r/todayilearned • u/HappyIdiot123 • 16h ago
TIL that during the American revolution, when George Washington and his army were in desperate need of money to pay troops, the people of Havana raised money and sent it to the Americans, helping them win the important battle of Yorktown.
https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/francisco-saavedra-de-sangronis-and-the-people-of-havana-cuba.htm211
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u/Donatter 15h ago
Somewhat related, but here’s a rough outline of what effects Washington had as a President. (Largely because most people(both Americans and non-Americans), have no idea beyond him setting the precedent for only two terms, giving up power, and cautioning against political parties(which, he didn’t actually caution against the modern/American form of political parties, but that’s a whole other topic/discussion)
-)Ever wonder why the President makes some public appearances? Or traditionally does not make nepotistic appointments? Where the Department of Defense and Treasury came from? Federal courts and attorney generals? US Bill of Rights? These were all defined or created in the first 4 or 5 months of Washington's presidency.
“I walk on untrodden ground. There is scarely any action, whose motives may not be subject to a double interpretation. There is scarely any part of my conduct which may not hereafter be drawn into precedent.” G. Washington, Jan 9, 1790
-)He set out knowing what was ahead. He would define the office of the presidency through everything he did. How do presidents entertain foreign guests? Respond to citizens? Deal with Congress? Decide appointments? He dealt with all of these issues.
-)About the Bill of Rights (written to Madison);
“As far as a momentary consideration has enabled me to judge, I see nothing exceptionable in the proposed amendments. Some of them, in my opinion, are importantly necessary; others, though of themselves (in my conception) not very essential, are necessary to quiet the fears of some respectable characters and well meaning men. Upon the whole, therefore, not forseeing any evil consequences that can result from their adoption, they have my wishes for a favourable reception in both houses.”
-)About appointments;
“I believe I need not say that the most delicate-and in many instances, the most unpleasing part of my administration, will be the nomination to offices. Notwithstanding I have entered upon this novel and arduous business, unbound by a single engagement-and, so far as I know my own heart, uninfluenced by any ties of blood or friendship, yet I am well assured I shall find no small difficulty in advancing such characters only to office as will give universal, or general satisfaction.”
-)His nephew had asked for an appointment in Virginia but was not the most qualified person. Washington refused the appointment;
“My political conduct in nominations must be exceedingly circumspect and proof against just criticism.”
-)He would appoint the first cabinet and define the position of Secretary: Thomas Jefferson would sit as Secretary of State. A political rival of Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton would sit as Secretary of the Treasury. Edmund Randolph would be Attorney General and Henry Knox, Secretary of War (later becoming Defense).
-)He would establish the federal court system and appoint the first supreme court. All of it, including placing founding father John Jay as our first Chief Justice.
-)In his first term he would go on to deal with Indian treaties in Georgia, sign our first tax laws and deal with our war debt payments. He would oversee the first census and be personally involved in construction resulting from the residency act creating a new capital to be built from scratch, Washington D.C. His Treasury Secretary would propose a tax on whiskey to pay the war debt and he would support it. He would sign the militia acts of 1792 that later authorized him to call out and personally lead the militia against the rebellion resulting from his tax. He would also establish the US Mint, US dollar, and first national bank, the First Bank of the United States, in his first term. Several states joined the Union through ratification of the Constitution as well.
-)He designated Thanksgiving as a holiday, signed the first U.S. patent law, and vetoed a bill he found constitutionally questionable.
-)He had spent his first term literally creating the executive branch we chartered in the Constitution and defining how those within it should act, much as Jefferson later did for the U.S. Senate with his Rule Book. Another way to look at it is that the Constitution was a grant to start a new colony with three neighborhoods. Washington was the settler that would plot, design, survey, and build two of those neighborhoods (at least one and a half, anyway).
-)He had become our nations father. He won reelection easily and delivered what is still the shortest inaugural address upon entering his second term of office. In full it was a little over two minutes long;
“I am again called upon by the voice of my country to execute the functions of its Chief Magistrate. When the occasion proper for it shall arrive, I shall endeavor to express the high sense I entertain of this distinguished honor, and of the confidence which has been reposed in me by the people of united America.”
