GEORGE WASHINGTON'S
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE
OF THE UNITED STATES
This address was written primarily to eliminate
himself as a candidate
for a third term. It was never read by the President
in public, but it was
printed in Claypoole's AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER,
Philadelphia,
September 19, 1796. The address is in two parts: In
the first, Washington
declines a third term, gives his reasons, and
acknowledges a debt
of gratitude for the honors conferred upon him and
for the confident
support of the people. In the second more important
part, he presents,
as a result of his experience and as a last legacy of
advice, thoughts
upon the government.
George Washington gave Claypoole a manuscript which
he called "his copy"
and it was from this manuscript that the type was set
in the newspaper.
After Claypoole's death, the manuscript was ordered
to be sold at auction
on February 12, 1850. Senator Henry Clay on January
24 offered a joint
resolution for its purchase by the government, but
the resolution was not
signed by President Taylor until the day of the sale.
The manuscript was
sold to James Lenox for $2,300, and passed, with his
library, to the New
York Public Library. There is no evidence of any bid
on behalf of the
national government.
The following is an exact word for word text of the
original. Nothing has
been changed or omitted except old English spelling
and punctuation.
-------------
Friends, And Fellow Citizens
The period for a new election of a citizen to
administer the executive
government of the United States, being not far
distant, and the time
actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed
in designating the
person who is to be clothed with that important
trust, it appears to
me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more
distinct expression of
the public voice, that I should now apprise you of
the resolution I have
formed, to decline being considered among the number
of those out of
whom a choice is to be made.
I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to
be assured that
this resolution has not been taken without a strict
regard to all the
considerations appertaining to the relation which
binds a dutiful
citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the
tender of service
which silence in my situation might imply, I am
influenced by no
diminution of zeal for your future interest; no
deficiency of grateful
respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a
full conviction
that the step is compatible with both.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the
office to which your
suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform
sacrifice of
inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a
deference for what appeared
to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would
have been much
earlier in my power, consistently with motives which
I was not at liberty
to disregard, to return to that retirement from which
I had been
reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to
do this, previous
to the last election, had even led to the preparation
of an address
to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the
then perplexed and
critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations,
and the unanimous
advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled
me to abandon the
idea.
I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external
as well as internal,
no longer renders the pursuit of inclination
incompatible with the
sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded
whatever partiality may
be retained for my services, that, in the present
circumstances of our
country, you will not disapprove my determination to
retire.
The impressions, with which, I first undertook the
arduous trust, were
explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of
this trust, I will
only say that I have, with good intentions,
contributed towards the
organization and administration of the government the
best exertions of
which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not
unconscious, in the
outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications,
experience in my own
eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has
strengthened the
motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the
increasing weight of
years admonishes me more and more that the shade of
retirement is as
necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied
that, if any
circumstances have given peculiar value to my
services, they were
temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that
while choice and
prudence invite me to quit the political scene,
patriotism does not
forbid it.
In looking forward to the moment, which is intended
to terminate the
career of my public life, my feelings do not permit
me to suspend the
deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I
owe to my beloved
country for the many honors it has conferred upon me;
still more for
the steadfast confidence with which it has supported
me; and for the
opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my
inviolable
attachment, by services faithful and persevering,
though in usefulness
unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our
country from these
services, let it always be remembered to your praise,
and as an
instructive example in our annals, that under
circumstances in which the
passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to
mislead, amidst
appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of
fortune often
discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently
want of success
has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the
constancy of your support
was the essential prop of the efforts, and a
guarantee of the plans, by
which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with
this idea, I shall
carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement
to unceasing vows
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.
Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for
your welfare which
cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of
danger natural to
that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion like the
present, to offer to your
solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your
frequent review, some
sentiments which are the result of much reflection,
of no inconsiderable
observation, and which appear to me all important to
the permanency of
your felicity as a people. These will be offered to
you with the more
freedom, as you can only see in them the
disinterested warnings of a
parting friend, who can possibly have no personal
motive to bias his
counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it
your indulgent
reception of my sentiments on a former and not
dissimilar occasion.
Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every
ligament of your hearts,
no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or
confirm the
attachment. The unity of government which
constitutes you one people, is
also now dear to you. It is justly so: for it is a
main pillar in the
edifice of your real independence, the support of
your tranquility at home,
your peace abroad; of your safety; of your
prosperity; of that very liberty
which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to
foresee that, 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; as this is the point in your political
fortress against which the
batteries of internal and external enemies will be
most constantly and
actively (though often covertly and insidiously)
directed, it is of
infinite moment that you should properly estimate the
immense value of
your national Union to your collective and individual
happiness; that you
should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable
attachment to it;
accustoming yourself to think and speak of it as of
the palladium of your
political safety and prosperity; 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.
For this you have every inducement of sympathy and
interest. Citizens, by
birth or choice, of a common country, that country
has a right to
concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN,
which belongs to you in
your national capacity, must always exalt the just
pride of patriotism,
more than any appellation derived from local
discriminations. With slight
shades of difference, you have the same religion,
manners, habits and
political principles. You have in a common cause
fought and triumphed
together; the independence and liberty you possess
are the work of joint
councils and joint efforts, of common dangers,
sufferings, and successes.
But these considerations, however powerfully they
address themselves to
your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those
which apply more
immediately to your interest. Here every portion of
our country finds
the most commanding motives for carefully guarding
and preserving the union
of the whole.
The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the
South, protected by
the equal Laws of a common government, finds, in the
productions of the
latter, great additional resources of maritime and
commercial enterprise
and precious materials of manufacturing industry.
The South in the same
intercourse, benefitting by the agency of the North,
sees its agriculture
grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its
own channels the
seamen of the North, it finds its particular
navigation invigorated; and
while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish
and increase the
general mass of the national navigation, it looks
forward to the
protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is
unequally adapted.
The East, in a like intercourse with the West,
already finds, and in the
progressive improvement of interior communications,
by land and water,
will more and more find, a valuable vent for the
commodities which it
brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West
derives from the
East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort,
and what is perhaps of
still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe
the secure enjoyment
of indispensable outlets for its own productions to
the weight, influence,
and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side
of the Union,
directed by an indissoluble community of interest as
one Nation. Any other
tenure by which the West can hold this essential
advantage, whether
derived from its own separate strength, or from an
apostate and unnatural
connection with any foreign power, must be
intrinsically precarious.
While, then, every part of our country thus feels an
immediate and
particular interest in union, all the parts combined
cannot fail to find
in the united mass of means and efforts greater
strength, greater resource,
proportionably greater security from external danger,
a less frequent
interruption of their peace by foreign Nations; and,
what is of
inestimable value, they must derive from union an
exemption from those
broils and wars between themselves, which so
frequently afflict
neighboring countries not tied together by the same
government, which
their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to
produce, but which
opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and
intrigues would stimulate and
imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the
necessity of those overgrown
military establishments, which, under any form of
government, are
inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded
as particularly
hostile to republican liberty. 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.
These considerations speak a persuasive language to
every reflecting and
virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the
UNION as a primary
object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether
a common government
can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve
it. To listen to mere
speculation in such a case were criminal. We are
authorized to hope that
a proper organization of the whole, with the
auxiliary agency of
governments for the respective subdivisions, will
afford a happy issue to
the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full
experiment. With such
powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all
parts of our country,
while experience shall not have demonstrated its
impracticability, there
will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of
those who in any
quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.
In contemplating the causes which may disturb our
Union, 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. One of the expedients of party to acquire
influence, within
particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions
and aims of other
districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much
against the jealousies
and heart burnings which spring from these
misrepresentations; they tend
to render alien to each other those who ought to be
bound together by
fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western
country have lately
had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in
the negotiation by
the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by
the Senate, of the
treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction
at that event,
throughout the United States, a decisive proof how
unfounded were the
suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the
general Government
and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their
interests in regard to
the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the
formation of two
treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with
Spain, which secure to
them everything they could desire, in respect to our
foreign relations,
towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be
their wisdom to
rely for the preservation of these advantaged on the
UNION by which
they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf
to those advisers,
if such there are, who would sever them from their
brethren and connect
them with aliens?
