George Washington's Farewell Address

The maintenance of national unity is the principal concern of Washington’s “Farewell Address,” and his heavy emphasis on it shows it to be a source of profound concern for the departing president. Washington repeatedly insists that if Americans fail to start thinking and acting as one people, the entire country will collapse. He hints toward the existence of conspirators actively seeking to foment disunion, either to weaken the country or to take over its government. To defend against this predatory scheme, Americans must recognize national unity as a “primary object of patriotic desire” (Paragraph 13) and regard any attempt to undermine national unity as a direct threat to their own safety and livelihoods.

By the time Washington published the “Farewell Address,” practically no one would have disputed that national unity was preferable to division. The more controversial point was Washington’s insistence that only the Federal Constitution, ratified nearly a decade before, was the only way to ensure national unity. There were several reasons to view the new government with some skepticism, even for dedicated patriots no less committed to national unity than Washington. The Constitution transferred the bulk of political power from the states to the federal government, which was then headquartered in New York City (and planning its move to the new city of Washington in the federal District of Columbia).