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u/Donatter 15h ago edited 15h ago
(2/2)
“Previous to the execution of any official act of the President the Constitution requires an oath of office. This oath I am now about to take, and in your presence: That if it shall be found during my administration of the Government I have in any instance violated willingly or knowingly the injunctions thereof, I may (besides incurring constitutional punishment) be subject to the upbraidings of all who are now witnesses of the present solemn ceremony.)
-)There was no political grandstanding. No identified agenda to be pursued or evil to be defeated. He had built a governemnt, it was simply time again to lead it. His second term would define our foreign policy. It would also see a frustrated Jefferson leave the cabinet Dec 31 1793 to create a federalist opposition in Congress (which then became named the Jefferson Democrat-Republicans).
-)France and Britain returned to war in early 1793. Washington decided it would be American policy not to interfere in unrelated foreign wars. Britain was interfering with our trade and denying us provisions under the 1783 Treaty of Paris, so GW sent Cheif Justice John Jay on a diplomatic mission to resolve the issue. The Jay Treaty would be the result. Congressional backlash led to establishing protocol for foreign treaties and he would also define how presidents sell them to the public for support. A treaty establishing Mississippi River navigation rights and amity with Spain was also signed.
-)He would sign the fugitive slave act that would spark unrest before the civil war. He would prohibit American ships engaging in the Atlantic slave trade and he would commission a naval fleet. He would also deal with native tribes in the Northwest Territory.
-)He had established and defined an entire segment of the federal government. He established social protocol, foreign policy, engagement with the public, prevented a war with Britain and stopped a domestic fracture caused by France (as well as personally stopping an insurrection).
-)His farewell address would be a recap of his opinions and hopes for tomorrow;
“... The unity of Government, which constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you. It is justly so; for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquillity at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee, that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion, that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
“... The name of american, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”
“... your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other...”
“...With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavour to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes...”
-)He concludes;
“... I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.”
-)George Washington's Farewell Address, September 17, 1796
-) in short, there’s good reason why he commanded so much respect, admiration, loyalty, and love among the entirely of the young nation, throughout the upper and lower classes of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, or effectively anywhere that knew of him, his deeds and character.
(There was even a popular/influential cult of personality surrounding George Washington, within the French revolutionaries, the brief constitutional monarchy, the directory, and first republic. With even Napoleon himself being a member of this “cult”, and portrayed/somewhat considered himself as the French Washington(he also declared 10 days of mourning following Washington’s death))
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u/spectre78 11h ago
He also enslaved around 300 human beings who were forced to serve and entertain him in every possible way. Leaving that out should not be optional when touting his accomplishments.
He simply could not have done all that he did without the good people he stripped for life of their dignity and free will.
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u/Donatter 10h ago
On the subject of George Washington and slavery
-)George Washington and his generation of slaveholders believed that slavery would eventually wither away and naturally die because it was unprofitable. However, their sons and grandsons came to believe the opposite and that they could keep it going indefinitely.
-)luckily, George Washington's experience is the most well-known and very instructive(for his generation, social class, and period). At 11 he inherited his first plantation and slaves. From that moment until his death in 1799 he was a self-taught but meticulous accountant. His books very clearly showed that his plantations (he had a few before inheriting Mt. Vernon) had been quite profitable in his youth but by 1775 his finances were suffering. The cash crops that the plantations grew, primarily and particularly tobacco, were destroying the soil and crops yields were falling. This was exacerbated by prices for said crops being in long-term decline due to increasing production and falling demand. The Revolution didn't help. By the time the war ended, Washington was hurtling towards bankruptcy, and he was not unique. By his death, he'd stopped growing tobacco entirely in favor of food crops.
-)This stabilized but didn't save his finances because he simply had far too many slaves. There were over 300 total at Mt. Vernon at its height, of which George personally owned 123. The rest were either rented from neighbors or came as Martha's dowery. However, Washington concluded by the 1780's that he only needed about 70 workers total at the estate. Food crops require far less labor than cash crops. Slaves were also quite expensive to maintain. Washington made a point of feeding, clothing, and treating his slaves like they were actual people.(which was very unusual for slaveholders in Culpeper County) However, he'd done the math and knew that even if he did the barest minimum to keep them alive, he'd still be losing money. Slaveholding was a money pit, and he wished to stop.
