George Washington's Farewell Address

George Washington's Farewell Address was written to the people of the United States at the end of Washington's second term as President of the United States. It appeared in many American newspapers on September 19, 1796. Technically speaking, it was not an address, but an open letter to the public published in the form of a speech. Washington's fellow Americans gave it the title of "Farewell Address" to recognize it as the President's valedictory to public service for the new republic.

In 1792, Washington was prepared to retire after one term as President of the United States. To that end, Washington, with James Madison, wrote a farewell address to the public of the United States of America.^[1] Faced with the unanimous desire for him to remain in office from his Cabinet, Washington agreed to stand for another term. In 1796, Washington refused a third term. Starting with his 1792 draft, Washington rewrote the text to better fit the problems that were emerging in the new political landscape. He had much help from Alexander Hamilton, and some passages do sound like Hamilton's writing, but all the key ideas were those of Washington.

Outline

paragraph	topic
1-7	Impending retirement from public life
8-18	Importance of unity, danger of factions, authority of the Constitution
19	Strict construction of the Constitution
20-25	Danger of political parties
26	Checks and balances, strict construction of the Constitution
27-28	Religion and morality
29	Education
30	Sparing use of government borrowing
31-42	Foreign relations, avoiding permanent foreign alliances
43-44	Closing thoughts
45-49	American neutrality in European war
50-51	More closing thoughts

Major Themes

Political factionalism

There were three notable themes from the speech. The first theme warned about what Washington saw as a potentially harmful political factionalism in the country. He urged Americans to unite for the good of the whole country. Two political factions had developed into political parties in the early 1790s: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans. The Federalists, and Washington himself, backed Hamilton's plan for a central bank and other strong central economic plans based on manufacturing. The Democratic-Republicans opposed the strong government inherent in the Hamiltonian plan and favored farmers as opposed to city people. Washington foresaw that this political polarization would play significantly in the new government, as these two emerging parties attempted to guide the nation and shape it to correspond with their thought.

Foreign alliances

The second theme was a warning to the nation to avoid permanent foreign alliances, particularly in Europe. Both parties wanted to stay out of the wars between France and Britain. The Federalists favored stronger ties with the British, while the Republicans insisted on adhering to the Treaty of Alliance the U.S. had already signed with France in 1778.

Religion and Morality

The third theme was religion and morality, which he called "indispensable supports" of political prosperity. He called morality "a necessary spring of popular government," and stated:

Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

Legacy

The Address was used as a benchmark with which to judge the two-party political structure, foreign affairs, and national morality. It was invariably cited whenever an alliance was discussed. Not until 1949, with the signing of the treaty that established NATO, did the United States again enter into a permanent treaty of military alliance.

Early in 1888—the centennial year of the Constitution’s ratification—the Senate recalled the ceremony of 1863 and had its presiding officer read the Address on February 22. Within a few years, the Senate made the practice an annual event.^[2]