Abstract
This paper explores new estimates of the number of veterans and the value of veterans’ benefits—both cash benefits and land grants—from the Revolution to 1900. Benefits, it turns out, varied substantially from war to war. The veterans of the War of 1812, in particular, received a smaller amount of benefits than did the veterans of the other nineteenth century wars. A number of factors appear to account for the differences across wars. Some are familiar from studies of other government programs: the previous history of veterans’ benefits, the wealth of the United States, the number of veterans relative to the population, and the lobbying efforts of lawyers and other agents employed by veterans. Some are less familiar. There were several occasions, for example, when public attitudes toward the war appeared to influence the amount of benefits. Perhaps the most important factor, however, was the state of the federal treasury. When the federal government ran a surplus, veterans were likely to receive additional benefits; when it ran a deficit, veterans’ hopes for additional benefits went unfilled. Veterans’ benefits were, to use the terms a bit freely, more like a luxury than a necessity.
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Notes
- 1.
From Lincoln’s second inaugural, this statement became the motto of the Veterans Department.
- 2.
Grubb (2005) stresses the importance of land to the “net asset” position of the United States.
- 3.
Over the years 1798–1860 the yield on U.S. long-term bonds averaged (in years when it is available) 5.71%; the yield on New England municipals averaged 5.11 (Carter et al. 2006, series Cj1192, Cj1194).
- 4.
A crude estimate of daily wages of unskilled labor during the Revolution varies between $0.40 and $0.56. So $5.00 represents what an unskilled laborer could earn in 9–13 days: a small sum to live on, but an important supplement for veterans who had other sources of income. Wages during the Revolution were estimated by using an index money wages for unskilled labor available during the Revolution (Carter et al. 2006, series Ba4218) to backdate daily wages for unskilled labor in Philadelphia (Carter et al. 2006, series Ba4219), a series that first becomes available in 1785.
- 5.
U.S. President’s Commission on Veterans’ Pensions.1877. “Statement of Annual Appropriations and Expenditures for Army and Navy Pensions from March 4, 1789 to June 30, 1876.” 45th Congress, 1st Session, S. Exec. Doc. 4. Williamson (2004).
- 6.
Flexner provides a clear and moving account of the conspiracy (Flexner 1974, pp. 168–178). Historians are not agreed on how far the plotters were really prepared to go. In an interesting exchange in the William and Mary Quarterly, Kohn (1970) argued that it was a full blown conspiracy; a position strongly disputed by Skeen and Kohn (1974).
- 7.
The par value of the commutation bonds equaled half pay for 16 years discounted at 6%.
- 8.
The following two paragraphs depend heavily on Resch (1999).
- 9.
Our estimates of net expenditure are the differences between warrants issued and repayments. Since repayments could be based on warrants issued in previous years, our estimate of zero net expenditure in fiscal 1821 is consistent with some veterans receiving payments from the government in that year.
- 10.
Andrew Jackson, State of the Union Message, December 8, 1929.
- 11.
In total dollars. The largest surplus measured as a percentage of expenditures occurred in 1835.
- 12.
U.S. House. 1836. “Pensions to persons engaged in Indian Wars.” 24th Congress, 1st Session, H. Rpt. 338.
- 13.
The examples in this paragraph are drawn from the Introduction to Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck’s forthcoming volume on bounty and donation land grants in British North America. We thank Dr. Bockstruck for making the Introduction available to us prior to publication.
- 14.
The Proclamation can be read at http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/proc63.htm (Accessed Friday, May 25, 2007).
- 15.
The area of the island of Manhattan is about 13,000 acres; the borough, which includes some water and adjacent islands, is about 22,000 acres.
- 16.
See Land Grants in The Handbook of Texas Online; http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/LL/mpl1.html, accessed 1/13/2018.
- 17.
Gates and Swenson (1968, p. 262)—especially footnote 37.
- 18.
U.S. House. 1831. “Memorial of Sundry Officers of the United States’ Army in the Late War, Praying for a Grant of Land in Consideration of their Services.” 21st Congress, 2nd Session, H. Doc. 25.
- 19.
Veterans of subsequent wars also received help in buying land, but it appears that the Mexican War was the last in which land grants were a prominent component of benefits. Under the Homestead Act (1862) land could be acquired by paying $1.25 per acre or by farming the land for 5 years. Veterans could substitute military service for residence down to 1 year. Veterans of the Civil War also received the right to buy supplemental amounts of land. Many veterans probably made use of their military service in this way. However, the lack of transferability of the benefit limited its value to most soldiers.
- 20.
“Forty-First Congress; Third Session,” New York Times, Feb 4, 1871, p. 2. Federal expenditures in 1871 were $292 million (Carter et al. 2006, seies Ea585).
- 21.
U.S. President’s Commission on Veterans’ Pensions. 1956. A Report on Veterans’ Benefits in the United States, Staff Report No. I: The Historical Development of Veterans’ Benefits in the United States. Printed as U.S. House of Representatives, House Committee Print No. 244, 84th Cong., 2nd Sess, p. 66.
- 22.
The next two paragraphs are based on Davies (1948).
- 23.
The monthly earnings with board for farm laborers is from Carter et al. (2006, series Bc 4234–4243).
- 24.
U.S. Bureau of the Census. 1975. Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970, Bicentennial Edition. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
- 25.
New York Times, “Yesterday’s Cabinet Session,” January 22, 1879, p. 1
- 26.
U.S. President’s Commission on Veterans’ Pensions. 1956. A Report on Veterans’ Benefits in the United States, Staff Report No. I: The Historical Development of Veterans’ Benefits in the United States. Printed as U.S. House of Representatives, House Committee Print No. 244, 84th Cong., 2nd Sess, p. 81.
- 27.
The infirmity could not be the result of the veteran’s “own vicious habits.”
- 28.
Republican Platform 1888, American Presidency Project, http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/index.php. The Democratic platform noted that the Cleveland Administration had paid out more in pensions than any previous administration, but made it clear that the Democrats intended to cut the tariff and other Civil War taxes.
- 29.
U.S. Senate, 1867. “Report of the Commissioner of Pensions.”
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Acknowledgements
We are very grateful for the comments on previous drafts that we received during presentations at the National Bureau of Economic Research Summer Institute (Cambridge, July 2006), the International Economic History Meetings (Helsinki, August 2006), and the Southern Economic Association Meetings (Charleston, November 2006). We owe a special debt to John James and Robert Whaples who were the discussants on the latter occasion. Lloyd DeWitt Bockstruck and Lee Craig graciously took time to answer questions about their areas of expertise. Daniel Fleisch and Adam Yaari provided thoughtful research assistance.The idea for this paper emerged from a conversation that one of us had many years ago with Lawrence Fisher of Rutgers University, Newark.
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Kang, S.W., Rockoff, H. (2018). After Johnny Came Marching Home: The Political Economy of Veterans’ Benefits in the Nineteenth Century. In: Hall, J., Witcher, M. (eds) Public Choice Analyses of American Economic History. Studies in Public Choice, vol 37. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95819-4_2
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