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What does The Farwell Address tell us about Washington’s vision for the United States?

Quite possibly one of the most eloquent farewell addresses written, Washington’s final Address to the American people encompasses his triumphs, hopes, and vision for the country. This speech is full of sincere advice for the country’s direction. Yet, simultaneously, he is genuinely concerned with what people will think of his administration and assures them he took the actions he did with the best intentions for their future prosperity. It is a mini treatise on statesmanship.

First, Washington informs the reader that the speech is grounded in his true feelings rather than political cautiousness. It is because he has nothing ahead of him that prevents him from revealing his true feelings on individual and collective happiness, which are manifestly tied to unity in government. This is because he has “declined being considered among the number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made” regarding the presidential election 1796. He further states that what unites us is our government and our love for liberty and freedom. To preserve that liberty and independence, we must “cherish a cordial, habitual and immoveable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity…” For if we do not, there are plenty of people “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….” He says we must be careful and aware of those who would subvert liberty and freedom for the country.

This is our common cause as Americans because while we are citizens by birth or choice, we must always exhibit “the just pride of Patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.” His intent in writing this is that we might have sectional differences, which should not override the fact that we are Americans, which is suitable for everyone. In other words, we must be wise, prudent, educate ourselves, and act prudently because self-government and freedom are hard to keep and easy to lose. Some of this is because humans will find the interests closest to them to be the most important rather than looking at the country as a whole. In the speech, he describes the differences between the North and the South and how, even though we have these differences, we must work together because it benefits everyone. It is a Hobbesian state of nature where everyone is at War with one another because we are pursuing our interests, and to pursue that personal interest, we must see the whole and how each part of the country benefits from the other.

This emphasizes individual interests and not group interests. Washington is telling us that we have consented to leave a state of nature where no government exists out of necessity because an individual can no longer protect their natural rights and need help from others. It is not collectiveness but a need to secure the individual’s rights, and others have consented to this idea to form a civil society. For our country, it was a universal consent, not a majority rule forced upon us by an individual, but we all decided this. We cannot be deprived of our interests. Still, it is natural that like-minded people come together in a faction and then move into political parties to secure their interests. While there were no actual political parties, de facto parties such as the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists debated how the Constitution was intended to govern the country.

Washington had a perfect sense of interest and factions because he didn’t piddle around in it but had a greater sphere of action and could see everything (per se) rather than a small fraction of the whole sphere. We can compare this to how a quarterback can see the full view of the football field before throwing the ball. This is what made him successful. But he doesn’t just focus on factions but warns us about the dangers of political parties when there is no opposing view to counteract it. He warns that without opposing views, a single party or faction can take over and impose tyranny on the people. While factions are needed to a certain extent, they can be dangerous because factions can and will encourage oppression. While it is natural to pursue an interest and form factions with others who have the same interest, we cannot let them get out of control and take over because it results in the end game of oppression. He, of course, has read Federalist 10 and understands the necessity of factions but warns the people against them.

He continues to preach many things in this Address that are universal and based on logic and reason, such as the spirit and innovation of the Constitution. He believes they had elevated the human condition and demanded that humans become serious beings and live up to their potential, encompassing what was right and wrong with the world. It was not the I am what I am like in the old days or back in Europe with the aristocracy, but I will be what I can achieve. You do this by not limiting yourself, talking to each other, and becoming educated. He was keen on the idea that education frees you from the banal, silly, and ridiculous circumstances that one can find oneself in, and you, as an individual, can elevate yourself to equality.

He spent a great deal of time speaking of parties/factions and the individual, but he also touched on something that many have ignored, especially since World War II, which is to be careful with foreign nations. In this section, there was a passage that caught my attention where Washington states:

In executing such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded; in place of them, just and amicable feelings toward all should be cultivated. The Nation that indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is, to some degree, a slave.

He isn’t talking about not having alliances but not having permanent alliances because it makes you less independent and more dependent on that Nation. Additionally, you cannot trust them because they are in the habit of changing regimes with a good chance of implementing one that may or may not honor your treaties. Washington would have been against Most Favored Nation status being given to a country because of the imbalance it can create. We see his wise warnings about China – we now have a tremendous trade imbalance. Still, his warnings ring true with other treaties such as NAFTA, where we again see a trade imbalance that makes us more dependent on other nations economically and less independent to a certain degree.

Washington then begins talking about economics and various other issues before ending the Address regarding neutrality and a review of his administration. He makes no apologies for neutrality and reasons that it has allowed us to “endeavor to gain time to our own country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption, to that degree of strengths and consistency, which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its fortunes.” In other words, we are not yet at a point where we can become involved in other countries’ issues, and based on his previous statements regarding caution against favoring nations, it is best to work on ourselves.

Finally, Washington concludes the essay by noting that he did nothing with malice. It hopes that history will view him favorably in that his work was done for the people and those items that were mistakes based on incompetence would be discarded to the dustbin of history and that he will revere retirement but that the citizens of the United States will always be in his heart.

It is worth noting that this speech is not often taught in school and not in high school anymore, where U.S. History classes only begin post-Civil War rather than pre-Jamestown. What a huge loss for our students and our country to be deprived of learning this and other significant historical and political works of our country. Without this knowledge and education, how can we continue to be the beacon of the free world?