Washington’s “Farewell Address” remains a landmark speech in American history for a reason. Created as a valedictory after the president’s 20 years o service, the “Farewell Address” had especially powerful significance and played a central role in defining the course for the United States to evolve in the future. The speech was produced and published in 1796, marking the end of a century and the end of an entire era in U.S. history. Indeed, given the circumstances of the speech, particularly the gradually developing animosity among U.S. citizens belonging to different political affiliations, the speech represented much more than a way of parting ways with the role of the nation’s representative and the protector of American citizens. In addition to serving as a way of saying goodbye, the “farewell Address” played the role of a warning of the threat of social fragmentation and a reminder about the importance of unity to American citizens. Thus, setting the premise for unifying the American nation and encouraging its members to collaborate, Washington defined the great American Purpose of creating a community that would withstand external threats.
When examining the purpose of the speech directly, as well as its relation to the great American Purpose, in general, one must not overlook some of the influences inspired by the political changes occurring at the time on the global political stage, particularly in Europe. Namely, the “Farewell Address” draws a stunning amount of inspiration and ideas from the French Revolution and the notions it upheld as the foundation for its political framework. Indeed, when considering the concepts that French revolutionists defined as the pillars on which the core of the revolution resided, one will note a significant similarity in the overall spirit and intent. Namely, the legendary “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité,” or “freedom, equality and fraternity,” echoes in Washington’s statement quite loudly as the speech emphasizes the significance of unity within American society.1 Indeed, the following part of the first U.S. president’s statement details quite accurately the role of the union between different classes within American society: “weight, influence, and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation.”2 Though Washington places a particularly evident emphasis on the development of the maritime advantage in the specified excerpt, the sentiment that links it to the famous motto of the French Revolution is still clear and quite loud.
Therefore, the influence of Europe, specifically the revolutionary attitudes in France, affected the course Washington chose for his speech and his overall definition of the great American Purpose in his address. The resonant ideas and the manner in which they are incorporated into a single statement also represent the clear external relation to the American purpose as the focus on keeping the U.S. and its citizens safe from any harm that may come from the outside environment while also exposing the country to useful and valuable concepts of collaboration and cross-cultural communication.
In this context, the freedom of choice integrated firmly into the main message of the “Farewell Address” is tied directly to another essential part of the American Purpose, namely, that one of upholding key democratic principles. Though the concept of democracy has been expanded significantly since Washington’s memorable speech to include American citizens of different races, ethnicities, and cultures, the core message of the address and its external relation to the notion of democracy and, by extension, equal opportunities, is still present in the speech. For instance, Washington introduced the importance of equality quite clearly in the “Farewell Address” when stating the following: “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?”3 The need for adhering to the foundational democratic principles as established in the “Farewell Address,” in turn, appears to be determined both by external and internal factors. Namely, to ensure that the American community remains consolidated and ready to respond to external threats as a single unit, the “Farewell Address” encourages collaboration among all citizens, their political ideas, religion, ethnicity, and race notwithstanding.
Remarkably, “Farewell Address” manages to combine the mentioning of external and internal relations to the American Purpose in its message. While the presence of external factors is quite apparent given the changes that were occurring on the global stage at the time, especially the shift from monarchy to democracy in France, the speech also hints at a range of internal relations to the American Purpose as the idea of national unity. For example, the importance of refusing to single out a specific nation is emphasized in the speech quite explicitly, making it clear that the specified factor has a critical internal role in shaping the American Purpose and encouraging all citizens to cooperate. Specifically, Washington warns against “a passionate attachment of one nation for another,” explaining that the specified choice “produces a variety of evils.”4 Thus, the importance of a robust political allegiance with the interests of the U.S. is emphasized as the basis for the external American purpose.
Consequently, the “Farewell Address” establishes a clear connection between the external and internal nature of the American Purpose. Specifically, the paper demonstrates with outstanding clarity and obvious transparency that the internal American purpose concerns primarily keeping the U.S. nation united, whereas the external one is linked to the promotion of democracy and building relationships with other states based on the essential premises of democracy.5 The significance of correlating the external purpose with the internal one within the American community was particularly relevant at the time, given the advent of a drastic change in the county’s political landscape. Indeed, with Washington’ abandoning the position of the president, the further promotion of democratic principles within the American community, along with the effort to keep the U.S. community together, became a challenging task for his posteriors and the next President, John Adams. Therefore, the “Farewell Address’ represented the endeavor to manage the internal purpose of the U.S., namely, the necessity to maintain cohesion within American society, with the external one of promoting democracy in their relationships with other states on a global level.
