The ‘Deepest Piece of Cunning’

In May 1783, the officers of the Continental Army of the United
States of America organized themselves into the Society of the
Cincinnati. Soon after, the veterans organization became the focus
of an elaborate conspiracy theory which falsely accused the
officers of trying to establish a hereditary nobility and subvert
the young republic. Over the course of the mid-1780s, prominent
revolutionary politicans such as John Adams and Elbridge Gerry
joined in the outcry. The conspiracy theory became a major
political controversy, and even impeded efforts to reform the
Articles of Confederation. However, despite their frantic tone and
lack of a factual basis, the accusations were not merely a fringe
phenomenon created by political crackpots. Instead, the conspiracy
theory was deeply embedded in American political culture. When the
political and economic problems of the 1780s threatened to disrupt
the republican experiment, many revolutionaries looked for a threat
that might explain the crisis. They found that threat in the
Cincinnati, whose military background, federal organization, and
aristocratic trappings made them suspect.