An Analysis of George Washington's Farewell Address

In this chapter, Joseph J. Ellis tells us about how George Washington’s retirement for being the president. He thinks that it was a good thing because there was no sign of failure and everything got stronger and they were ready for what the future held for the nation. George Washington knew that, from his powerful influence, the country was going to be strong because of the two years he served as president. Joseph J. Ellis also looks at how George Washington’s bad health and his hate towards the press criticism influenced the decision. Then, in the end, the chapter concludes with Washington’s Farewell Address and the discussion of the major points in the text.

United States of America, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika in the language of the Germans but Amerika Yhdysvallat in the Finnish tongue, is home too many diverse races and even more conflicts, the U.S has been host too many great adventures. You’ve experienced America in your own way but wish to learn more about its story, well to get to the heart of the story you have to go back to the beginning. After two terms as POTUS (President of the United States), George Washington was ready to depart his nation and not be President again. Washington announced this drastic news in his address (which would later go on to be called the Farewell Address). This news worried many Americans because they didn’t know how the U.S was to remain successful and prosper in the future. As Washington read more of his address, the

An analysis of George Washington’s Farewell Address shows that there were three points he wanted to stress. The points being his decision not to be considered for a 3rd term, his advice to the country to stand united, and his advice to the future leaders of the country concerning foreign policy.

This document is a piece of George Washington’s final public address/speech as president in 1776.

George Washington played a large role in America’s history by being the first president of the United States of America for two terms starting in 1789 to September 19,1786, however it was not technically over until 1787. He changed the ways in which the Americans lived through events such as the ratification of the Constitution, moving the capitol, and the signing of the Jay treaty, but especially through his farewell address. Toward the end of his presidency in 1796, George Washington's farewell address managed to lead America into a path of patriotic union with one another and neutrality with other countries for trade and less violence. Washington wrote this 32 paged address to inform the citizens of his leave from presidency and to ultimately get them to think about who they want as head of Congress in America after he is gone. Although Washington wrote this address himself, his ideas were shared with Alexander Hamilton before they were actually published (ourdouments.org) making it a team effort, one of many reasons to prove the fact that the most successful events in America were able to happen because of the unity of its people. The document clearly states the end of his presidency but the beginning of a whole new chapter for America.

Many people know George Washington as the first president of the United States but most don’t know the real George Washington aside from that. George was born into a family that consisted of a mother, a father and his nine other siblings. When Washington was 11 years old his father died and was put in the care of his half brother Lawrence.

The nation’s unity is what holds America together as a country and is what gives this nation its infamous independence, safety, and happiness. For instance, if unity, the main pillar of the U.S., was taken away, everything would collapse, including the government. George Washington states, “The unity of government...is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independance…”(pg. 2). The unity of the nation is what is holding up the country- the main pillar. Americas independence as a nation is built using the unity of the government. If America wanted to maintain unity, all three branches, and the people of the nation, would have to work together as one. As George Washington says in his farewell address, he cares for and wants to enhance our felicity as a people. To maintain a healthy welfare, the country must terminate and look out for all chances of

George Washington’s belief in singular national unity was not just an abstract ideal built without fundamental understanding. It was a pragmatic understanding erected on a clear unifying belief, that in order to maintain a nation to build a singular belief in country; it needed a singular belief in purpose. In his Address, Washington stated:

The Farewell Address embodied Washington’s political principles and hopes for the United States, a newly developed nation, to grow strong and remain independent. He stressed the importance of national unity. Despite the confidence Washington had for his country to continue to thrive without his leadership, he felt obligated to forewarn the American people and future generations the greatest dangers, or threats, to the United States. Washington believed threats such as political parties, and associations with foreign alliances could weaken the nation. Today, it is believed that the Farewell Address is a prophetic warning for contemporary politics.

One thing Washington talked about in his Address was unity and sectionalism. He argued that it was

Another focus Washington included in his farewell address was his strong support for religion and morality. Washington touched upon explaining how morality cannot be achieved without religion thus proclaiming the importance of religion. He proceeded to talk about how morality was the key to electing popular candidates running for government and if religion is not emphasized in the union, morality is hard to attain which corrupts government. Another main focus Washington promoted was how political parties should be repressed. He felt that the political parties tend to get out of hand in competing with each other and thus cause distractions in the government. The concern he showed was strongly toward the Republican-Democratic Party and the Federalist Party.

One of Washington’s major points is staying out of Europe’s wars and conflicts. Washington believed that we should not follow through with the strong isolationistic beliefs up to the first war. It only occurred during the World War II that we had gotten away from it. To avoid partisanship, Washington didn’t even want the political parties to follow us at all; obviously we did indeed have two strong political parties, which neither completed its responsibilities and had the encouragement of determination to solve the serious issues that shouldn’t have been about the political parties that most had belong or involved in that don’t actually know anything or about the politics of what both parties were doing.

In George Washington 's Farewell Address, Washington warns against the dangers of political factions by stating, “it occurs as matter of serious concern that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and views” (Washington). However, despite American leaders such as George Washington and James Madison warning of factionalism, the country would be divided by political parties arising out of the Northern and Southern states of the union. By the time Walt Whitman wrote “Songs of Myself” in 1855, tensions in the United States created by factionalism were at a high and were constantly elevating. In writing “Songs of Myself”, Whitman sought to help mend some of the wounds created by factionalism by seeking to bring together Americans whom factionalism had rendered alien to one another and by teaching to believe in oneself rather than the beliefs of political parties.

“Washington’s Farewell Address” is a compelling and inspiring speech that lifts the spirits of Americans while George Washington rejects taking a third term as President of the United States. This speech was never spoken to an audience, however, the speech was published in the American Daily Advertiser newspaper. This speech was created by George Washington, but James Madison and Alexander Hamilton helped Washington edit the document. It took George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton 5 years to publish the speech. The speech was finally published in 1796.

George Washington wrote a farewell speech in 1796, marking the retirement of his leadership of the United States of America. He published his goodbye, titled his “Farewell Address,” in many papers. The long, revised copy of his speech, originally intended to be read at the end of his first term, tells of how he wanted to retire four years previous, but how he had been begged to stay on. He states that he never considered himself to be worthy of leading the