57 pages • 1 hour read
George WashingtonGeorge Washington's Farewell Address
Nonfiction | Essay / Speech | Adult | Published in 1796A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Background
Critical Context: The Legacy of Washington’s “Farewell Address”
The “Farewell Address” sealed Washington’s legacy and enshrined his reputation as the ideal citizen of a republic, who serves the public good in a time of need and then returns to private life without seeking personal glory or profit. Washington had already given up his command of the Continental Army at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783, helping to ensure a new government’s emergence through elections rather than force. His voluntary stepping down from the presidency after two terms set a precedent that would remain sacrosanct until Franklin D. Roosevelt sought and won a third and then fourth term. The Constitution would later formalize the two-term limit during the presidency of FDR’s successor Harry Truman.
Washington’s sterling reputation has extended to the “Farewell Address” itself, which is one of the most revered presidential statements in US history. It is frequently upheld as a timeless guide to the proper conduct of government. Its section on foreign policy, advising “as little political connection as possible” with other nations (Paragraph 34), has been quoted most frequently and was a refrain for those who opposed greater US involvement in European affairs between the two world wars. Its warning against “permanent alliances” remains relevant for those skeptical of America’s longstanding ties with countries such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, and South Korea, among many others.
The “Farewell Address” is also held up as a foundational statement of bipartisanship. Since 1893, a senator has read aloud the “Farewell Address” annually on Washington’s birthday, alternating between Republicans and Democrats each year.
Historical Context: Post-Revolution America
The hallowed status of the “Farewell Address” stands in significant contrast with the immediate context of its publication. Although Washington remained personally popular, his administration had sparked considerable public criticism, especially during its second term. Tensions with Britain remained high in the years after the war, especially because Britain severely restricted America’s efforts to develop transatlantic trade, and British forces occupied forts around the Great Lakes despite having ceded that land to the US in the peace treaty ending the war. As tensions brewed, the outbreak of the French Revolution and the collapse of the French monarchy sent shockwaves across Europe. Many Americans looked fondly on the Revolution, seeing its motto of “liberty, equality, brotherhood” as an extension of its own revolt against kingly authority. A new republican government in France carried the added benefit of giving Britain an enemy much closer to home, potentially weakening its position in North America.
Washington and most of his cabinet refused to support France, even though the US had signed a treaty during the Revolutionary War that required it to defend French colonies in the Western Hemisphere against attack. Washington was committed to keeping the US out of a potentially disastrous European war and doubted that France’s chaotic and bloody revolution would actually contribute to The Preservation of Liberty. Washington first declared neutrality, and then dispatched John Jay to negotiate a treaty (later called the Jay Treaty) with Britain to deepen their trade relationship in exchange for a withdrawal from the remaining forts. When the American public was outraged at what they considered a surrender to Britain and a betrayal of France, the dispute accelerated the rise of the two-party system, between Washington and Hamilton’s Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans (the forerunner of today’s Democratic party) under Jefferson. Washington thus makes an appeal to unity precisely because it is a time of profound division.
