The Farewell Address By George Washinton

George Washington was a farmer who lived in Virginia. Later on in his life he became the commander-in-chief and the general of the colonial armies during the Revolutionary War. After his time serving in the army, he became the first United States president during 1789 to 1797. Before he left the office he wrote the Farewell Address to the American citizens to tell them what to do when he would leave the office and no longer be the United States president. Some of the points he stressed in his Farewell Address to the American people are to stay as one, avoid all parties, and keep to ourselves.

One of the first statements George Washington stressed in his Farewell Address is to stay together as one. He wanted the American people to stick together and be a family. He wanted us to make ourselves a priority and to not let anything divide us. If we were to stay as one we could be stronger and we will be able to get along with each other easier which would help protect our freedom from other countries that want to take that away. He also warned us about geographic separation issues. The North and South, the Atlantic and West are going to try to show more of the differences between them rather than the similarities. This is more of a reason why we need to stick together and not listen to the rumors of the people trying to tear us away from each other. We also don’t need to turn against the government or the constitution. If we do not agree with something on the constitution then we should change it rather than go against it. George Washington informed us that going against the government could create unpleasant forces of power that would break-up the American people rather than keep us together as one.

Another key point Washington emphasized in his Farewell Address was, all political parties, for most part, are no good. Political parties are small groups who say they are supporting certain issues to gather all the support they can from the people. Political parties fight over power and the control will go back and forth like two five-year-olds bickering over a toy. This results in both parties getting more and more furious, breaking the people apart, which will cause conflict among the American people. They also tend to end up leading to a more controlling government which takes freedom away from the citizens. The head of these political parties take all of the support and they use it as power to do what they want. These political parties weaken the government and turn the people against each other. The head of these parties fill their supporters with jealousy and invalid facts which will, in the end, result in riots and protests. Political parties also give other countries a gateway to take over our system and take control of as many parties as they can. That is just another way that the American people lose their freedom and other countries take control. George Washington did write that maybe political parties are here to defend the freedom of the people and put the government in check when it needs to be, but usually the parties are ran by power hungry, selfish people who want to overthrow the government rather than standing up for a certain issue. George Washington suggested no political parties what-so-ever in the future. As long as we stay together as one, like he also suggested, then there will not be any need for political parties and we will not have to worry about conflicts coming from that category.

An additional warning President George Washington focused his attention on in his Farewell Address, is to keep to ourselves. He expressed to avoid permanent alliances with foreign countries. Permanent alliances are unpleasant because we end up giving away belongings and control when we should not be and it can cause the American people to build up jealousy and to become disloyal to each other. Permanent alliances give bigger, stronger countries room to attach to us and get stuck having to do what they want to keep the alliance. We also have to be careful when focusing on one foreign country because we could accidentally slip into another alliance with more countries. Washington also makes it clear to keep the promises we have already made with these foreign countries but we should try not to make any more. We should also keep to ourselves by staying out the conflicts European has with other countries so we do not end up making more enemies because of our alliance with Europe. We do not want to end up losing the country that we have made because of European driven conflicts. If we keep to ourselves then we can become strong enough to not get pushed around by the bigger foreign countries. Washington suggest we be fair, politically nice, try to stay on good terms, and be financially open with all of our alliances and other foreign countries. He also proposes we just let everything around us go as it is and to look out for ourselves and work on ourselves.