1. Importance of Unity
After opening with an explanation of his choice not to seek a third term, Washington’s farewell address urged Americans not to put their regional and sectional interests above the interests of the nation as a whole. “You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together,” Washington declared. “The Independence and Liberty you possess are the work of joint counsels, and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.”
Regions such as North, South, East and West should see their common interests rather than their differences, he continued. “Your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty and...the love of the one ought to endear you to the preservation of the other.”
2. The 'Worst Enemy' of Government: Loyalty to Party Over Nation
According to Washington, one of the chief dangers of letting regional loyalties dominate loyalty to the nation as a whole was that it would lead to factionalism, or the development of competing political parties. When Americans voted according to party loyalty, rather than the common interest of the nation, Washington feared it would foster a “spirit of revenge,” and enable the rise of “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” who would “usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines, which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”
In fact, political parties had already begun to emerge by the time Washington stepped aside. Federalists, who drew their support largely from New England, advocated a strong national government and the fiscal programs created by Hamilton, the nation’s first secretary of the treasury. Republicans (later Democratic-Republicans) led by Southerners like Thomas Jefferson and Madison, opposed Hamilton’s economic policies. They also split with the Federalists in foreign policy, favoring a closer relationship with France over Great Britain.
Washington supported Hamilton’s financial programs and sided with the Federalists in supporting the Jay Treaty with Britain. By the end of his presidency, Washington was weathering increasingly bitter attacks from his Republican critics, and his farewell address represented his response to such attacks, as well as a more general statement of his principles.
3. Danger of Foreign Entanglements
Just as regionalism would lead to the formation of political parties, Washington believed, partisanship would open the door to “foreign influence and corruption.” While he advocated for the United States to be on good terms with all nations, especially commercial relations, he argued that “inveterate antipathies against particular Nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded.”
Europe had its own, very complicated, set of interests, and the United States should keep its distance from European affairs, Washington believed. A foreign policy based on neutrality was the safest way to maintain national unity, and stability, in the United States. Although Washington saw the need for the nation to involve itself in foreign affairs in the case of war or other emergency, he argued that it must “steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world.”
Legacy of Washington’s Farewell Address
Washington’s farewell address was rooted in the specific challenges he saw facing the United States at the time, including increasing internal divisions and the ongoing external threat of invasion by stronger nations. But his eloquent message of unity and his warnings against regionalism, partisanship and foreign influence ensured the address would become one of the most widely reprinted documents in American history, with powerful implications that continue to resonate today.
George Washington’s momentous decision to step aside after two terms set a precedent that would be followed by every succeeding president except Franklin D. Roosevelt, and would be formalized in the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1951. In a tradition dating back to the years following the Civil War, a member of the U.S. Senate reads Washington’s farewell address aloud each year to observe Washington’s birthday; the reading assignment alternates between members of each political party.