After Johnny Came Marching Home: The Political Economy of Veterans’ Benefits in the Nineteenth Century

Sung Won KangSamsung Economic Research InstituteSeoul, KoreaKatto2@naver.com

Hugh Rockoff (corresponding author)Department of Economics Rutgers University and NBERNew Brunswick NJRockoff@Econ.rutgers.edu

Table 1. Basic War Statistics

War American Revolution

War of 1812 Mexican War Civil War(Union)

(1) Start 1775 1812 1846 1861

(2) End 1783 1815 1849 1865

(3) Number Serving 217,000a 286,730 78,718 2,213,363

(4) Number Serving as a Percent of the Population 8.81 3.71 0.37 6.84b

(5) Battle Deaths per 1000 20.4 7.9 22.0 63.4

(6) Casualties per 1000  n.a.  n.a. 221.5 292.0

(7) Start of a Service Pension 1818 1871 1887 1890

(8) Service pensions (per capita, $1860, discounted at 6%)

$12.59 $2.52 $24.35 $104.87

aThe exact number is not known. This is the midpoint of figures frequently used by the Department of Defense.bThe figure is 10.09 percent if the 1,050,000 estimated Confederate soldiers is added.Sources by Row. (1-6): Historical Statistics 2006, Table Ed1-5. (7): See narrative sections 3-6. (8): Authors' calculation based on Table A2 and Historical Statistics 2006, Series Ed327.

Determinants of Benefits

• The Previous History of Benefits

• Secular Changes in Wealth

• The Number of Veterans

• The Effectiveness of Veterans’ Organizations

• Public Attitudes Toward the War

• State of the Federal Treasury

Present Value of Service Pensions (1860 $s)

$0

$10

$20

$30

$40

$50

$60

$70

$80

$90

$100

Revolution W ar of 1812 Mexican W ar

Six Percent Three Percent

Standard Annual Pension, Non-Commissioned Officers and Privates, 1818-1916

$0.00

$50.00

$100.00

$150.00

$200.00

$250.00

1818

1821

1824

1827

1830

1833

1836

1839

1842

1845

1848

1851

1854

1857

1860

1863

1866

1869

1872

1875

1878

1881

1884

1887

1890

1893

1896

1899

1902

1905

1908

1911

1914

Nominal Constant Prices Constant Wages of Unskilled Labor

Present Value of Old-Age Cash Pensions, Three Antebellum Wars, Notional Veteran

$0.00

$200.00

$400.00

$600.00

$800.00

$1,000.00

$1,200.00

$1,400.00

$1,600.00

Revolution War of 1812 Mexican War

1919

do

llar

s

Six Percent Three Percent

The Revolutionary War Pensions for officers

• Colonial Precedents

• The “Newburgh Conspiracy” – half pay for life?

• Bonds – Full pay – 5 years

• Society of the Cincinnati

• 1818 $20 per month. Officers in “reduced circumstances”

• 1828 full pay for life

Revolutionary War Cash Pensions for Enlisted Men

• Unprecedented??

• Large Surpluses after War of 1812

• Image of the suffering soldier

• Law of 1818

• Officers and enlisted men in “reduced circumstances”

Service Pensions for Veterans of the Revolution, 1816-1824

-$5,000,000

$0

$5,000,000

$10,000,000

$15,000,000

$20,000,000

1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824

Total Pensions Compensation Surplus

Impact of theLaw of 1818

Law of 1832

• No Means Test

• Continental Army and state militias

• Two Years of Service for Maximum Pension

Pensions and the Surplus, 1830-39

-$15,000,000

-$10,000,000

-$5,000,000

$0

$5,000,000

$10,000,000

$15,000,000

$20,000,000

$25,000,000

1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839

Total expenditures Act of 1832 Surplus

Law of July 4, 1836

• Widow’s service pension

• Widows of Commissioned officers and enlisted men

• Unprecedented??

• Theda Skocpol – expanding franchise

• Lee Craig – recruiting

• Large surpluses

Land grants

• Colonial Tradition

• Large grants to officers and men of the Revolution

• General Horatio Gates – 31,000 acres, Va

• States make grants before ceding land to the Federal Government

Land grants

• Smaller grants to War of 1812 soldiers. Nothing for militias

• Grants to soldiers in the Mexican War

• Old Soldiers Act of 1855 grants land to the veterans of the War of 1812

Land Bounties in Three Antebellum Wars, Acres per Veteran

0.0

25.0

50.0

75.0

100.0

125.0

150.0

175.0

200.0

Revolution War of 1812 Mexican War

Acr

es p

er V

eter

an

Grants made to Veterans of the War of 1812 after the Mexican War

War of 1812 Service Pensions

• 1871 – 56 years after the end of the war• 1878 – liberalized – two weeks service• "The [officers in the War of 1812] …

exhibited the same valor and love of liberty [as the officers in the Revolution], and, although they may not as a body have suffered as much, yet their zeal was not less, nor their exertions less meritorious or successful"

Mexican War

• 1887 – 39 years

• Republican opposition – no pensions for Confederates

• Budget is in surplus

Civil War Pension

• The Arrears Act of 1879

• The Dependent Pensions Act of 1890

• Explicit link with the budget

• High protective tariff + generous pension benefits

Republican Party Platform 1888

• The legislation of Congress should conform to the pledges made by a loyal people and be so enlarged and extended as to provide against the possibility that any man who honorably wore the Federal uniform shall become the inmate of an almshouse, or dependent upon private charity. In the presence of an overflowing treasury [my italics] it would be a public scandal to do less for those whose valorous service preserved the government.

• In support of the principles herewith enunciated we invite the co-operation of patriotic men of all parties, and especially of all workingmen, whose prosperity is seriously threatened by the free-trade policy of the present Administration.

Conclusions

• Path dependent process

• Public Attitudes towards the war??

• State of the Treasury