ABSTRACT
Anticipating war is not the same as being ready to fight it. In the months after Congress named Washington commander-in-chief and formed the rudiments of an army, it created medical and quartermaster departments as well. With no sure source of income, Congress created a Board of War and Ordnance in June 1776, on the eve of independence and the establishment of a nominally national army. When Congress called for the Continental Association back in October 1774, it fully expected provincial conventions, counties, and towns to make exceptions for the importation of war materiel. In September 1775 Congress established a committee to coordinate the purchase of arms abroad, with Benjamin Franklin becoming its most active member. The British and Americans began "secret" negotiations in April 1782. Franklin had divided American aims into two categories: the necessary and the preferred. All of the necessary were achieved, beginning with American independence being acknowledged rather than granted.
