George Washington’s Farewell to the Nation Marked the Birth of American Democracy

The dawn of American democracy didn’t take place in 1776, with the signing of the Declaration of Independence. It didn’t come in 1788, when the Constitution was ratified, or in 1789, when George Washington took office as the United States’ first president. According to Harry R. Rubenstein, an emeritus curator in the Division of Political History at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, the symbolic birth of the U.S. system of government didn’t arrive until Washington made one of its ideals—the peaceful transition of power—a reality.

Washington published his farewell address on September 19, 1796. After two terms as president, he’d decided not to seek a third. At that point, 155 years before the ratification of the 22nd Amendment, which states that “no person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice,” a third term was possible. Many Americans wanted Washington to continue as commander in chief. But he didn’t.

Working with fellow founders Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, Washington crafted a goodbye to the American people. He’d grown weary of politics, and he was ready to retire to his estate at Mount Vernon. His farewell represented the first transfer of presidential power in American history, a voluntary resignation of office that cemented the country’s status as a stable, democratic state.

This moment, Rubenstein told Smithsonian magazine in 2011, “is crucial for creating the in-and-out system of government that we have. … In that time and era, politicians would gain power, or kings would stay in office until they die.” Instead, Washington chose to relinquish his authority—a decision mirrored by his successors, from John Adams to Thomas Jefferson to Madison.

“Stepping down is unique,” Rubenstein said. “It’s a powerful statement about Washington and American democracy.”

In addition to the symbolic importance of a political leader voluntarily leaving office, the content of Washington’s farewell address—which was published in newspapers across the country and as a pamphlet—was important in establishing the values of the quickly maturing democracy. The address covered Washington’s decision to retire, the importance of a unified national government, the folly of getting too involved in foreign affairs and other issues.

Washington warned that with obstruction of the government’s integrity, “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.”

He cautioned against “the spirit of encroachment [that] tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism.”

In Rubenstein’s view, the farewell address called “for national unity: an end to the squabbling between the parties, between Federalists and Republicans, and an end to the sectionalism of West, North and South. It’s a call for trying to form something larger than local interests.”

For an infant nation that had resembled more of a loose association of independent states just a few years earlier, under the Articles of Confederation, this message was significant. Recognizing the limits of a weak, ineffective central government, the U.S. fully embraced federal authority with the ratification of the Constitution in 1788.

“The unity of government which constitutes you one people is also now dear to you,” Washington wrote. “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.”

Of course, Washington’s lofty written standards weren’t always achieved in real life. “His desire for national unity, while hard for people to act on, was something that most aspired to,” said Rubenstein. “It’s just that everyone wanted everyone else to agree with their position.”

Even during Washington’s presidency, the buildup of partisan politics that would later characterize the modern U.S. government was evident. “You start to have the birth of the parties, especially during his second administration: the squabbling between the two parties, between Hamilton and Jefferson,” Rubenstein said.

But Washington’s core message would remain at the heart of the public conception of the U.S. as a unified nation. “His intention is to urge people to put aside their differences and not get caught up in the squabbles of the international community,” Rubenstein explained. “As an administrator, he was witnessing all these tugs and pulls, and so this is his last major statement. These are the beliefs that he’s hoping people will follow.”

Legislators across the political spectrum embraced the importance of checks and balances, the authority of the Constitution and the need for national unity with conviction in the years that followed.

The National Museum of American History is home to a critical relic of the farewell address: a candle stand. “According to family tradition,” Rubenstein said, “Washington worked on his farewell address by [its] light.”

During the pre-electric era, candle stands with reflectors were often used to increase the light output of a candle at night. They were placed on desks like reading lamps. This brass stand was passed down among Washington’s descendants before being sold to the government in 1878.

That the artifact is important enough to be identified as not just the Washington candle stand but specifically the “George Washington farewell address candle stand” illustrates just how resonant Washington’s words were, both at the time and now.

In reflecting upon the farewell address, it’s easy to see that the very issues Washington focused on—political rivalry, foreign affairs—“are still relevant today,” Rubenstein said. The ideas in Washington’s farewell still help to guide lawmakers and ordinary citizens alike. His address was the subject of a 2018 book and is revered as a foundationally important text for the nation. Each year since 1896, senators have read Washington’s address during a legislative session to mark the first president’s birthday.

“At its core, I think that we still desire many of the aspirations that Washington professed in this document,” said Rubenstein. “Ultimately, we want people to think of the good of the nation.”

Joseph Stromberg | | READ MORE

Joseph Stromberg was previously a digital reporter for Smithsonian.

Kayla Randall | READ MORE

Kayla Randall is Smithsonian magazine's digital editor, museums.