To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a
government for the whole
is indispensable. No alliances, however strict,
between the parts can be
an adequate substitute; they must inevitably
experience the infractions and
interruptions which all alliances in all times have
experienced. Sensible
of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your
first essay, by the
adoption of a constitution of government better
calculated than your
former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious
management of your
common concerns. This government, the offspring of
our own choice,
uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full
investigation and mature
deliberation, completely free in its principles, in
the distribution of
its powers uniting security with energy, and
containing within itself a
provision for its own amendment, 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 basis of our political
systems is the right
of the people to make and to alter their
constitutions of government.
But the constitution which at any time exists, till
changed by an
explicit and authentic act of the whole people, 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;
and, according to the
alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the
public administration
the mirror of the illconcerted and incongruous
projects of faction, rather
than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans
digested by common
councils, and modified by mutual interests.
However combinations or associations of the above
description may now and
then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the
course of time and
things, to become potent engines, by which cunning,
ambitious and
unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power
of the people, and
to usurp for themselves the reins of Government;
destroying afterwards
the very engines which have lifted them to unjust
dominion.
Towards the preservation of your Government and the
permanency of your
present happy state, it is requisite, not only that
you steadily
discountenance irregular oppositions to its
acknowledged authority, but
also that you resist with care the spirit of
innovation upon its
principles, however specious the pretexts. One
method of assault may be
to effect, in the forms of the constitution,
alterations which will impair
the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what
cannot be directly
overthrown. 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 hypotheses
and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the
endless variety of
hypotheses and opinion; and remember, especially,
that, for the efficient
management of your common interests, in a country so
extensive as ours, a
government of as much vigor as is consistent with the
perfect security of
liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find
in such a Government,
with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its
surest guardian. It
is, indeed, little else than a name, where the
government is too feeble
to withstand the enterprise of faction, to confine
each member of the
society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and
to maintain all in
the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of
person and property.
I have already intimated to you the danger of parties
in the state, with
particular reference to the founding of them on
geographical
discriminations. Let me now take a more
comprehensive view, and warn you
in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects
of the spirit of
party, generally.
This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our
nature, having its
root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It
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.
The alternate domination of one faction over another,
sharpened by the
spirit of revenge, natural to party dissention, which
in different ages
and countries has perpetrated the most horrid
enormities, is itself a
frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a
more formal and
permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries
which result gradually
incline the minds of men to seek security and repose
in the absolute power
of an individual, and sooner or later the chief of
some prevailing
faction, more able or more fortunate than his
competitors, turns this
disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on
the ruins of public
liberty.
Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind
(which nevertheless
ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common
and continual mischiefs
of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the
interest and duty of
a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
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 find a facilitated
access to the
government itself through the channels of party
passions. Thus the policy
and the will of one country, are subjected to the
policy and will of
another.
There is an opinion, that parties in free countries
are useful checks upon
the administration of the government and serve to
keep alive the spirit of
liberty. This within certain limits is probably
true; and in governments
of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with
indulgence, if not with
favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the
popular character,
in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to
be encouraged.
From their natural tendency, it is certain there will
always be enough of
that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there
being constant danger
of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public
opinion, to mitigate
and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it
demands a uniform vigilance
to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead
of warming, it should
consume.
It is important, likewise, that the habits of
thinking in a free country
should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its
administration, to
confine themselves within their respective
constitutional spheres,
avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one
department to encroach upon
another. The spirit of encroachment tends to
consolidate the powers of
all the departments in one, and thus to create,
whatever the form of
government, a real despotism. A just estimate of
that love of power, and
proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the
human heart, is
sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this
position. The necessity of
reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power,
by dividing and
distributing it into different depositories, and
constituting each the
guardian of the public weal against invasions by the
others, has been
evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of
them in our country
and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as
necessary as to
institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the
distribution or
modification of the constitutional powers be in any
particular wrong,
let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which
the Constitution
designates. But let there be no change by
usurpation; for, though this,
in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is
the customary weapon
by which free governments are destroyed. The
precedent must always
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or
transient benefit
which the use can at any time yield.
