Washington's Farewell Address

George Washington, who had been reelected in 1792 by an overwhelming majority, refused to run for a third term, thus setting a precedent for future presidents. His Farewell Address, a letter written near the end of his second term to "The People of the United States of America," announced his intention to decline a third term and reflected on the emerging issues of the American political landscape in 1796. In his address, Washington also expressed his support for the government (eight years after the adoption of the Constitution), defended his administration's record, and gave valedictory advice to the American people. 

Issues Addressed

Public Morality

Washington's Farewell Address became a classic statement of republican principles (such as education and religion) and public morality. Washington argued that religious values promoted the protection of private property, harmony, and public happiness, which he viewed as the foundations of a just body politic. Furthermore, Washington warned Americans of the political dangers they should avoid in order to remain true to their values. 

Unity and Sectionalism

Washington posited that the American people's independence, safety, prosperity, and liberty, as well as peace at home and abroad, were dependent upon the unity between the states. Washington pointed to two treaties acquired by his administration—Jay's Treaty and Pinckney's Treaty—as models of the benefits of unity. These treaties established the borders of the United States' southern and western territories and secured the rights of western farmers to ship goods along the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Specifically, Washington argued that these treaties were proof that a united federal government would act in the best interests of the American people and could only gain fair concessions from foreign countries as a united nation.

The Farewell Address also proclaimed Washington's support for the new constitutional government, calling it an improvement on the nation's original attempt in the Articles of Confederation. In particular, he lauded the system of checks and balances and the separation of federal powers as important means of preventing a single person or group from seizing control of the country. He reminded Americans that although they had the right to alter the government to meet their needs, they only should do so through constitutional amendments. He argued that violent takeovers and rebellions should be avoided at all costs; he believed it was the duty of every member of the republic to follow the Constitution and submit to the laws of the constitutional government until it was constitutionally amended by the majority of the American people.

Foreign Relations and Free Trade

Perhaps the most seminal piece of advice in Washington's Farewell Address was one that dealt with foreign policy. He vehemently emphasized his belief that permanent foreign entanglements were to be avoided at all costs. Drawing on the bitter divide between Federalists and Democratic-Republicans that occurred during the conflict between Britain and France, Washington defended his Proclamation of Neutrality, which kept the United States from entering the revolutionary wars on the side of France, despite the Treaty of Alliance of the 1770s.

Washington argued that permanent entanglements, such as the Treaty of Alliance, created unreasonable attachments to—and animosities toward—nations that eventually would render governments impotent in determining the course of their own foreign policies. Although temporary foreign alliances might be necessary in times of extreme danger, Washington believed that permanent entanglements would only draw the United States into wars that had no justification and no purpose beyond simply defending other favored nations.

Furthermore, he argued that unlike the political systems of Europe, the republican nature of the United States was a political structure that required unilateralism (independent action in foreign affairs) because American leaders were responsible to the will of the people. Leaders, therefore, needed to be free of foreign entanglements to make decisions based upon the needs of their constituents rather than those of their European allies. Free trade with all nations would instead establish the links needed to maintain friendly relationships with foreign nations, and this trade would reinforce the world economic system. By remaining isolated from foreign conflicts, the United States would therefore be free to develop its own economy and expand within its own borders.

Legacy

To this day, Washington's Farewell Address is considered to be a fundamental document in American history and still speaks to some of the difficulties that the United States faces in the twenty-first century, such as problematic foreign alliances and wars and escalating deficits in the national budget. Federalists lauded the Farewell Address as an attack on Democratic-Republicans, while Jeffersonians drew upon Washington's support of western expansion with the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 and used the Farewell Address to justify the trade embargo against Great Britain in 1806.

George Washington's Farewell Address

The text of Washington's Farewell Address (September 19, 1796)