Been a while since I’ve posted much, but today being July 4th, I felt compelled to look again at George Washington’s Farewell Address. I urge you to read the entire thing. Realize as you read, that it contains the ideas of two of the leading opponents of the day: Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. Madison had helped Washington four years earlier craft an early draft, when the President wanted to retire after his first term. He saved that draft after he agreed to serve again, but now gave it to Hamilton to edit. Of course Washington made sure that what was written reflected his own views, but it is nice to know the other two men, strong opponents of one another, had a hand.
I offer that in 2018, Washington’s warning is still apt for us.
He starts with his hopes “that heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence”:
- that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual;
- that the free Constitution, which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained;
- that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue;
- that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.
His warnings against what will harm this prayer of hope speak to his own experience from the previous 8 years. Thus, first he urges the people to preserve the unity of support for our Constitutional government.
He writes, it is “now dear to you” BUT “from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.” In other words, groups and forces will lie to you and do whatever they can to convince you to weaken your support for the government.
For Washington, our unity “it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness.” And “the palladium of your political safety and prosperity.”
So, you should be “watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.”
“Citizens, by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections.”
“In this sense it is that your union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.”
The Lead Danger to this Unity? Party, or what at the time was known as “faction.”
So, first Washington reiterates to support the government as it is the elected and chosen reflection of The Constitution. “This government…has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true liberty….the Constitution…is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.”
“All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency. They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community”
He urges caution against quick alteration to The Constitution.
It is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to [the Government], but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its principles….One method of assault may be to effect, in the forms of the Constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system.”
So, “In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion….” Avoid being swayed by what sounds popular for the present moment; trust our history, our habits and our previous experience.
Washington, still harping on the dangers of political parties or factions, believes it is in such political parties that attempts to weaken the government or negatively alter the Constitution will arise. There lies the danger.
“the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally….exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.”
Why? “It 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, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”
How do we hope for a positive future outcome?
“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them….It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?”
Washington brings his ideas to conclusion by focusing on a last danger…how the country interacts with other nations.
For Washington the key is “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all” and “just and amicable feelings towards all [nations] should be cultivated.” At the same time “Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.”
Thus “It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world”..and here he means of the military type. He enjoins us to keep commercial interactions, and in commerce, again “our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences”
As we head into the latter part of 2018, and as the Great Crisis is either directly upon us or seemingly nearby, I pray you determine to put Washington’s hopes and warnings into your actions and words in the days ahead.