the rules and articles of war."

And be it further enacted, That where any commissioned officer shall be obliged to incur any extra expense in travelling and sitting on general courts martial, he shall be allowed a reasonable compensation for such extra expense actually incurred, not exceeding one dollar and twenty-five cents per day, to officers who are not entitled to forage, and not exceeding one dollar per day to such as shall be entitled to forage.

And be it further enacted, That to each commissioned officer, who shall be deranged by virtue of this act, there shall be allowed and paid, in addition to the pay and emoluments to which they will be entitled by law at the time of their discharge—to each officer whose term of service in any military corps of the United States shall not have exceeded three years, three months' pay; to all other officers so deranged, one month's pay of their grades, respectively, for each year of past service in the army of the United States, or in any regiment or corps now or formerly in the service thereof.

And be it further enacted, That the President of the United States is hereby authorized and empowered, when he shall deem it expedient, to organize and establish a corps of engineers, to consist of one engineer, with the pay, rank and emoluments of a major; two assistant engineers, with the pay, rank and emoluments of captains; two other assistant engineers, with the pay, rank and emoluments of first lieutenants; two other assistant engineers, with the pay, rank and emoluments of second lieutenants; and ten cadets, with the pay of sixteen dollars per month, and two rations per day: and the President of the United States is, in like manner, authorized, when he shall deem it proper, to make such promotions in the said corps, with a view to particular merit, and without regard to rank, so as not to exceed one colonel, one lieutenant-colonel, two majors, four captains, four first lieutenants, four second lieutenants, and so as that the number of the whole corps shall, at no time, exceed twenty officers and cadets.

That the principal engineer, and in his absence the next in rank, shall have the superintendence of the said military academy, under the direction of the President of the United States; and the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, at the public expense, under such regulations as shall be directed by the President of the United States, to procure the necessary, books, implements and apparatus for the use and benefit of the said institution.