Washington's Farewell Address: Main Idea
Washington's Farewell Address: Main Idea
Washington breaks it down pretty clearly:
1) I'm outta here (thank goodness).
2) Don't let political parties be a thing.
3) Don't pick favorites when it comes to other countries.
This speech represents Washington's parting words of advice to an audience he's not really sure is going to listen. He claims that he's not that great, but he really tried. Then, he tries to get people to behave morally in politics instead of letting a lot of infighting cause problems.
Well, you can't say he didn't warn…everyone.
Questions
- Why do you think Washington uses his farewell address to talk about things rather than just say "farewell"?
- Do you think it was better for Washington to publish the speech like he did, or would it have been more effective spoken aloud? Why?
- Do you see any connections between Washington's main points, or do they feel like totally independent thoughts?
- If you were Washington presenting this address in 1796, which of the main points would be most important?
Chew On This
Washington made sure to squeeze in a lot of advice in his goodbye speech because he really isn't confident about the direction the country is going.
Washington published the speech instead of delivering it to Congress because the more people you spread advice to, the better the likelihood that someone will listen to you.
Quotes
Quote #1
[...] I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made. […] I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. (1.1, 3.2)
Washington makes it pretty clear that not only is he stepping down from the presidency, but he didn't really want to be there in the first place. He really didn't want to come out of retirement for this. (Do they ever?) We can't forget that this is his farewell address—so the part about him leaving is actually kind of important.
Quote #2
The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you. It is justly so, for it is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, […] of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth; […] it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness. (9.1-3)
Washington talks a lot about not letting the country dissolve into factions, and one of his strategies in emphasizing that idea is to promote a different one: unified central government is better for everyone. Hint, hint. Washington was a Federalist, so he was all about that centralized government, but not everyone was on board.
Quote #3
One of the expedients of party to acquire influence within particular districts is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heartburnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. (15.3)
The history of the United States is filled with regional conflict, which tends to feed into party politics, too. So, when Washington is trying to get everyone to hold hands and act as a team, he does so by trying to get them to put aside their regional rivalries. It was a good effort.
Quote #4
All obstructions to the execution of the laws […] serve to organize faction […] to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests. (17.1-2)
Washington's big problem with "faction," or political parties, is the threat of the will of one group overtaking the will of the people overall. Which is a version of the monarchical system the United States fought so hard to get away from.
Quote #5
[…] history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. […] Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. (35.1, 3)
Remember that the United States was dealing with France and England in the first couple of decades of its existence. France and England were fighting again. (They used to fight a LOT.) The French Revolution threatened the balance of power in Europe, with the whole "republican government" idea in the middle of a bunch of monarchies (source).
The United States was pressured to pick a side.
By 1796, you had the Jeffersonian faction trying to buddy up with France, and the Hamiltonians pushing for an alliance with Britain. Washington doesn't name the countries outright, but he makes it very clear that America shouldn't favor one over the other.