It's sort of odd that Americans remember Valley Forge. Given its high profile, one might think it was the site of a major battle. Yet it wasn’t.
We may think we remember it because of the hardships troops faced in the winter encampment. In truth, while disease was rampant, it is likely that no one at Valley Forge starved or froze. It was not even the army’s harshest winter.
The reason I believe we remember Valley Forge is because it is where American troops became a professional army and unified fighting force. This transformation was due in large part, not to Washington or even an American, but to a foreigner named Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Steuben.
Von Steuben is one of a handful of foreigners who played essential roles in the war for American independence. But an overlooked contribution of von Steuben’s is the outsider's perspective he brought to American exceptionalism. Because men like von Steuben were outsiders, they could hold up a mirror and allow Americans to see themselves clearly. A journal entry from von Steuben’s time at Valley Forge provides one such insight.
“In Europe, you say to your soldier, ‘Do this, and he does it,” Steuben wrote. “But I am obliged to say to the American, ‘This is why you ought to do this’ and then he does it.”
Von Steuben cut his teeth in the Prussian army of Frederick the Great. This was one of the most draconian and efficient armies of the 18th century. There was no explanation given for orders. They were simply followed.
Americans, however, needed a why before they accepted an ought – and often still do. It is not that we don't follow orders. But Americans have inherited from our forefathers an enduring sense of reason and purpose. Americans believe in their bones that the world is ordered by the natural law of the Creator.
Before I march that way or shoot this way, I need to be shown that this is going to help me accomplish my purpose, my goal. Von Steuben had to explain how the things he was asking of his men would result in victories on the battlefield and the success of the American Revolution.
Von Steuben's true genius was learning to corral the American spirit and direct it toward a common goal. Americans are a fiercely independent lot by nature. It has never been an easy thing to get all of us to work together, a fact evidenced even today as we witness the polarization in our country. But before we panic about today’s polarization, we should remember that the men who won our independence on the battlefield were not so different.
I can think of lots of “oughts” I’d give to the American people. We ought to be more neighborly. We ought to go to church more regularly. We ought to be brave enough to give others the benefit of the doubt.
And in our public discourse, it can feel like both sides of the political aisle lob lots of oughts at one another. We ought to respect pronouns. We ought to protect the life of the unborn. We ought to have a robust civics education, or we ought to overemphasize the failure of our past in history class.
Yet we would do well to remember the lesson learned by a Prussian aristocrat as he drilled the American army into existence. We've never been a people who accept “oughts” without a good “why.”
Might we do more good for our country if we spent more time talking about why America is worth protecting before lobbing oughts? It's worked before.
We were once a ragtag group of state militia, but with a good why and a common cause of victory and independence, we became a professional army that took on the most powerful empire on the planet and won. What might we become today, with a good why?
Elijah Newcomb is a Birmingham resident and graduate of Auburn University and Beeson Divinity School at Samford University. He will matriculate at the University of Alabama School of Law this fall, where he hopes to further his interest in religion, law, and public life, with a particular focus on protecting Christian values in the public square.
