Menasha Public Library (Elisha D. Smith)

Washington's farewell, the founding father's warning to future generations, John Avlon

eng

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Washington's farewell

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John Avlon

the founding father's warning to future generations

"The Farewell was published at the end of Washington's second term. It was reprinted in newspapers across the country. The President began the letter during his first term intending to retire but was persuaded by Hamilton and Jefferson to run for a second. By the end of that term he was the object of scurrilous press attacks and alarmed by the growing partisan bitterness. Fearful for the country's future, Washington pled with his countrymen to resist hyper-partisanship and foreign alliances. He called for unity among "citizens by birth or choice," defended religious pluralism, called for national education. His message to the country was urgent. Avlon describes how it was quoted by Jackson, Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and importantly by Lincoln in defense of the Union. Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson called on it for nation-building; Kennedy for Cold war; Reagan for religion. Clinton kept a copy on his Oval Office wall. In Washington's Farewell, Avlon offers important insight into Washington's his final public days, presenting not only a startling description of the perilous state of the new nation but a rare view of the man behind the usual face of a tranquil First Father"--, Provided by publisher

Section I: The crisis of creation -- The first farewell -- Washington at home -- A reluctant president -- The seeds of the two-party system -- The death of the one-term dream -- Second-term blues -- Hating George Washington -- A time of riots and insurrection -- Washington's squabbling surrogate sons -- A farewell "importantly and lastingly useful" -- Section II: Washington's pillars of liberty -- National unity: join or die -- Political moderation: the fight against factions -- Final discipline: debt and taxes -- Virtue and religion: the faith of the first founding father -- Education: "public opinion should be enlightened" -- A foreign policy of independence: peace through strength -- Section III: The afterlife of the idea -- Unshackled at the end -- Washington wins the war of ideas -- A farewell fraud? -- The farewell for sale -- Washington is blue and gray -- World wars and the temptation of empire -- Ike's inspiration -- The farewell echoes on