The American independence movement, the revolution that won us that independence, and the Constitution that in time arose from that independence, all have one thing in common: They were drafted, proposed, and carried out by some of the most astute political thinkers in human history. They were grounded in history, from the Greek and Roman republics to the Enlightenment, and they represented a range of interests, from farmers to shopkeepers to wealthy businessmen and landowners.
One of the most remarkable of these was the man who arguably won the Revolutionary War, the first President of the United States under the Constitution, George Washington. When President Washington laid down the mantle of the presidency and went back to Mount Vernon, the capitals of Europe were shaken; this wasn't something that just happened, when and where a man held supreme executive authority, then just gave it up and handed the reins of power over, after an election, at that. This was something that was only known from ancient history, when old Cincinnatus surrendered the powers of a Dictator of Rome and went back to his farm.
But that's not what makes George Washington's 1796 farewell speech so remarkable. No, it is the content of that speech that makes it worth reading, which you can do here. On this 250th anniversary of the United States, this is a worthy addition to your reading list.
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Let's look at some key comments from that speech and apply them to things today.
First, President Washington seemed to see the presidency not as a personal opportunity or as a chance to amass power for power's sake. He saw it as a duty, and himself not as a ruler, but as the servant of the people.
The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea.
Look at that first sentence, and while it's rendered in the rather prolix style of the time, it makes it plain that Washington probably would have preferred to remain at Mount Vernon, but he had regard for the call of the American people in those first two elections - "...to which your suffrages have twice called me," to carry out a "...uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty." A soldier, Washington, understood duty. Few politicians today understand the meaning of the word.
Second, Washington notes the very temporary nature of this duty, that so badly shook the capitals of Europe.
The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious in the outset of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it.
Key phrase: "Satisfied that if any circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I have the consolation to believe that, while choice and prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it." While Washington chose to leave the presidency and, unwittingly, set the two-term informal standard that remained in place until the presidency of Franklin Roosevelt, his comments carry a tone of relief that the option was open to him - and did not preclude anyone from diverging from his example. He also notes that patriotism should be any successor's primary guideline.
Read it all. George Washington was, almost certainly, the best possible choice for the inaugural leader of the new republic. He set examples, personal and professional, that still apply today, and while many, mostly on the left, will point and cry, "but he was a slaveowner!" We must judge Washington also as a man of his own time, not ours. We judge the man in the balance, and in the case of George Washington, he is found anything but wanting.
That's why George Washington, more than any of the other remarkable men who won us our independence, deserves to be described as the father of our country.
