Benedict Arnold: A Minority Report

Traitor? Oath-breaker? Or Pragmatic Patriot? 

(I know you are, but what am I?)

Benedict Arnold: A Minority Report

Benedict Arnold started out his service as a Captain in the Connecticut militia, before being commissioned into the Continental Army, sent to invade Quebec and then later assigned by George Washington take command of the army in Rhode Island.
Due to political manoeuvrings in Philadelphia, much of which had nothing to do with him, he was passed over for promotion in favour of some less talented and experienced officers with friends in Congress and, as was customary, resigned his commission, which was refused by Washington, who was aware of what was going on.
One of the people who he was passed over for was a French mercenary, who was commissioned as a Major General in his place.
This, and other subsequent events, including several attempts to court martial him on dubious charges led him to conclude that Congress and it's politicking were a danger to America, to his country and to his countrymen.
His grievances were, amongst other things, "no gentleman who has any regard for his reputation will risk it with a body of men who seem to be governed by whim and caprice" and that he felt "the unmerited injury my countrymen have done me.".
His complaints were acknowledged by Washington and others in a position to know, so were not without merit.
Arnold swore and affirmed the first ever version of the Oath of Allegiance in 1778, which is here:-
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Benedict_Arnold_oath_of_allegiance.jpg
He solemnly swore to his belief that he considered the United States to be a free and soverign nation, owing no alleigences or acknowleding no authority to the Crown, which had (in accordance with the Declaration of Independence) forfeited it's authortity by virtue of it's actions and policy towards the colonies.
He did NOT swear allegiance to the Congress or to the Presidency and the Commander-in-Chief and her certainly did not swear to uphold the Constitution, partly since that is neither mentioned nor implicit in the text of the oath he swore, but mainly because it didn't actually exist yet, as such.
Arnold never swore an oath pledging his loyalty to the British Crown (prior to this), he was never commissioned into the British Army or enlisted in it.
This oath merely commits him to persevering the US as a sovereign nation not subject to British colonial rule or authority. Doesn't make any mention of what individuals or bodies he considers to be the legitimate power within the 13 colonies at that time.
Were you to have asked him directly, he would almost certainly have said "The States", given the wording of the oath, and that was certainly the expectation. It certainly wasn't the Congress, and the Tenth Amendment wasn't even drafted yet.
So, if he considers Congress to be a threat to the independence and soveringty of the various states and a usurper of power in just the way the Crown previously had been, you start the way that in his mind this becomes very much a "Is the enemy of my enemy my friend?" calculation for him, strategically.
When Hitler's occupying Paris and advancing at top speed through the Caucuses towards Minsk, an alliance with Stalin becomes expedient, even if it's never actually palatable.
Did Arnold breath his oath when he switched armies? Questionably, but I would argue probably not really, given the subsequent importance States Rights issued assumed in subsequent decades.
But George Washington (along with most of his officer corps) most certainly DID violate his oath.
Washington HAS been in the British Army and HAD sworn his personal alleigance to the British Crown, committed to lay down his life in the service of his King and Country.
Obviously, you can argue that he had good and valid personal reasons for doing so, and all of American History from Page 1 is predicated on the notion that he did, he absoultely did, no question, no doubt about it whatsoever...
Sic Semper Tyrannis, and all of that, after all.
No matter how good and noble a reason he may have had, his reason for violating his oath essentially always just reduces all the way down to "I just decided I wanted to, so I did."
Or "I just felt like it".
So, while Benedict Arnold MAY have broken his oath and turned traitor (but probably not), George Washington and his officer corps of turncoats certainly WERE traitors and oathbreakers, did so consciously and knowingly and turned their backs on their country en masse (considering themselves as British Americans or British people settled in America) and committed mass treason against their (ostensibly) rightful King.
Kinda puts that whole "I cannot tell a lie" Cherry tree bit into perspective, that's for sure...
Meanwhile, Arnold may in fact have been the first ever Tea Partier. Who knew?
And also never signed a piece of paper declaring it to be "self-evident that all men are created equal" whilst owning a couple of dozen of his fellow "equal" men and women as his own private, personal property and not seeing a problem with the contradiction.