Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations

by John P. Avlon

George Washington’s Farewell Address was a prophetic letter from a “parting friend” to his fellow citizens about the forces he feared could destroy our democracy: hyper-partisanship, excessive debt, and foreign wars.

Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely reprinted than the Declaration of Independence, the Farewell Address is now almost forgotten. Its message remains starkly relevant. In Washington’s Farewell, John Avlon offers a stunning portrait of our first president and his battle to save America from self-destruction.

At the end of his second term, Washington surprised Americans by publishing his Farewell message in a newspaper. The President 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. Now the Farewell Address may inspire a new generation to re-center our politics and reunite our nation through the lessons rooted in Washington’s experience.

As John Avlon describes the perilous state of the new nation that Washington was preparing to leave as its leader, with enduring wisdom, he reveals him to be the indispensable Founding Father.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Politics, Biography, Historical, American History, Presidents

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 10, 2017

About the author

John Phillips Avlon (born 1973) is the author of Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics and Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America. He was a columnist and associate editor for The New York Sun and worked as chief speechwriter for former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. He was Director of Speechwriting and Deputy Policy Director for Giuliani's 2008 presidential campaign. He is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He is senior political columnist at TheDailyBeast.com.

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book.

“The heirs of Jefferson and Madison would be the Democratic-Republicans, the heirs of Hamilton and Adams would be the Federalists. But the heirs of Washington would be all Americans.”

[Josh Caporale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had my mind set on reading a presidential biography during the month of February and wanted to read something that was recently released. When looking through a presidential biography blog, I came across Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations, which explores the noteworthy Farewell Address George Washington wrote and released in 1796, as his second and final term was coming to a close. Before a limit of two terms became an amendment in 1951, Washington asserted his belief that a president was only meant to serve two terms, for they were not a king or subject to royalty. While a two-term limit was an important factor of Washington's beliefs, this book covers the details that one needs to know about Washington's address and the legacy it has had on future presidents.

This book is sorted into approaches and ideas. The first part of the book is a historical background that begins with Washington's farewell when he stepped down as general and continues to his acceptance of the presidency. While Washington was pleased with retirement, he felt it was his duty to keep this new and still unstable country together. This first part covers his presidency and the events and people that had inspiration on his farewell address in some way, shape, or form. The second part talks about the ideas Washington was conveying, while the third part talked about the address' legacy and the influence it had on future presidents and reached as current as the Lin-Manuel Miranda play Hamilton, which gave great emphasis to Washington's Farewell.

I liked how John Avlon, the editor in chief of The Daily Beast and author of a book called Wingnuts about the left and right wings dominating the moderate figures in politics, said what he needed to say and provide me with a great idea of what it was I needed to know about the farewell and its impact on politics. This was the first biography of any form I read that was exclusively about George Washington, but I had a greater idea about Washington and his environment. I liked the examples that Avlon used to strengthen Washington's arguments and I got a great understanding of how Washington was viewed as our greatest independent, moderate president that did not want to see the country split into two parties in favor of politics.

What was really interesting to look at was the impact Washington had on future presidents. Immediately, just about every president would reshape into a figure that was like Washington and inspired by his policies. As time went by, everyone would take a position that they felt made them look as if they were following Washington's ideology. In the end, Washington remains one of a kind in a world and of a species that can be scrapped down to one entity: that of human nature. While this is not explored in this book and I can probably say that Washington did not defy the traits of human nature in any which way, he did have a sense of self-control and stood where he stood, not bending his beliefs for any given reason.

I feel that this book was definitely a great effort on Avlon's behalf in outlining a sense of importance and making it so that it was accessible and in a way, fun to learn about. There are moments where I feel people are going to feel a bit muddled in the details about his "Pillars of Liberty," but I think a great effort is taken in Avlon's effort to develop a greater understanding of this important address and the political structure on both the historical level and how it attributes to today. There are some details I wish were included or addressed accordingly, but I feel that it addresses what it needs to and that is what matters.

[Tsedai · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should read this book.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

George Washington's Farewell Address can be found as a free PDF at this link. I highly recommend reading it even if you don't read this book which has it at the end. The language is a little convoluted, but it's fantastic today, over 2 centuries later, & addresses some points we should all be thinking of far more such as party partisanship & politics. They were so bad way back then that we almost didn't survive; probably wouldn't have save for Washington's sacrifice of 2 terms as president. This book makes that clear, although it is clearly biased toward both him & the Federalist party.

There is a lot of good historical background, but take it with a grain of salt. Paul Harvey would have had a ball with this book for "The Rest of the Story". I'm no scholar of the period, but caught quite a few simplifications that harmed its veracity. That's a shame, but most historical scholars have a bias. Avlon's were pretty obvious, but he did a good job in many other ways, so I highly recommend it. I'll put more comments & some examples in the ToC under each section.

