GEORGE WASHINGTON'S
FAREWELL ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE
OF THE UNITED STATES

This address was written primarily to eliminate himself as a candidate
for a third term.  It was never read by the President in public, but it was
printed in Claypoole's AMERICAN DAILY ADVERTISER, Philadelphia,
September 19, 1796. The address is in two parts: In the first, Washington
declines a third term, gives his reasons, and acknowledges a debt
of gratitude for the honors conferred upon him and for the confident
support of the people.  In the second more important part, he presents,
as a result of his experience and as a last legacy of advice, thoughts
upon the government.

George Washington gave Claypoole a manuscript which he called  "his copy"
 and it was from this manuscript that the type was set in the newspaper.

After Claypoole's death, the manuscript was ordered to be sold at auction
on February 12, 1850.  Senator Henry Clay on January 24 offered a joint     
resolution for its purchase by the government, but the resolution was not   
signed by President Taylor until the day of the sale.  The manuscript was
sold to James Lenox for $2,300, and passed, with his library, to the New
York Public Library.  There is no evidence of any bid on behalf of the
national government.

The following is an exact word for word text of the original.  Nothing has  
been changed or omitted except old English spelling and punctuation.


                  -------------

Friends, And Fellow Citizens

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the
United States, being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must
be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it
appears to   me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of
the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline
being considered among the number of those out of   whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that this resolution has not
been taken without a strict regard to all the   considerations appertaining to the relation
which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service
which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your
future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness; but am
supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.

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.

I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the
pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am
persuaded whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that, in the present
circumstances of our country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

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.

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life,
my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude
which I owe to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more
for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have
thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering,
though in usefulness unequal to my zeal.  If benefits have resulted to our country from these
services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example in our
annals, that under circumstances in which the passions, agitated in every direction, were
liable to mislead, amidst appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often
discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success has countenanced
the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts,
and a guarantee of the plans, by which they were effected.

Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave, as a strong
incitement to unceasing vows that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its
beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual;  that the free
constitution which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its
administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and virtue; that, in fine,
the happiness of the people of these States, under the auspices of liberty, may be made
complete, by so careful a preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire
to them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and adoption of every
nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare which  cannot end but with
my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me, on an occasion
like the present, to offer to your solemn contemplation, and to recommend to your frequent
review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable
observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a
people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them
the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive
to bias his counsel. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it your indulgent reception
of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts, no recommendation
of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the attachment.  The unity of government which
constitutes you one people, is also now dear to you.  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.
But as it is easy to foresee that, from different causes and from different quarters, much
pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of
this truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the batteries of internal
and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and
insidiously) directed, it is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the
immense value of your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that
you should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment to it; accustoming
yourself to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity;
watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may
suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning
upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest,
or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by birth or choice,
of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of
AMERICAN, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride
of patriotism, more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight
shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits and political principles.
You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together; the independence and liberty
you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings,
and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility,
are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest.  Here every
portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and
preserving the union of the whole.  

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal Laws of a
common government, finds, in the productions of the latter, great additional resources of
maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry.  The
South in the same intercourse, benefitting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture
grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the seamen of the
North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and while it contributes, in different
ways, to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks
forward to the protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted.

The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the progressive
improvement of interior communications, by land and water,will more and more find,
a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad, or manufactures at home.
The West derives from the East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is
perhaps of still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment
of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and the future
maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community
of interest as one Nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential
advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and
unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in union,
all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater
strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less
frequent interruption of their peace by foreign Nations; and, what is of inestimable value,
they must derive from union an exemption from those broils and wars between themselves,
hich so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same government,
which  their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign
alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will
avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of
government, are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly
hostile to republican liberty.  In this sense it is, that your Union ought to be considered as
a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the
preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind,
and exhibit the continuance of the UNION as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a
doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a sphere?  Let experience
solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.  We are authorized to
hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments
for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to the experiment. It is well worth
a fair and full experiment.  With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting
all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability,
there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any quarter may
endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as matter of serious
concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterizing parties by
geographical discriminations, Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence
designing men may endeavor to excite a belief that there is a real difference of local
interests and views. One of the  expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular
districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts.

You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart burnings which
spring from thesemisrepresentations; they tend to render alien to each other those who
ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country
have lately had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by the
Executive,and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the treaty with Spain, and in the
universal satisfaction at that event, throughout the United States, a decisive proof how
unfounded were the suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general
Government and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to the
Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two treaties, that with
Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to them everything they could desire,
in respect to our foreign relations, towards confirming their prosperity.

Will it not betheir wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantaged on the UNION by
which they were procured?  Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there
are,who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole is indispensable.
No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must
inevitably experience the infractions and  interruptions which all alliances in all times have
experienced. Sensible  of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay,
by the  adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an
intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your  common concerns.

This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon
full investigation and mature  deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution
of  its powers uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own
amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support.  Respect for its authority,
compliance with its laws, acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the
fundamental maxims of true liberty.

The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their
constitutions of government.   But the constitution which at any time exists, till changed
by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all.
The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government
presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.  

All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and associations, under
whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control counteract, or awe the
regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities are destructive of this
fundamental principle and of fatal tendency.  They serve to organize faction, to give
it an artificial and extraordinary force; to put, in the place of the delegated will of the
nation, the will of a party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the
community; and, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the
public administration the mirror of the illconcerted and incongruous projects of faction,
rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common
councils, and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and then
answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent
engines, by which 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.

Towards the preservation of your Government and the permanency of your present happy
state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its
acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its
principles, however specious the pretexts.  One method of assault may be to effect, in the
forms of the constitution, alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and thus to
undermine what cannot be directly overthrown.  In all the changes to which you may be
invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of
governments, as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest standard by
which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in
changes, upon the credit of mere hypotheses and opinion, exposes to perpetual change,
from the endless variety of hypotheses and opinion; and remember, especially, that, for
the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a
government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is
indispensable.