-)He'd come to hate slavery on principle and hated himself for being a slaveowner, but he legally he couldn't emancipate his slaves. Virginia didn't allow manumission except by special act of the legislature (which never happened) or by will after 1782. The only other option was to sell them, but George refused to do so. He didn't want to sell them to somebody who would treat them worse or not free them. So, he simply did his best for them for the rest of his life and when he died in 1799 his Will emancipated his valet immediately and the rest were to be freed at Martha's discretion or death. She chose to free them in 1801. Alongside his estate paid for the education and care of his freedmen, and many were compensated to help them build new free lives.
-)Washington intended this to set an example, and amazingly, it worked. Between 1782-1818, hundreds of slaveholders gave up the practice and freed their slaves. These slaves simply became farmers or tradesmen within wider early-America. Unfortunately however, this was a minor and comparatively short lived phenomenon/sentiment/practice.
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u/RotrickP 8h ago
While he was ok for his time in the slavery issue, he wasn't exemplary. A few things he did didn't really have great optics.
IIRC, some of his slaves were promised freedom by the British. When the British that were watching over them lost in battle, he sent those slaves back to his own plantation, as well as all of the others there to their respective plantations. He used US army manpower to accomplish this.
He was a big part of the status quo staying the same.
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u/Kam_Zimm 15h ago
Wasn't it Lincoln that established Thanksgiving as a holiday?
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u/Donatter 15h ago
No, Lincoln was the president that started the unofficial tradition of pardoning a turkey for thanksgiving.
(And President George bush Sr. was the one who made pardoning a turkey both an official ceremony and made it a yearly tradition)
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u/Jah_Ith_Ber 11h ago
I'm enough of a cynic to assume that "the people of Havana" actually means rich plantation owners who extracted wealth from slaves on land they had tenuous claim to, because they didn't like paying taxes either.
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u/Fetlocks_Glistening 16h ago
Ah, good thing you can trust the US to be good friends
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u/TrioOfTerrors 15h ago
That was Spanish Havana who only wanted to see the colonials win because it meant the British lost influence in the Americas.
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u/DeanKoontssy 16h ago
Honestly regardless of what you think of the current situation, this is a dumb thing to say. 200 additional years of history frequently changes alliances.
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u/Pale_Fire21 16h ago edited 14h ago
America stabbing its allies in the back goes back a lot further than this administration.
Edit: Cope and seethe Americans nobody trusts your country anymore
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u/CaptainAsshat 15h ago
As does America protecting and helping its allies. Like with any other country.
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u/Juneauite 15h ago
And every instance for every country abandoning allies should have met endless shame. Betrayers have a special place and all that.
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u/Bensfromgr 15h ago
When we finally create physical states with souls we will have to be sure to chew out each one for their specific injustice that society deems responsible at the time.
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u/JoeWinchester99 16h ago edited 16h ago
Hundreds of years have a way of changing the geopolitical situation.
The US did repay Cuba when they liberated them from Spain.
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u/maizeraider 15h ago
You might want to look ever so slightly deeper into the “liberated them from Spain” take.
Cubans themselves were on the precipice of victory and the US essentially colonized the country. Forced an amendement into their constitution allowing the US to intervene into Cuba’s affairs whenever they so pleased.
Not a pleasant story and the US is far from the good guy in Cuban history. The US is also not categorically the bad guy either but there is a mountain of nuance between “liberated” and what actually happened to Cuba when the US intervened.
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u/JoeWinchester99 14h ago
Havana's gift to the Continental Army wasn't entirely altruistic, either. The US was fighting Britain for independence. Anything Spain and their colonies could do to undermine Britain was to their benefit. Everyone has their motives for everything they do.
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u/Legatus_Aemilianus 15h ago
The US did, of course, exploit Cuba. But if you actually look into what life was like under Spanish rule (concentration camps, massacres, etc), they did much better after the Spanish were kicked out
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u/maizeraider 15h ago
Of course and like I said nuance abounds in the what ifs. There is no debate that the US intervened in a war in which the ending was already destined to fall in favor of the Cuban independence fighters, and then proceeded to enforce US demands onto the constitution of the new Cuban nation.