Table of Contents
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”

Very good intro & overview despite the bias. It's obvious that Avlon doesn't like Thomas Jefferson or the Democratic-Republican party of the time. While there is much to dislike (on both sides) Avlon makes it clear he's a complete Federalist & Hamilton apologist. For instance, Aaron Burr is described as Alexander Hamilton's assassin leaving out how annoying Hamilton was or how high tempers ran. (Hamilton could have given Semmelweis lessons both in brilliance & attitude.) Also, it was a duel, the first & only one Hamilton actually had, although he was involved in over a dozen 'affairs of honor'. Burr was just the one who finally got him on the field.

I really didn't like Avlon's coverage of The Whiskey Rebellion which comes off as spurious on the part of small farmers. It wasn't. The tax hugely favored large distillers & whiskey was money. The farmers didn't have any say in the matter, thus it was taxation without representation, a prime motivation for the Revolution, so it pissed off a lot of veterans most of whom were poorly paid for their sacrifice. In hindsight, the rebellion was almost inevitable. IOW, Avlon simplified the situation into absurdity & did a great disservice to the farmers.

SECTION II:
WASHINGTON’S PILLARS OF LIBERTY
National Unity: Join or Die
Political Moderation: The Fight Against Factions
Fiscal 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

Excellent introduction into the section. GW's views on party partisanship & education are incredibly relevant today. I wish I had the ebook so could put in some of Avlon's supporting quotes on GW's influences. GW's studies of the failings of prior republics is enlightening & scary. Avlon's coverage of Fiscal Discipline was repetitive & light, though. Again, he slights the problems with taxes & their collection even though he finally makes the point that it was the main spark for the Revolution. Still, he misses the irony of Sam Adams' position & hand in the Riot Act although he mentions Shay's Rebellion. The rest was good.

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 in Blue and Gray
World Wars and the Temptation of Empire
Ike’s Inspiration
The Farewell Echoes On

Again, cherry-picked, but I think it had to be. It's a fairly good summation of the influence of Washington & his Farewell Speech since then. He's certainly a secular saint of our country & deserves the title. Avlon managed to show his character & strength very well throughout & in this summation of his legacy, he shines even brighter.

Conclusion
Appendix: Washington’s Farewell Address - definitely listen to this. In audio, it reads much better than on paper for me. If you can't get through it, here's a decent summary in modern language.

Very well narrated & a really interesting book. A big thanks to Cam, my cousin, who recommended it. I'll do likewise, but keep in mind there is a lot more to the story than Avlon tells. For instance, he dismisses Benedict Arnold with one line about "The Traitor" failing to mention his earlier appellation as the "Hero of Saratoga" or his heroic journey through Maine & the fight on the Great Lakes. Avlon is also really light on the economics of the time. Money was a prime motivator & Washington was one of the few who resisted its pull, for the most part. It makes him an even greater man, IMO.

[Immigration Art · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every American needs to read this book.

Washington set forth basic policy recommendations -- for future citizens and civic leaders -- in fiscal matters; in civic morality, ethics, and education; and he warned of corrosive factionalism (North vs. South, Urban vs. Agricultural Suburban, Federalist vs. Democratic-Republican).

Washington identified these issues as the sensitive areas through which our nation could be split apart, and give rise to an unscrupulous, cunningly ambitious demagogue that would most likely subvert our country's founding principles to install himself as an authoritarian despot.

Read. This. Book. Before Election Day. November 2024.

5 Stars.

[Julian Douglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book. More of a History of the farewell, how it came to be, how Washington came up with the pillars, and how contemporary politicians have used (or not used) the farewell to guide their decision making. A good book to read as Mr. Avlon puts to bed some myths not only of the man, but of the meaning of the draft as well.

The main point the Mr. Avlon comes across is that Washington never meant to have his wisdom or the points in his address become the guiding political wisdom for the next 250 years of this country, but with the mythmaking of Washington, it would almost be un-American to say that Washington was an alright president who's view of certain modern developments would have been bad. Washington, not living long after his presidency, and fading from public life because he generally did not care after he was done with politics, really let the myth of him grow, and he did virtually nothing to stop it.

Good book on the farewell, I feel that the last part could have been shorter, and he really did not need to give a full length review of Hamilton, the Musical, at the end. Still worth the time to read.

[Gloria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-researched, thoughtful look at the first president's times and legacy as seen through his Farewell Address, whose precepts remain surprisingly relevant today. Highly recommended.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

The power of Washington's farewell address lies in its ability to be timely and relevant now, over 200 years later, and in all times since it was first published.

This book shared how the address itself came to be, the issues of the time that helped shape Washington's views, and how the address has been used or referenced by various groups throughout history to support their stance on current issues.

