A Semi-Brief History of Veterans Benefits in America (Part I – The Revolution Through the Civil War)

Although veterans law was isolated from judicial review for two centuries, a lot happened in that time that shaped the system.  The touchstone of veterans law is that the system should be “veteran friendly” to properly express the thanks of a grateful nation.  However, the history of veterans benefits in America is astonishingly gritty and complex.  (For more detail, I have published both an 85-page version and a nutshell version.)  This history is more than just interesting, it is vital to understanding how the system became the one we have today.

My favorite quotation in the field of veterans benefits is attributed to George Washington:

“The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional as to how they perceive veterans of earlier wars were treated and appreciated by this country.”

I appreciate how well this captures the utilitarian realities of veterans law and not just the public sentiment.  The best part of the quotation, however, is that it is apocryphal.  Despite how often it is used, the librarians at Mount Vernon assure me that there is no record of Washington saying or writing anything close to the sentence above.  The fact that this quotation is invented only makes it better.  It perfectly captures the disconnect between belief and reality when it comes to how we have treated veterans.  There is a common misconception that WWII veterans were treated the normal way and that the Vietnam experience was an aberration.  However, the truth is much closer to the reverse.

Of course, veterans benefits are as old as civilization itself.  Unhappy armies make for short reigns.  The American colonies had systems adopted from the model dominant in Europe at the time.  That model had two parts:  First, the government provided care for those soldiers who were disabled by service.  Second, officers received lifetime pensions.  Such pensions not only kept officers loyal during a war, but also ensured that the government knew where to find them when the next conflict erupted. 

When the Revolution started, the Founding Fathers were strongly opposed to any benefits other than caring for the disabled.  Thomas Jefferson in particular viewed service as the duty of a citizen, opposed the taxes required, and feared creating a hereditary aristocracy.  However, the war dragged on and the Continental Army began to disintegrate, which forced George Washington to beg the Continental Congress to change course.  Its response was promises of unprecedented benefits to those who served until the end of the war. 

However, after the war, the weak government under the Articles of Confederation was unable to keep those promises.  In 1783, disappointed veterans took the congress hostage over the unpaid promises, but they were eventually captured and sentenced to death.  (The sentences were eventually commuted.)  Afterward, veterans supported the enactment of the Constitution in the hope that a stronger central government would be able to honor them.  They were disappointed.  Rather, it was only when the nation started to industrialize that the promises were finally kept.  In 1835, the northern states wanted to raise tariffs to protect their manufactured goods from European competition, but the southern states feared retaliatory tariffs on their agricultural exports.  The tariffs were finally justified as necessary to pay the Revolutionary War promises.  However, by then, only 850 of the original 250,000 veterans were actually able to collect.

Prior to the Civil War, the main benefit provided to veterans was warrants for free land on the frontier.  Certainly the nation was long on land and short on cash, but there are also indications that the lack of monetary benefits was motivated by prejudice against the Irish and German immigrants who comprised the bulk of volunteers.  The programs were plagued by a variety of issues, but ultimately succeeded in attracting the necessary manpower.  Ultimately, land equal in size to the state of Oregon was given away.

The Civil War completely changed the dynamic of veterans benefits.  Two million Union veterans came home to rampant unemployment and widespread urban homelessness.  “Soldier’s Heart” and “Soldier’s Disease,” which today are known as PTSD and heroin addiction, were common problems.  Like previous generations, there were no provisions made for any soldiers except those who came home disabled.  Unlike previous generations, the Civil War veterans were numerous enough to have tremendous political power.  There were two million Union veterans in a nation that cast just four million votes in the 1864 presidential election.  (Lincoln won reelection in large part by halting the war in 1864 so that tens upon tens of thousands of soldiers — who overwhelmingly opposed the Democratic plan to sue for peace — could be shipped home to vote and carry states such as Pennsylvania and New York by narrow margins.)

After the war, veterans organized into major political groups, such as the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR).  Starting in 1866, the political history of the rest of the nineteenth century was about appealing to veterans as voters.  To give just one example, in 1890 James Tanner was appointed to head the Pension Bureau and promptly promised to “drive a six-mule team through the Treasury.”  As a result of the intense competition for the veteran vote, five GAR members became president and benefits were showered on veterans to the point where such benefits constituted a third to forty percent of the federal budget.

The extensive benefits for the Civil War veterans were ultimately extended even further to all veterans, regardless of length of service or disability.  Moreover, such benefits payments did not peak until 1913.  Not by coincidence, that was the same year that the Sixteenth Amendment was passed to create the federal income tax, because passing Prohibition was financially impossible without a substitute for alcohol taxes to fund Civil War pensions. 

When did we finally finish paying Civil War benefits?  That is a trick question.  In 2013, there is still one dependent alive and collecting benefits.  A few months ago, it was still two.  (Think of it as a Rule Against Perpetuities problem:  A fertile octogenarian veteran marries a young bride and has a child who is still alive 150 years after the war began.)  However, in this regard, the Civil War is typical.  Veterans benefits typically do not peak until forty to fifty years after each conflict, and continue to be paid well more than a century after each war is over. 

So when will benefits for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans peak?  History suggests it will be around 2060.

Tomorrow:  The Twentieth Century