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. A volume could not
trace all their
connections with private and public felicity. Let it
simply be asked,
Where is the security for property, for reputation,
for life, if the sense
of religious obligation desert the oaths which are
the instruments of
investigation in courts of justice? And let us with
caution indulge the
supposition that morality can be maintained without
religion. Whatever may
be conceded to the influence of refined education on
minds of peculiar
structure, reason and experience both forbid us to
expect that national
morality can prevail in exclusion of religious
principle.
'Tis 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?
Promote, then, as an object of primary importance,
institutions for the
general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the
structure of a
government gives force to public opinion, it is
essential that public
opinion should be enlightened.
As a very important source of strength and security,
cherish public credit.
One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly
as possible; avoiding
occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but
remembering also that timely
disbursements to prepare for danger frequently
prevent much greater
disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the
accumulation of debt, not
only by shunning occasions of expense, but by
vigorous exertions in time of
peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars
may have occasioned,
not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden
which we ourselves
ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs
to your
representatives, but it is necessary that public
opinion should cooperate.
To facilitate to them the performance of their duty,
it is essential that
you should practically bear in mind, that towards the
payment of debts
there must be revenue; that to have revenue there
must be taxes; that no
taxes can be devised which are not more or less
inconvenient and
unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment
inseparable from the
selection of the proper objects (which is always a
choice of difficulties),
ought to be a decisive motive for a candid
construction of the conduct of
the government in making it, and for a spirit of
acquiescence in the
measures for obtaining revenue which the public
exigencies may at any time
dictate.
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations;
cultivate peace and
harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this
conduct; and can it
be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It
will be worthy of a
free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great
nation, to give to
mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a
people always guided
by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt
that, in the course
of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would
richly repay any
temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady
adherence to it? Can
it be, that Providence has not connected the
permanent felicity of a
nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is
recommended by every
sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it
rendered impossible by
its vices?
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more
essential than that
permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular
nations, and
passionate attachments for others, should be
excluded; and that, in place
of them, just and amicable feelings towards all
should be cultivated. The
nation which indulges towards another an habitual
hatred, or an habitual
fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to
its animosity or to
its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead
it astray from its
duty and its interest. Antipathy in one Nation
against another disposes
each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay
hold of slight causes
of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when
accidental or trifling
occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent
collisions, obstinate,
envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted
by ill will and
resentment sometimes impels to war the government,
contrary to the best
calculations of policy. The government sometimes
participates in the
national propensity, and adopts through passion what
reason would reject;
at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation
subservient to
projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition,
and other sinister
and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes
perhaps the Liberty,
of nations has been the victim.
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation
for another produces a
variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation,
facilitating the
illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases
where no real common
interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities
of the other, betrays
the former into a participation in the quarrels and
wars of the latter,
without adequate inducement or justification. It
leads also to
concessions to the favorite nation of privileges
denied to others, which
is apt doubly to injure the nation making the
concessions: by
unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been
retained; and by
exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to
retaliate, in the
parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And
it gives to
ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote
themselves to the
favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the
interests of their
own country, without odium, sometimes even with
popularity; gilding, with
the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a
commendable deference
for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public
good, the base of
foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or
infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways,
such attachments are
particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and
independent patriot.
How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with
domestic factions, to
practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public
opinion, to influence or
awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a
small or weak, towards a
great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the
satellite of the
latter.
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.
But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial;
else it becomes the
instrument of the very influence to be avoided,
instead of a defence
against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign
nation, and excessive
dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to
see danger only on
one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts
of influence on the
other. Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues
of the favorite, are
liable to become suspected and odious; while its
tools and dupes usurp the
applause and confidence of the people, to surrender
their interests.
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to
foreign nations, is, in
extending our commercial relations, to have with them
as little political
connection as possible. So far as we have already
formed engagements, let
them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let
us stop.
Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us
have none, or a very
remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in
frequent controversies, the
causes of which are essentially foreign to our
concerns. Hence therefore,
it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by
artificial ties, in the
ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the
ordinary combinations and
collisions of her friendships or enmities.
Our detached and distant situation invites and
enables us to pursue a
different course. If we remain one people, under an
efficient government,
the period is not far off, when we may defy material
injury from external
annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will
cause the neutrality
we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously
respected; when
belligerent nations, under the impossibility of
making acquisitions upon
us, will not lightly hazard the giving us
provocation; when we may choose
peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice,
shall counsel.
Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation?
Why quit our own to
stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our
destiny with that of
any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity
in the toils of
European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or
caprice?
`Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent
alliances with any
portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we
are now at liberty to
do it; for let me not be understood as capable of
patronizing infidelity
to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less
applicable to public
than to private affairs, that honesty is always the
best policy. I repeat
it therefore, let those engagements be observed in
their genuine sense.
But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be
unwise to extend them.
Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable
establishments, on a
respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to
temporary alliances
for extraordinary emergencies.
Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are
recommended by policy,
humanity, and interest. But even our commercial
policy should hold an
equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor
granting exclusive favors
or preferences; consulting the natural course of
things; diffusing and
diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce,
but forcing nothing;
establishing with powers so disposed, in order to
give trade a stable
course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to
enable the
government to support them, conventional rules of
intercourse, the best
that present circumstances and mutual opinion will
permit, but temporary,
and liable to be from time to time abandoned or
varied, as experience and
circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in
view, that `tis folly
in one nation to look for disinterested favors from
another; that it must
pay with a portion of its independence for whatever
it may accept under
that character; that, by such acceptance, it may
place itself in the
condition of having given equivalents for nominal
favors, and yet of
being reproached with ingratitude for not giving
more. There can be no
greater error than to expect or calculate upon real
favors from nation to
nation. 'Tis an illusion, which experience must
cure, which a just pride
ought to discard.
In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of
an old and
affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make
the strong and lasting
impression I could wish; that they will control the
usual current of the
passions, or prevent our nation from running the
course which has hitherto
marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even
flatter myself that they
may be productive of some partial benefit, some
occasional good; that
they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of
party spirit, to warn
against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard
against the
impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will
be a full recompense
for the solicitude for your welfare by which they
have been dictated.
How far in the discharge of my official duties I have
been guided by the
principles which have been delineated, the public
records and other
evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to
the world. To myself,
the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at
least believed
myself to be guided by them.
In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my
proclamation of the
22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan.
Sanctioned by your approving
voice, and by that of your representatives in both
Houses of Congress, the
spirit of that measure has continually governed me,
uninfluenced by any
attempts to deter or divert me from it.
After deliberate examination, with the aid of the
best lights I could
obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under
all the circumstances
of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in
duty and interest to
take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I
determined, as far as should
depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation,
perseverance, and
firmness.
The considerations which respect the right to hold
this conduct, it is not
necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only
observe that, according
to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far
from being denied by
any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually
admitted by all.
The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be
inferred, without any thing
more, from the obligation which justice and humanity
impose on every
nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to
maintain inviolate the
relations of peace and amity towards other nations.
The inducements of interest for observing that
conduct will best be
referred to your own reflections and experience.
With me, a predominant
motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our
country to settle and
mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress
without interruption
to that degree of strength and consistency which is
necessary to give it,
humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.
Though, in reviewing the incidents of my
administration, I am unconscious
of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible
of my defects not to
think it probable that I may have committed many
errors. Whatever they
may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or
mitigate the evils to
which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the
hope, that my country
will never cease to view them with indulgence; and
that, after forty-five
years of my life dedicated to its service with an
upright zeal, the faults
of incompetent abilities will be consigned to
oblivion, as myself must
soon be to the mansions of rest.
Relying on its kindness in this as in other things,
and actuated by that
fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man
who views in it the
native soil of himself and his progenitors for
several generations, I
anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in
which I promise
myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment
of partaking, in the
midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of
good laws under a
free government, the ever favorite object of my
heart, and the happy
reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and
dangers.
George Washington
United States, 17th September 1796
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