Washington's Farewell

The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations

John Avlon

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Year: 2017
• Print ISBN: 9781476746470
• eBook ISBN: 9781476746487
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early American History
• Index: History

“A vivid portrait…and thoughtful consideration of George Washington’s wisdom that couldn’t be timelier” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review). A revealing look at the first President’s Farewell Address, a still-relevant warning against partisan politics and foreign entanglements.

George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter he wrote to his fellow citizens and signed from a “parting friend,” addressing the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars. In it, Washington called for unity among “citizens by birth or choice,” advocated moderation, defended religious pluralism, proposed a foreign policy of independence (not isolation), and proposed that education is essential to democracy. He established the precedent for the peaceful transfer of power.

Washington’s urgent message was adopted by Jefferson after years of opposition and quoted by Lincoln in defense of the Union. Woodrow Wilson invoked it for nation-building; Eisenhower for Cold War; Reagan for religion. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Yet its message remains starkly relevant today. In Washington’s Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.

Washington’s Farewell “brings to light Washington’s goodbye by elucidating what it meant not only during the early days of the republic, but its lasting effect through the centuries” (Library Journal, starred review). Now the Farewell Address may inspire a new generation to re-center their politics and reunite our nation through the lessons rooted in Washington’s shared experience.

INDEX

A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

abolitionist movement, 210

Adams, Abigail, 76, 175

Adams, John, 32, 56, 154, 157, 168, 185, 189

death of, 216–17

on education, 175–76

election campaigns of, 201, 211–12

presidency of, 201, 202, 210

in Revolution, 135

as vice president, 3–4, 51, 65, 72, 76, 107, 112, 166, 201

writing style of, 5

Adams, John Quincy, 191–92, 215–18

Adams, Sam, 133

Addison, Joseph, 4, 113, 125, 168–70

Adet, Pierre-Auguste, 192

African-Americans, 218, 281

see also slavery; slaves

African Freedom Day, 270

African Methodist Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, 210

Alexander Hamilton: The Greatest American (Vandenberg), 253, 263

Alexander the Great, 102

Alexandria, Va., 182, 202

Alien and Sedition Acts (1798), 212

Alison, Archibald, 91

Allen, Richard, 210–11

America First Committee, 262

“American,” GW’s use of term, 106

American Crisis, The (Paine), 61

American democracy:

citizen responsibility in, 1, 105–6, 128, 161–62, 173, 268–69, 285

durability and prosperity of, 220–21

effect of geographic size on, 99, 103–4, 109, 126

first Farewell...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction
• Section I: The Crisis of Creation
• Section II: Washington’s Pillars of Liberty
• Section III: The Afterlife of the Idea
• Conclusion
• Appendix: Washington’s Farewell Address
• Photographs
• Author’s Note
• About John Avlon
• Notes
• Illustration Credits
• Index
• Copyright