**Edited from 4 stars to 5 stars because I've spent the last year repeatedly returning to this subject and what it means to be a great leader, and (although this is the time of crazy politics) I don't think I would have kept returning if the book wasn't so well done**

[Michael Duquaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love reading about American history. In reading this book, I learned more about George Washington and those people close to him, and I hadn’t ever heard about Washington’s farewell address let alone read it. The reason I only gave this three stars was because outside the historical facts, the author took what I felt were frequent and unfair attacks on Thomas Jefferson. While it is reasonable to address the strained relationship between former friends, the frequent jabs were a distraction to the telling of this story. It felt like this self proclaimed centrist (and failed Democrat candidate for a NY congressional seat in 2024) author had an agenda to destroy Jefferson’s legacy. I am glad I read this book though, because I find value in reading historical accounts from a variety of perspectives so that I may formulate my own personal view of American history. I have at least 2 more books on George Washington I plan to read. If you want more details about Washington as a general, I’d recommend the book 1776. This one is 3.5 stars

[Maggie Boyd · Rating 2 out of 5]

While reading this book I found myself in an unusual position. Not being a fan of Thomas Jefferson, I was surprised to find myself agitated on his behalf as this book did a complete smear campaign on his reputation. Pulling out his every questionable act and contrasting it with a George Washington who all but walked on water, the author seemed to show us a Jefferson of the lowest sort, a man who was a political chameleon who cheerfully stabbed his friends on the way up the ladder. This isn't exactly accurate; while it is true that Jefferson was a politician and revolutionary, capable of employing guerilla style tactics in his campaigns against certain government policies, he was also a firm patriot and devoted to the cause of liberty wherever such a cause could make a stand.

Judicially using quotes to back up his version of history, the author would have you believe the ambitious Washington was a put upon soul who had had no desire to ever hold public office. This is at odds with my understanding of both how Washington got the generalship of the U.S. Army and his first term as President. Washington was an ambitious man, who married for money and carefully maneuvered himself into a position of power. Watch any history channel special on the founding of the U.S. and that becomes readily apparent.

Glossing over why many of the founding fathers did not want a strong central government, the author carefully side steps the dangers Washington placed the country in by making the President head of the military, an action which many of our early congressional members were opposed to because it made it too easy for a megalomaniac to seize control of government. Some folks are just beginning to feel the stirrings of that unease now.

The author would also have you believe the slave holding Washington was a great guy because he released his slaves upon his death. Richard Parkinson, an Englishman who lived near Mount Vernon, once reported that "it was the sense of all his [Washington's] neighbors that he treated [his slaves] with more severity than any other man." It is known that Washington both whipped his slaves and sold them to the Caribbean, a particularly difficult situation, on several occasions. He owned slaves since 11 years of age and purchased them regularly throughout his life.

I don't say these things to slam George Washington. He was a great leader and good for this country. He had many admirable traits, most especially his temperate nature in the political arena (he had a temper in private but commendably kept control of it in public) and his tolerance of religious differences. I think the people of his time choose wisely in making him our first leader. What bothers me is that the author seemed to gloss over Washington's flaws in order to make a hero for large government out of a man who most likely wouldn't support the size of government we have now.

As far as the farewell address, Mr. Avlon spent precious little time on it and gave us a scant overview of what it means for this generation. He seemed more anxious to give us cherry picked history than he did to actually tell us about what the document said and what that means for us now. I believe that is in large part because two of the pillars which Washington placed as foundational stones of governance are limited debt and a primarily isolationist policy of governance. This would put the authors clearly left leaning politics to the strain. We have been led to war by numerous democrats as well as republicans and the democratic party is not known for fiscal conservatism. As an independent, I don't say this laude one party over the other: republicans are no more likely to live up to Washington's ideals than democrats. I mention it to point out that taking a biased look at history results in this kind of faulty scholarship.

Overall this book was a great disappointment to me. The last section was interesting and engaging but the author's obvious bias kept the early portions both from being accurate and from serving as enlightening in any way.

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

More than any other President (except Lincoln), Washington instinctively understood that, as Avlon puts it: "[w]hile freedom can be a state of nature, liberty requires...self-discipline." As he came to the end of his preeminent career, young America's indispensable leader wished to leave a legacy of ideas to teach the self-discipline his infant country needed to survive. This very enjoyable and informative book describes the historical events surrounding the creation of the Farewell Address and its place in the political conversation of our country in the centuries that followed its appearance in a Philadelphia newspaper in 1796. Washington sets out six "Pillars of Liberty," which all Americans today would do well to take to heart: the need for national unity, fiscal restraint, civic pride, public education, an autonomous foreign policy and the dangers of party rancor. For nearly two centuries after its publication, the Farewell Address endured as a widely read and recited chapter of America's "civic scripture." These days, the Farewell Address is all but forgotten at a time when its wisdom deserves our special attention. As Daniel Webster put it: "Washington's Farewell is full of truths...he saw and pointed out the dangers that even at this moment most imminently threaten us." Times may change but, as Washington foresaw, the threats to liberty remain the same.

