Washington: A Farewell Warning

The Father of our Republic, upon his departure from public life, gave his final speech to the newly birthed people of which he dedicated his very being to serve. In the eloquent words gathered to express his hope and anxieties for the continuation of self government, as well as his sadness to retire to the sphere of rest, he leaves to us warnings, in the capacity of; “a parting friend who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel.”

Warning #1: Weakening of our Union

“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 immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the Palladium of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety-”

In essence, Washington recognized that, domestic or foreign enemies, will attempt to weaken the unanimity and dedication of our people by insidious means; jealous of the American Citizen and free government thereby established, to weaken our mutual dedication to our common welfare.

Warning #2: Party Factions

“In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as a 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 endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.”

Party factions, in the eyes of Washington, is a fatal virus to our Republican Body, swelling the veins of economic enterprise, infecting our blood which consists of mutual National interests, weakening the heart, which beats to the tune of free debate and press, finally dissolving the cells of immunity, and leaving us for dead.

Warning #3: Despotism

“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 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.”

Rightfully considered, as governments tend to gravitate to, is the fear of despotism, when the officers of the established government have been so corrupted, to be incapable of remaining within a restricted sphere of authority, disregarding the will of the people, and perpetrating Tyranny. Washington’s greatest anxiety is of this notion, that our Republican Form of Government will fall on it’s own blade, after suffering years of self inflicted wounds which have internally caused irreversible damage, that a peaceful constitutional amendment cannot heal.

My fellow Citizens, I entice you to read the complete farewell address of our President Washington and to consider the warnings which he leaves us. Our Union is dependent upon our mutual cooperation and care, and we must, deter the disruptions to our Union, in whatever form they may arrive, to reject Party loyalty, and to nurture our Republic with the same intensity as our revolutionary Fathers, so each generation can be handed the undying torch of Liberty to guide the next. Consider the sacrifices made by our ancestors in efforts to preserve this union. To assume the era of sacrifice is over is a naive notion, as the greatest sacrifices are yet to be made by you, the American Citizen.