{"product_id":"2940012587015","title":"Washington's Farewell Address to the People of the United States","description":"In September 1796, worn out by burdens of the presidency and attacks\u003cbr\u003eof political foes, George Washington announced his decision not to seek\u003cbr\u003ea third term. With the assistance of Alexander Hamilton and James\u003cbr\u003eMadison, Washington composed in a “Farewell Address” his political\u003cbr\u003etestament to the nation. Designed to inspire and guide future generations,\u003cbr\u003ethe address also set forth Washington’s defense of his administration’s\u003cbr\u003erecord and embodied a classic statement of Federalist doctrine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWashington’s principal concern was for the safety of the eight-yearold\u003cbr\u003eConstitution. He believed that the stability of the Republic was\u003cbr\u003ethreatened by the forces of geographical sectionalism, political factionalism,\u003cbr\u003eand interference by foreign powers in the nation’s domestic affairs.\u003cbr\u003eHe urged Americans to subordinate sectional jealousies to common\u003cbr\u003enational interests. Writing at a time before political parties had\u003cbr\u003ebecome accepted as vital extraconstitutional, opinion-focusing agencies,\u003cbr\u003eWashington feared that they carried the seeds of the nation’s destruction\u003cbr\u003ethrough petty factionalism. Although Washington was in no\u003cbr\u003esense the father of American isolationism, since he recognized the necessity\u003cbr\u003eof temporary associations for “extraordinary emergencies,” he\u003cbr\u003edid counsel against the establishment of “permanent alliances with\u003cbr\u003eother countries,” connections that he warned would inevitably be subversive\u003cbr\u003eof America’s national interest.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWashington did not publicly deliver his Farewell Address. It first appeared\u003cbr\u003eon September 19, 1796, in the Philadelphia Daily American\u003cbr\u003eAdvertiser and then in papers around the country.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn January 1862, with the Constitution endangered by civil war, a thousand\u003cbr\u003ecitizens of Philadelphia petitioned Congress to commemorate the\u003cbr\u003eforthcoming 130th anniversary of George Washington’s birth by providing\u003cbr\u003ethat “the Farewell Address of Washington be read aloud on the morning\u003cbr\u003eof that day in one or the other of the Houses of Congress.” Both\u003cbr\u003ehouses agreed and assembled in the House of Representatives’ chamber\u003cbr\u003eon February 22, 1862, where Secretary of the Senate John W. Forney “rendered\u003cbr\u003e‘The Farewell Address’ very effectively,” as one observer recalled.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe practice of reading the Farewell Address did not immediately become\u003cbr\u003ea tradition. The address was first read in regular legislative sessions\u003cbr\u003eof the Senate in 1888 and the House in 1899. (The House continued\u003cbr\u003ethe practice until 1984.) Since 1893 the Senate has observed\u003cbr\u003eWashington’s birthday by selecting one of its members to read the\u003cbr\u003eFarewell Address. The assignment alternates between members of each\u003cbr\u003epolitical party. At the conclusion of each reading, the appointed senator\u003cbr\u003einscribes his or her name and brief remarks in a black, leatherbound\u003cbr\u003ebook maintained by the secretary of the Senate.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe version of the address printed here is taken from the original of\u003cbr\u003ethe final manuscript in the New York Public Library provided courtesy\u003cbr\u003eof The Papers of George Washington. The only changes have been to\u003cbr\u003emodernize spelling, capitalization, and punctuation.","brand":"1001 Property Solutions LLC","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47147486642416,"sku":"2940012587015","price":2.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012587015_p0.jpg?v=1763570523","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012587015","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}