More importantly, the “Farewell Address” represented the point in U.S. history when the country was facing an especially challenging period of building its independence and autonomy. Having taken place only 40 years after the American revolutionary War aimed at achieving independence from Britain, Washington’s speech encapsulated a profound understanding of both the external and internal relationships within the American purpose. Specifically, externally, Washington urged American citizens not only to uphold the standards of democracy when collaborating with representatives of other countries and nations but also to ensure that the specified relationships do not jeopardize the security of the U.S. concept of democracy and the related principles. The need to remain aligned with the foundational standards of democracy in relation to the external factors, primarily the influence of other countries on the U.S., is rendered clearly as the external aspect of the American purpose. Specifically, Washington warns against the threat of “base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation” that comes with the specified choice of an alignment with foreign countries that do not support the principles of democracy.6 Therefore, the internal basis for the American purpose is connected directly to the external one.
Arguably, Washington’s speech could be seen as an attempt at restricting the extent of foreign relationships for the U.S. to collaborate only with those countries that support American principles of democracy unanimously. While the described sentiment as an ethical statement is definitely present in the speech, it seems that Washington also seeks to promote the further acceptance of essential democratic principles by other states as the basis for collaboration between them and the United States. Therefore, the “Farewell Address” could be reframed as an external expression of the American Purpose as the notion of building global democratic society and establishing the international community where the concepts of equality and participation remain adhered to and reinforced as the only mode of cooperation.
Thus, Washington’s “Farewell Address” centers on the idea of protecting the safety of American citizens and American democracy, as well as the security of the U.S. the specified purpose is aligned both with external and internal factors determining the development of political ideas and attitudes within the U.S. Specifically, the phenomenon of international collaboration, which the U.S. was seeking to explore at the time, was fraught with challenges of external threats to American democracy and, therefore, the ultimate purpose of America, namely, the promotion of safety and security of its citizens. Consequently, Washington’s warnings could be seen as vital guidelines for maintaining the integrity needed to retain the principles in question and foster them as the only tool for bolstering the further development of the U.S., including its political, economic, and sociocultural growth.
In turn, ensuring that the external purpose of the “Farewell Address” could be met was only possible as long as the internal elements thereof were aligned; particularly the necessity to promote the alignment and cooperation between members of different political movements within the U.S. was critical. The specified goal has been implemented so far with the active enhancement of the feeling of patriotism, which unites all members of the U.S. community. Indeed, the notion of patriotism has been central to American culture and has constituted the very essence of the American identity. Consequently, the concept of the American purpose is represented both internally as the promotion of patriotic feelings and externally as the emphasis on collaboration based on the principles of democracy while safeguarding the citizens of the U.S. from harmful foreign forces. For this reason, Washington’s “Farewell Address” encapsulates both the internal and external interpretations and characteristics of the grand American purpose. Serving as the means of reconciling the differences between citizens of the U.S. and promoting the principles that have been inspired by the decades of fighting for freedom, the “farewell Address” deserves the title of a landmark speech that defined the course of the political and social development of the U.S.
By encouraging U.S. citizens to unite and build a strong community, Washington’s “Farewell Address” encouraged American people to fight against the threat of becoming an increasingly fragmented and, therefore, politically, socially, and economically weak community. Although the speech also touched upon a range of other ideas associated with the future well-being of American society, all of them were conducive to the concept of unity that the “Farewell Address” reinforced as the essential goal for American citizens to pursue. Therefore, the overarching purpose of the speech could be described as unifying American society and creating a solid foundation for avoiding future threats of social fragmentation. As a result, the speech leads to the discovery of the ultimate American purpose, namely, that of sustaining unity and collaboration among American citizens, no matter how distant their backgrounds are from one another. Establishing the idea of a single family where mutual support and promotion of cooperation are prioritized, Washington’s speech represented an incentive for the descendants to remain united despite political conflicts and social turmoil. Reinforcing the role of unity within American society and the significance of mutual support, Washington’s “Farewell Address” bears the purpose of keeping the American community together while allowing people to be affiliated with different movements and groups. Thus, the “Farewell Address” becomes the connective tissue for the entire American society, allowing its members to reconcile and support one another.
Bibliography
Fassin, Didier. A Companion to Moral Anthropology. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.
Washington, George. Farewell Address. Gen. George Washington, 1796.
Footnotes
- Didier, Fassin, A companion to moral anthropology (New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, 2012), p. 318.
- George Washington, Farewell Address (Gen. George Washington, 1796), p. 17.
- George Washington, Farewell Address (Gen. George Washington, 1796), p. 18.
- George Washington, Farewell Address (Gen. George Washington, 1796), p. 19.
- George Washington, Farewell Address (Gen. George Washington, 1796), p. 4.
- George Washington, Farewell Address (Gen. George Washington, 1796), p. 20.