Description
"Invalids and Independence" is a monographic study of Virginia's disabled Revolutionary War veterans. In 1776, the Continental Congress directed the thirteen United States to provide invalid pensions to the young men and boys wounded or stricken ill during the War of Independence. Creating the first entitlement program in U.S. history, Revolutionary War pension legislation prescribed the accommodation of impaired veterans and thereby forcefully shaped their lives. Early U.S. pension laws mandated that claimants present their broken bodies for inspection by state-appointed physicians and that they file affidavits attesting to their inability to work for a living. Assigning discrepant dollar values to claimants' lost limbs, organs, and functionalities, state and federal pension officials constructed a crude actuarial formula that differentiated veterans' bodies on the basis of social class. Drastically increasing or decreasing veterans' awards as a matter of legislative fiat, or terminating veterans' pensions altogether in consequence of bureaucratic malfunction, the Revolutionary War pension administration subjected veterans to unnecessary hardships, even as it endeavored to enhance their wellbeing. It tells the story of Virginia's Revolutionary War veterans and the many challenges they confronted both in thier pursuit of pensions and in their daily lives.
