After Johnny Came Marching Home: The Political Economy of Veterans

1
After Johnny Came Marching Home The Political
Economy of Veterans Benefits in the Nineteenth
Century

• Sung Won Kang
• Samsung Economic Research Institute
• Seoul, Korea
• Katto2_at_naver.com
• Hugh Rockoff (corresponding author)
• Department of Economics Rutgers University and
  NBER
• New Brunswick NJ
• Rockoff_at_Econ.rutgers.edu

2
Table 1. Basic War Statistics Table 1. Basic War Statistics Table 1. Basic War Statistics Table 1. Basic War Statistics 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
3
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

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
(No Transcript)
7
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

8
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

9
(No Transcript)
10
Law of 1832

• No Means Test
• Continental Army and state militias
• Two Years of Service for Maximum Pension

11
(No Transcript)
12
Law of July 4, 1836

• Widows service pension
• Widows of Commissioned officers and enlisted men
• Unprecedented??
• Theda Skocpol expanding franchise
• Lee Craig recruiting
  
• Large surpluses

13
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

14
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

15
(No Transcript)
16
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"

17
Mexican War

• 1887 39 years
• Republican opposition no pensions for
  Confederates
• Budget is in surplus

18
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

19
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.

20
(No Transcript)
21
Conclusions

• Path dependent process
• Public Attitudes towards the war??
• State of the Treasury