Washington's Farewell Address: Resources

The creator of the webcomic xkcd went through Washington's farewell address and rewrote it as if someone were just casually saying it today. Or rather, in 2007, when he did this. We all know speech has changed significantly since 2007, so keep that in mind.

Washington's home and plantation is a historic site you can still visit if you're in the Washington area. The website actually has a lot of fun and interesting information about Washington, his family, and his relationships with other major figures from the colonial period.

The Library of Congress puts together these nifty collections of primary sources for a lot of major texts and events throughout American history—in case you want to see some other primary sources from the time that are somehow related to the original text you're looking at.

Speaking of the Library of Congress, it has a whole bunch of primary sources from or directly related to George Washington.

The vast majority of movies about George Washington are about the Revolutionary War. This '80s TV movie deals with the time he actually spent as president.

This epic miniseries is, yes, technically about John Adams, but he was heavily involved with the early-American government, and the series delves into the rise of party politics during Washington's presidency. Check out the episode "Unite or Die" for the most relevant stuff.

The Smithsonian Channel put together a documentary about Washington in relation to the famous Gilbert Stuart painting that we all know and love.

Ron Chernow is a well-respected writer who literally wrote the books on Washington and Hamilton. In fact, Hamilton: An American Musical is based on his biography of Hamilton. This short interview is about Washington the man and includes his relationships with family and friends.

David McCullough is another one of the big names in the history world. The title pretty much says it all, but here he discusses why we still need to study Washington and his career, stressing how incredible it is that Washington gave up his power willingly.

Avlon wrote a book about Washington's farewell address, and here, The Daily Show host talks to the author about Washington giving up power, the significance of the farewell address in the history of American politics, and why it predicted today's politics so well.

This review of the major themes and history of the farewell address includes a lot of hand-drawn cartoons (literally).

It's an annual tradition for a senator to read Washington's farewell address on the first president's birthday every year. Skip to the two-minute mark to watch the 1994 reading, complete with awesome mid-'90s clothing.

Ever wonder what people sounded like in 1913? Well, here's an example from the Library of Congress. It's not the entire speech, just an excerpt from the end.

This famous, full-length portrait of George Washington was completed around the time he published the farewell address.

This 1806 posthumous painting of Hamilton, made after a portrait by another artist, is very similar to the image of Hamilton used to design the $10 bill. That one hangs in New York City Hall and isn't freely available online.

Here's an 1816 portrait of the author of the first farewell address, from when he himself was president.

Washington lived in New York City during his presidency, and here's an engraving of the first presidential mansion on Cherry Street—which was leased from a man named Samuel Osgood.