By Dave Smith, Senior Contributor, USADC.
“First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen…“ – Henry Lee, eulogizing George Washington
As the first President elected under the newly-ratified U.S. Constitution, George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799) knew that each official act he took would set a precedent for the future. He took his responsibility to posterity as seriously as that to the fledgling nation he helped found. While reluctantly agreeing to serve a second term at the urging of Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton, Washington set a final example that would endure for over a century in declining to seek a third term.
To explain his decision and some of the actions of his administration, and to give advice as a retiring elder statesman, Washington crafted a Farewell Address to “friends and fellow-citizens”. He started with his thoughts of having served his duty, and confidence in the strength of the new nation: “while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it”. He thanked the citizens for their support and trust through his 8-year presidency as well as his previous service to his country.
Washington’s advice as an elder statesman dealt with two areas he felt could lead to the downfall of the Republic: geographic and political factionalism.
In the name of “common cause”, he encouraged citizens to discard “local discriminations” and to accept the “name of American” instead. He warned against jealousies of North versus South, or of East versus West. At the time competition, and eventually open conflict, was the hallmark of the relationships between the states. Self-identification as an “American”, as opposed to thinking first of oneself as a “New Yorker” or “Virginian” or “South Carolinian” didn’t really achieve widespread success until after the Civil War.
In addition to geographical factionalism, however, Washington also saw another peril: political factions. In this warning, he reminded the citizenry that the Constitution was a binding compact voluntarily chosen by the people; it must be followed “until changed by an explicit and authentic act” via the amendment process. He then warned of the tendency for political factions to “put in the place of the delegated will of a nation the will of a [political] party”, calling such parties “potent engines” for “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” to distort liberty and take “the reins of government”.
Despite the widespread admiration for Washington himself, his warnings about political and geographical factionalism weren’t heeded. After his retirement, the Adams Administration was roiled from within by open hostility between the Federalists, led by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton, and the Republicans, led by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. That Jefferson worked openly to derail Adams’s Federalist agenda while serving as his Vice President only added to the rancor.
Meanwhile, geographical divisions became increasingly combative, as issues of tariffs, slavery, and expansion pitted state against state and region against region. Eventually, it required a brutal, bloody war to forge a nation of Americans from a country of states.
Washington’s Farewell Address, however, still retains importance; his warnings still bear heeding. Though over 200 years old, the nation, and indeed every nation, still faces the same conflicts from within.
Born in the same county as Davy Crockett in East Tennessee, Dave found his way to Texas where he works in the petrochemical industry. He’s written and spoken about politics on various media outlets including Fox, ABC, and Townhall. He is a graduate of Tennessee Tech with a degree in chemical engineering. Dave writes a popular feature at USDR called “Dave Smith Said That”. Follow Dave on Twitter: @semperlibertas.
