Changes

[[Image:VonSteuben.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, German volunteer general]]       

[[Image:VonSteuben.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, German volunteer general]]       

Washington had the major voice in selecting generals for command, and in planning their basic strategy. His achievements were mixed, as some of his favorites (like John Sullivan) never mastered the art of command. Eventually he found men who got the job done, like Nathaniel Greene. The American officers never equaled their opponents in tactics and maneuver, and consequently they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes, at Saratoga and Yorktown, came from trapping the British far from base with much larger numbers of troops. Third, and most important, Washington was the embodiment of armed resistance to the Crown--the representative man of the Revolution. His enormous stature and political skills kept Congress, the army, the French, the militias, and the states all pointed toward a common goal. By voluntarily stepping down and disbanding his army when the war was won, he permanently established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs. And yet his constant reiteration of the point that well-disciplined professional soldiers counted for twice as much as erratic amateurs helped overcome the ideological distrust of a standing army. There was unanimous sentiment that he had to be the first president when the first election took place in 1788.  

Washington had the major voice in selecting generals for command, and in planning their basic strategy. His achievements were mixed, as some of his favourites (like John Sullivan) never mastered the art of command. Eventually he found men who got the job done, like Nathaniel Greene. The American officers never equaled their opponents in tactics and maneuver, and consequently they lost most of the pitched battles. The great successes, at Saratoga and Yorktown, came from trapping the British far from base with much larger numbers of troops. Third, and most important, Washington was the embodiment of armed resistance to the Crown--the representative man of the Revolution. His enormous stature and political skills kept Congress, the army, the French, the militias, and the states all pointed toward a common goal. By voluntarily stepping down and disbanding his army when the war was won, he permanently established the principle of civilian supremacy in military affairs. And yet his constant reiteration of the point that well-disciplined professional soldiers counted for twice as much as erratic amateurs helped overcome the ideological distrust of a standing army. There was unanimous sentiment that he had to be the first president when the first election took place in 1788.

===The Continental Army===

===The Continental Army===