Society of the Cincinnati
Society of the Cincinnati is an American order founded in 1783.
A small group of North American officers led by General of the Continental Army from Prussia , Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben , founded this brotherhood at Steuben's headquarters in Fishkill ( Dutchess County , New York State ) in early May 1783, shortly before the end of the American War of Independence . The background to the foundation of the order was the dissatisfaction of many officers with the care of the soldiers, their widows and orphans .
The Order therefore obliged its high-ranking members, in accordance with the statutes, firstly to "preserve with unremitting attention the rights and freedoms of human nature for which we have fought and bled", and secondly to "promote the happiness of states and the future dignity of the American Empire" and thirdly, “to support especially those officers and their families who are in need of it”. The historian Minor Myers therefore called this order a "mutiny that was transformed into an organization". According to the statutes, personal membership in the order could be passed on to the firstborn.
The badge of the order was an eagle with a gold medallion with the image of Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus , hanging on a blue ribbon as a sign of solidarity with France . The design was originally from Pierre L'Enfant , who served in the Continental Army under Washington. He also ordered the first 45 medals in Paris in 1783 . The motto of the order has always been Omnia reliquit servare rem publicam (in German: he sacrificed everything to serve the republic ).
George Washington became the first President of the Order , since 1775 commander of the Continental Army, although in September 1783 he had kindly declined his request in a letter to Major General Henry Knox on the grounds: “Out of ignorance of my duties I am afraid of missing something harm the club and put me to shame ”. He once again thought of relinquishing the presidency when he became US President in 1789. But in the end Washington remained President of the Order until his death in 1799.
Thomas Jefferson and others criticized the order for fear of the emergence of an American aristocracy because of the imitation of European privileges . The badge, specially made for George Washington and therefore unique, at his express request "elegantly executed in a masterful manner, but not in an overly expensive style", is a gold medal with an eagle in a laurel wreath with an enamelled medallion. This medal, owned by the Marquis de La Fayette from 1824 and therefore also known as the "Washington-Lafayette Cincinnati Medal", was sold at auction house Sotheby’s in. December 11, 2008 at the highest price of 5.3 million US dollars ever achieved for an medal New York City auctioned. A successful bidder was the New York art dealer Christophe van de Weghe , who bought the order on behalf of the “Fondation de Chambrun”, which maintains the Château La Grange near Paris , where the above-mentioned Marquis de La Fayette once lived.
The city of Cincinnati , Ohio, is named after the brotherhood.
literature
- Markus Hünemörder : The Society of the Cincinnati. Conspiracy and Distrust in Early America (European Studies in American History 2). New York / Oxford 2006 (viii, 212 pp.).
- Minor Myers: Liberty without Anarchy: A History of the Society of the Cincinnati. University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville 2004, ISBN 978-0-8139-2311-6 .
- Lisa Zeitz: Law and Freedom in the Name of Cincinnatus. George Washington's noble order is auctioned . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of December 8, 2007.