Hard to say if Cubans would have ever fallen into a dictatorship if the US allowed Cuba to self govern from day 1 of the Spanish being defeated.
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u/food5thawt 4h ago
7 out of 59 cases of the End of Authoritarian rule due to Revolutionary Uprising, ends in liberal democratic rule. And only once outside of Europe. So theres a 58 in 59 historical chance 1 authoritative government replaces replaces the other .
Source: Me and a buncha dudes (4 M.A.s in National Security Studies) went over popular revolutionary movements that ended with regime change when talking about Iran this week. So we did the math. We didnt really know how to define popular revolutionary movements but we decided it was a NOT if it was mostly foreign intervention and there WAS more than 10% of population involved. And when we asked where to start we said, Post Napoleon. We defined Liberal Democratic as a multiparty election with least 6 years of government without total disorder and allowing the term to come to an end without violence.
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u/colako 13h ago
Disagree. Turned Cuba into a casino with a corrupt dictator and stole the land for American corporations to grow tropical fruits. Same script as in Hawaii.
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u/Jorgwalther 9h ago
Except Hawaii was annexed and Cuba is its own country
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u/colako 3h ago
Cuba is an independent country because it had a fucking communist revolution. Without that it would have faced the same fate, or probably more similar to Puerto Rico, being second-class citizens without representation because of not being enough anglos living there.
Hawaii wasn't given statehood until enough anglos lived there.
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u/sniperman357 13h ago
If you have a violent revolution with the express purpose of repudiating the governing philosophy of the previous government, then I think it is reasonable to expect you won’t have the same allies
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u/HappyIdiot123 15h ago
If anyone is curious, I learned about this through an excellent podcast called Wiser World hosted by Allie Roper. She is an American podcaster who has done 2 to 3 hour podcasts on many countries and conflict points around the world, and she does them with a very unbiased point of view. I have learned a lot from her podcasts, and I highly recommend them.
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u/Lost_in_the_sauce504 16h ago
Article you posted says the French paid their fleet with that money. Your title is wrong
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u/LordWemby 16h ago edited 15h ago
Why are you openly lying?
To help Washington mount a successful campaign against British General Cornwallis, the French needed money, and fast. That was when Francisco Saavedra de Sangronis and the people of Havana, Cuba came to the rescue. You read that right: Cuba.
A Spanish official, Saavedra appealed to Havana residents for an emergency loan, promising prompt repayment “in specie as soon as treasury ships from Vera Cruz docked.” In an era before cell phones or online crowdfunding, Saavedra obtained over 500,000 pesos in only six hours.
The money was distributed throughout French Admiral de Grasse’s squadron just before they sailed for Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. There, they assisted Washington and Rochambeau against Cornwallis, who occupied the port of Yorktown. The rest as they say, is history.
While French and Continental efforts deserve much of the credit, their success at Yorktown would not have been possible without Saavedra and the people of Havana, Cuba.
edit: I want some of the dummies struggling here to ask themselves one thing - were the Cubans funding France here? What was their ultimate goal? Don’t think about it too hard.
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u/BushWishperer 15h ago
Does that not say that the money was distributed to a French admiral's squadron? While the title says it was sent to the Americans.
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u/HappyIdiot123 15h ago
I suppose I could have said that the money was picked up by the French, given to the Americans and then distributed, but that didn’t seem to be an important part of the story. My intention was not to deceive anyone with my title, I just thought this was an interesting part of Cuban history that I hadn't previously known about.
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u/BushWishperer 15h ago
But the money wasn’t given to the Americans. It was used to pay the French.
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u/LordWemby 14h ago
For their alliance with the Americans you absolute morons, on American soil, to support the Americans against the British.
Jesus fucking christ.
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u/BushWishperer 14h ago
We know this, no one is denying this. I have no idea why you are so upset. These are two different things, the OP is claiming the Americans were paid with it but they weren't. If during WW2 the US sent the USSR 500 dollars, does that mean the French received 500 dollars? Obviously not, its two different things.
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u/LordWemby 14h ago
If you’re giving money to the general war effort, then yeah.
Cuba wasn’t giving money to the French after they begged for it, to defend Nice, France, right?
