Washington's Farewell Address

WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS Name Course Date WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS The first president of United States, George Washington, delivered a vital historical speech in 1796 towards the end of his time in office. Washington’s speech is adored among the essential documents that guide and advise Americans and most importantly, his predecessor presidents on the importance of promoting unity, religion, morality, and developing sound foreign policies. In the Farewell address Washington instils hope and direction on Americans. He emphasizes his desire to see America being a developed and prosperous country in the future. On issues of foreign counties, Washington emphasizes on the importance of checks and balances, having political parties that promote development agendas and warning the country not to stay in debt with other countries. Washington dedicated a significant part of his speech to advise the state on foreign policies. In the statement, he warns the nation on the dangers of allying with foreign countries. Washington viewed international relations as foreign entanglements. The paper discusses President Washington’s Farewell Address on the issues of foreign policy.[T. Newell, "Washington Steps Down: The Farewell Address," Statesmanship, Character, and Leadership in America, 2012, 14,] [D. Merrill and T. Paterson, Major Problems in American Foreign Relations, Volume II: Since 1914 (Boston, MA: Cengage Learning, 2009), 45.] Washington speech hit the nation at the period when international politics were taking shape. He did not see the importance of Americans participating in foreign alliances because he viewed them as political entanglements. According to him, international relations had no good for the people of the United States. For instance, the French Revolutionary Wars between British and France had split the Americans into two political blocks. The America republicans favored France while the federalists supported Britain. During his leadership, Washington had maintained the United States as a neutral nation free from international interference. He held that long term alliances could attract unnecessary wars that ruin the identity and dignity of the country.[T. Newell, "Washington Steps Down: The Farewell Address," Statesmanship, Character, and Leadership in America, 2012, xx, doi:10.1057/9781137084729_1.] The speech by Washington directly focused on the issues of national and international strength. According to the president, internal power leads to global stability; thus, Americans should focus on building unity among the people through their political parties. The Farewell address directly communicates to the United States as “friends and citizens”. Any country fights to have unity. Although Washington was the president of a new state, new concept and a new political entity he ensured that all the affiliate states were inclined towards the common good of the people. Washington holds a strong belief that a nation that is perceived to be weak in international discussions will fall. Such a national may collapse due to external pressures and opportunities or internal factions. The presidents alluded to the republicans and federalists to remain real for the people and promote internal unity. Internal unity promotes success in foreign policy negotiations.[V. H. Paltsits., "Washington's Farewell Address: In Facsimile, with Transliterations of All the Drafts of Washington, Madison, & Hamilton Together with Their correspondence and Other Supporting Documents," The SHAFR Guide Online, 2015, 211,] The United States seemed to have neglected Washington’s position on foreign policy. A new form of governance different from Washington’s opinion appears to be taking effect in the United States. Although Washington foreign policy had both positive and negative manifestation, it had a critical message to the party factions evident in both the republicans and the federalist’s political parties. The underlying sediment in Washington’s message was that the country should not participate in international relations. The me...