George Washington's Farewell Address Analysis

George Washington's farewell address was written in 1796, to inform the people that his time as President of the United States was coming to a close. His intention was to inform the public of his transition out of the public office, and to have the people start thinking of who they wanted to continue on where he left off. The purpose of this paper is to discuss and analyze Washington’s Farewell Address.

In 1796, George Washington, who was known as being one of the greatest leaders in history, wrote an important document to the American people. This document was written to inform and help prevent the Americans from making any mistakes or decisions that could hurt the nation and the people in it. You should know that Washington was extremely sensitive to the importance of public appearance and he used his departure from Presidency to publicize a major final statement of his political ideas. He wrote what would later become his Farewell Address. He wrote this document with the help of James Madison’s in 1792. The Farewell Address to the United Nation was never essentially delivered verbally with words, it was first published

On September 19, 1796, George Washington, the first president of the United States, delivered his farewell address to the American people. In his address, he informed Americans that he would not run for a third term as president, but that he cared about America and would care about America until the day he died. Since he cared, he decided that he would deliver advice for the future on what the American people should and should not do. The advice he gave the American people could have helped them with problems they would face in the future. Based on President George Washington’s experiences, he advised Americans to stay united as a nation, follow the constitution, and stay neutral, because he predicted that these three issues could be a problem for the new nation and future Americans.

One of the main dangers that President Washington sees are the political parties that are, at this point, just starting to be formed by people like Hamilton and Jefferson. Washington doesn’t like the idea of a divided government because he believes it is not in the best interest of the people and nation. He clarifies this when he writes, “The unity of government which constitutes you one people is

Washington gave us the recommendation of being an isolationist country. Meaning we didn’t get involved with foreign affairs unless they directly effected us. In those days it is tough to directly effect a country that is thousands of miles away. We shrugged off the French Revolution and we kept ourselves out of the “realpolitik”

Even though Washington was president, he did not care to be more powerful, he wanted to be an equal. “His appointments advanced the idea that the best-qualified people should be tapped for office.” (Establishment of presidency) Washington decided that to have a secure foundation for a country he needed the best qualified people, not peers or friends looking for power. This shows that Washington does not want to benefit people or himself, he wants what is best for his country. Washington also wanted to restrain his power and always ask for help when needed. “He understood his own limitations and was not reluctant to rely upon the counsel of others.” (Establishment of presidency) This shows that even if Washington was president, his effective leadership and country is more important than his

Washington first saw that we divide ourselves into political parties because it will end up in lots of disagreements, and end up dividing our nation. In his address Washington states,” The unity of government...be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth;...” Washington is trying to say that other states may say that we need to be split to have a good nation, but that’s not true. He was trying to warn them that if there is splits in our nation that may be one of our downfalls, and have us plummet deeper into this crises. Washington may have thought this was good to brush up on because there was a division in his very own cabinet. Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson were both part of different political parties, which ended up causing a lot of disagreement. Hamilton thought that the rich was the greatest part of our nation and Jefferson thought it was farmers and small landowners. They had many disagreements which split Washington’s cabinet. He did not want it to happen to his nation so he gave them a warning even though they had not really listened.

He warns the public that such sectionalization would cause the unity of the Nation to fall. Therefor, we are similar and have fought for reciprocal ideals and freedom. The main point he pursues is that people will try and turn the North against the South; visa-versa the East against the West. Washington advises caution towards these issues due to the entire Union being kin and, in a way, a family. Another point made in Washington’s Farewell Address was the danger of splitting the political parties and pinning them against each other. When Federalists and Republicans first emerged, Washington wanted to emphasis that, while parties are good to test the waters, however they can cause a negative impact on the nation. To stay a Union, remaining a whole is the main priority; political parties can eventually cause conflict within the population. Washington speculates, “It agitates the Community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, torments occasionally riot and insurrection,”

Washington's significance cannot be overstated. He led the Continental Army to victory over the British. He believed in a strong federal government which greatly influenced the nation during his eight years in office. He did not allow others to trap him as royalty. He worked on the principle of merit. His warning against foreign entanglements was heeded by future presidents. By declining a third term, he set up the precedent of a two-term limit.

Based on Washington’s past experience, his Farewell Address warned the U.S. citizens about the dangers of political parties. There were two political parties that kept having conflicts with each other, the Federalist Party led by Alexander

In George Washington's Farewell Address, one of his main concern was that an "alternate domination of one faction over another... is itself a frightful despotism." He felt that one party would rule over the majority in the government and feared of what it could become. And now because of these political parties, there are more Republicans in the House of Representatives and the Senate. For instance, there are 248 Republican seats in the House and only 192 Democrats. As well as in the Senate, where 54 are Republicans and only 44 are Democrats. From this division, Republicans will favor Republican ideals in the government and the Democrats are being misrepresented. I believe that Washington would not stand for this disunion and would

George Washington wrote his farewell address to warn the nation about three things: parties, permanent alliances with foreign nations, and the necessity of a public credit. These topics represented what Washington recognized as the difficulties of the time period, and what he thought would protect the nation as a whole. The issue of parties was a major concern of his, especially parties that divided the nation geographically, as the disrupted the unity of the country. The Northerners and Southerners had very different views on the roles of the government, and dividing into a ‘North’ party and a ‘South’ party would be exactly what Washington was warning the people against. He also believed that parties took away the will of the people and replaced

“[The Spirit of Party] serves always to distract the Public Councils and enfeeble the Public administration. It agitates the Community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, torments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated accede to the government itself through the channels of party passion.” Washington clearly believes that the idea of political parties is extremely dangerous and leads to infighting and does more harm then good. We can see that this is right as there have been more filibusters now in the last eight years then in the history of the country. Washington believes that the creation of political parties will divide a country that had already seen rebellions and had been in danger of fragmenting for some time. The creation of political parties, in Washington’s farewell address, should be avoided as the ideas and customs of the monarchial European systems embrace political parties. And as the new nation of America had just broken away from the monarchial England, Washington sees the creation and idea of political parties as a threat to the stability of the country. And the early politicians did not want to have parties because they believed them to be “easily corrupted”. This belief spurs distrust, but the creation of political parties is inevitable. And it's only after the Washington Presidency, do they really take hold and develop a foundation. The Federalists say they are not a party to maintain the republican way. While the Democratic Republicans are the opposite of this new party. And thus the first political parties are

Throughout the 1930s, the blend of the Great Depression and the memory of disastrous misfortunes in World War I helped pushing American popular supposition and arrangement to neutrality. Neutralists supported non-association in European and Asian clashes and non-trap in global governmental issues. In spite of the fact that the United States took measures to maintain a strategic distance from political and military clashes over the seas, it kept on stretching monetarily and secure its hobbies in Latin America. The pioneers of the independent development attracted upon history to reinforce their position. In his Farewell Address, President George Washington had pushed non-contribution in European wars and legislative issues. For a great part

George Washington offered plenty of advice in his open letter to Americans. The first of his advice was towards unity; the country at the time seemed to be greatly divided. Political parties on both sides were becoming increasingly radical; he also advised avoiding political factions. He suggested that American citizen view themselves as a cohesive unity. They should move into the future as one; they should avoid entanglements with other nations. He said that America was it's own nation; "Europe has a set of primary interest which to us have no, or a very remote, relation". President Washington suggested that we put our trust in ourselves, we should only interfere for humanitarian interest otherwise we should be neutral.