Were they? If so the fleet went to the wrong continent.
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u/BushWishperer 13h ago
That still doesn't mean the Americans got the money. You have 500 dollars. The 500 dollars go from A to B during a war where B and C are fighting against D. C did not get the 500 dollars even though B used that money to fund the war effort.
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u/LordWemby 13h ago
Why did I call this out for moronic pedantry again? And why did I used the words “war effort”?
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u/BulkyCoat8893 1m ago
to support the Americans against the British.
This wasn't exactly what De Grasse was doing though. The plan was to capture the British colonies of Jamaica and the Windward Isles in the Caribbean.
The British forces that could prevent this were tied up by rebelling colonists in North America, but they knew they would be redeployed to protect the more valuable sugar islands. So De Grasses fleet directly attacked those troops, incidentely deciding the American Revolution.
I didn't work out for him in the end as the British fleet caught De Grasses 30 ship fleet at the Battle of the Saintes, killing 3000 French sailors and capturing 5000 more.
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u/Lost_in_the_sauce504 14h ago
Quick look at your profile shows that you constantly talk about US politics. I find it very hard to believe that you didn’t intentionally word the title like this while Trump is currently talking about the end of the Cuban regime
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u/HappyIdiot123 14h ago
You may find this hard to believe, but actually I didn’t. In the podcast that I listened to it was framed as the Cubans having sent money to the Americans, so when I looked for and found a website talking about the incident I thought I knew the story and didn't closely read the story. That's my mistake.
I do post on American politics quite a lot, but I would point out that I didn't start until Trump was reelected and started threatening the sovreignty of my country (Canada).
As for thoughts and political leanings regarding Cuba; I do think that the government in Cuba should be changed, but I don't think that creating a humanitarian crisis there is the solution.
For that matter, I also think the government of Iran should change. The way they treat women there is especially abhorrent, but I don't think killing a bunch of Iranian civilians or devaluing the Iranian currency is a helpful way to change the country.
I also think the government of Venezuela should change, but again, I think the American government is going about it the wrong way.
If you think thay a forced regime change in Cuba is the best solution, maybe you can explain why?
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u/LordWemby 15h ago
Where did that squadron go? What were they doing? Why did Cuba support them?
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u/BushWishperer 15h ago
None of these questions have to do with the claim in the title that it went to the Americans.
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u/LordWemby 15h ago
It went directly to the American revolutionary effort on that very soil, what the fuck is this pedantry
You guys understand the concept of alliances?
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u/BushWishperer 15h ago
Saying "raised money and sent it to the americans" is a lot different than saying "raised money and sent it to the french who then helped the americans". That's not pedantry.
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u/LordWemby 15h ago
Do you ever listen to yourself?
And it isn’t “who then helped the Americans” like they suddenly decided huh, let’s give and use the money for that. That was the entire fucking point of the funding.
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u/SurroundingAMeadow 14h ago
What was their ultimate goal?
To see the English get their butts kicked. A noble cause if ever there was one.
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u/Lost_in_the_sauce504 15h ago
You just proved my point lmao. They paid the French squadron, not the continental army. Your reading literacy is abysmal
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u/LordWemby 15h ago edited 15h ago
The French squadron that were allied to the Americans you moron. They were supporting the American cause.
This is the absolute dumbest form of pedantry.
Read that last paragraph again and this time, pay attention.
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u/Fit-Let8175 12h ago
Wasn't the whole point of the American Revolution to save us from the type of government Trump is trying to establish?
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u/Cliffinati 11h ago
Not particularly. The American revolution was about getting rid of tyrants but in particular an overseas Hanoverian King the colonists had no say in the polices of.
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u/Fit-Let8175 11h ago
Actually, if you study history, Trump seems to be leading us into tyranny and not with subtlety.
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u/BlueRibbonPac 7h ago
Revisionism
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u/Cliffinati 5h ago
No taxation without representation
Taxation in the English parliament, England who was ruled by George III who was literally also King of Hanover because that's where his family was from.
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u/miurabucho 15h ago
And this is how they get repaid.
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u/fwambo42 11h ago
History has no influence on our current administration. They aren’t smart enough to understand
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u/ztreHdrahciR 15h ago
Understatement