Liberty itself will find in such a Government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted,
its surest guardian.  It is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble
to withstand the enterprise of faction, to confine each member of the society within the limits
prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the
rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to
the founding of them on geographical discriminations.  Let me now take a more
comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful
effects of the spirit of party, generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest
passions of the human mind.  It exists under different shapes in all governments, more
or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its
greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge,
natural to party dissention, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most
horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.  But this leads at length to a more formal
and permanent despotism.  The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the
minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual, and
sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his
competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins
of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be
entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are
sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils, and enfeeble the public administration.  It
agitates the community with ill founded jealousies and false alarms;  kindles the animosity
of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.  It opens the door
to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself
through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country, are
subjected to the policy and will of another.

There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the
administration of the government and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty.  This within
certain limits is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism
may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party.  But in those of the popular
character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.  
From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every
salutary purpose.  And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be,
by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it.  A fire not to be quenched, it
demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming,
it should consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution
, in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective
constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to
encroach upon another.  The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of
all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real
despotism.  A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which
predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position.

The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and
distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the
public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient
and modern;  some of them in our country and under our own eyes.  To preserve them
must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or
modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by
an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates.  But let there be no change
by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the
customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.  The precedent must always
greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use
can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,religion and morality are
indispensable supports.  In vain would that manclaim the tribute of patriotism, who should
labor to subvert these greatpillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of
men andcitizens.  The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought torespect and to
cherish them.  A volume could not trace all theirconnections with private and public felicity.  

Let it simply be asked,Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense
of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments ofinvestigation in courts of
justice?  And let us with caution indulge thesupposition that morality can be maintained
without religion. Whatever maybe conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of
peculiarstructure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that nationalmorality can
prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring ofpopular government.
The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force toevery species of free government.  Who
that is a sincere friend to it, canlook with indifference upon attempts to shake the
foundation of the fabric?

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for thegeneral diffusion of
knowledge. In proportion as the structure of agovernment gives force to public opinion,
it is essential that publicopinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of
preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoidingoccasions of expense by
cultivating peace, but remembering also that timelydisbursements to prepare for danger
frequently prevent much greaterdisbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the
accumulation of debt, notonly by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions
in time ofpeace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned,
not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves
ought to bear.

The execution of these maxims belongs to yourrepresentatives, but it is necessary that
public opinion should cooperate.  To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is
essential thatyou should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts
there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that notaxes can be
devised which are not more or less inconvenient andunpleasant; that the intrinsic
embarrassment inseparable from theselection of the proper objects (which is always a
choice of difficulties),ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the
conduct ofthe government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures
for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.  
Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally
enjoin it?  It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to
give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided
by an exalted justice and benevolence.

Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly
repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it?  Can
it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue?
The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature.
Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate
antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be
excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be
cultivated.  The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual
fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of
which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest.

Antipathy in one Nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and
injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when
accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur.  Hence frequent collisions, obstinate,
envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment
sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy.
The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through
passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation
subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister
and pernicious motives.  The peace often, sometimes perhaps the Liberty, of nations
has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils.  
Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest,
in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the
other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without
adequate inducement or justification.  It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of
privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions:  
by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained;  and by exciting jealousy,
ill will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld.  
And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the
favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium,
sometimes even with popularity;  gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of
obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good,
the base of foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly
alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot.  How many opportunities do they
afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public
opinion, to influence or awe the public councils!  Such an attachment of a small or weak,
towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens),
the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake; since history and experience
prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.

But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very
influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it.  Excessive partiality for one foreign
nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger
only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other.
Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected
and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people,
to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial
relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.  So far as we have
already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith.  Here let us stop.

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very remote relation.
Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially
foreign to our concerns.  Hence therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves,
by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations
and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course.
If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off, when
we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude
as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected;
when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not
lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our
interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation?  Why quit our own to stand upon
foreign ground?  Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe,
entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship,
interest, humor, or caprice?

`Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign
world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood
as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less
applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy.
I repeat it therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense.
But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a
respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances
for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and
interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand:
neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural
course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce,
but forcing nothing; establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable
course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support
them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual
opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied,
as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that `tis folly
in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion
of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance,
it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal
favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more.  There can be no
greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation.
'Tis an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend,
I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish;
that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from
running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations.  But if I may
even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some
occasional good;  that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit,
to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures
of pretended patriotism;  this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude for
your welfare by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the principles which
have been delineated, the public records and other evidences of my conduct must
witness to you and to the world.  To myself, the assurance of my own conscience is,
that I have at least believed myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the 22d of April, 1793,
is the index to my plan.  Sanctioned by your approving voice, and by that of your
representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually
governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well
satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take,
and was bound in duty and interest to take, a neutral position.  Having taken it,
I determined, as far as should depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation,
perseverance, and firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not necessary on this
occasion to detail.  I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter,
that right, so far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually
admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing more, from the
obligation which justice and humanity imposes on every nation, in cases in which it is free
to act, to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own
reflections and experience.  With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to
gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without
interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary
to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional
error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may have
committed many errors.  Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert
or mitigate the evils to which they may tend.  I shall also carry with me the hope, that my
country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five
years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent
abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love
towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the native soil of himself and his
progenitors for several generations, I anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat
in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking,
in the midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free
government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust,
of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

                                             George Washington

United States, 17th September 1796
Independence Day
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