[Jay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I will be somewhat surprised if the George Washington Book Prize in 2018 doesn't go to Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations.

Rather than post a long, detailed review, I’ll just say “Read it.” It is a well-written and timely book about a message from the Father of Our Country that really ought to return to its rightful status as American Civic Scripture, alongside the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Federalist Papers, and the Gettysburg Address.

[Mike Sachse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was important for me because of the current political climate in America. It help provide useful guidance in dealing with my fellow citizens.
The only negative comment I have is that there were a few instances of repetition.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really interesting listen, though perhaps best suited to a physical format. The history is very complicated, interconnected, and intense.

I didn't know much about Washington's story, or even much about the foundation of America after the Revolutionary War. I heard John P. Avlon interviewed on Charlie Rose over a year ago when Obama was about to give his farewell address. Avlon was so well spoken and presented the information so well that I really wanted the book, but then with the first year of Trump and stress in personal life I just didn't feel I could get through the heavy American history. When I finally decided to go for it, I was enthralled by the history, confused at times, but also really interested. It probably took me another half the book's total run time of skipping back to try and understand things. I purposefully went on long walks with the dog I was taking care of just to try to get in larger chunks of the book at one time.

I recommend it for people interested in American history, politics, or current affairs, but would recommend getting a physical version of the book!

[Phil · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author John Avlon calls Washington's Farewell, "the greatest speech you'll never read". His parting Farewell to the nation influenced U.S. foreign policy throughout the 19th century and into the early 20th century. It has been invoked by his successors, and is still read each year in the U.S. Senate on Washington’s birthday. It inspired Eisenhower's own (2nd most famous) farewell address on the dangers of the military industrial complex. Washington’s advice and warnings still have relevance to today’s world, His urging of political moderation derived from the political infighting and factionalism that emerged in the nation's earliest days. Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson battled each other throughout Washington’s presidency, resulting in the formation of ideologically diverse and rival political parties. Yet, they realized the importance of common cause. A notion, sadly, lost in today's Republican hyper-partisanship.

[Gina Hanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who has a hard time reading history books I found this one kept my attention and was easy to read. I like that the author seemed balanced with his representation of Washington making him feel like more of a fallible man than an untouchable legend.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the Farewell itself in the appendix both before and after you read the bulk of the book. Should be required reading in any high school Civics class (where there is one at all).

[Suresh Ramaswamy · Rating 5 out of 5]

At the very outset, let me clarify that I am neither a US Citizen nor a resident of United States. However, since the country occupies a position of pride in the comity of nations, for more than forty years, I have been following the activities of that nation, economic, commercial and political.

The standards of politics in the US has been steadily declining – and now it is in the pits. During my visit to USA in 1988 – 89, the Regan Bush Era, I faced racial taunts in California of all the places, which was not apparent in the southern states of Florida or Texas. In following the politics, the high standards the Senators and Representatives are supposed to follow rings hollow each passing year.

The Presidential elections of 2016 was a watershed – probably they can’t fall lower – but the mid-terms of 2018 disabused the observer of this notion. Around the first week of November 2018, I laid my hands on a copy of this book “Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations”. John Avlon’s book is well researched and written as an easy flowing narrative. That a 6,000 word essay could be turned into a four hundred plus page book (apart from the photographs and reference notes – the whole book is five hundred pages) was tellingly brought home in this publication.

As detailed below, partisanship and divisive politics now rule the political and societal landscape across America. Under Donald Trump sexism (misogyny), homophobia and xenophobia rule the roost. Racially motivated violence against blacks, coloured and Hispanics is now par for the course. Violence against critics is now acceptable.

In the two hundred and twenty years, since Washington printed his Farewell Message to “The People of the United States”, at no time was the wise counsel and warning of the Founding Father to the Future Generations more required – not even during the divisive Civil War.

The Republicans under Trump are bent on destroying the fabric of the Republic of United States – and unfortunately they are succeeding. These two years have been a nightmare and will continue to be for at least another two or more if sense does not prevail on the US electorate and they give Trump another term. And eight years of Trumpism will lead to the demise of this great nation.

The Farewell Address is still read aloud each year in the U.S. Senate, the honour alternating between Democrats and Republicans, intended to serve as a reminder of the obligations Washington imposed on his inheritors — a tribute given to no other speech in our nation. It is a great pity that Trump never followed his studies diligently and not having ever been a senator before being elected President, he does not have the foggiest notion of what Washington spoke about, and like a bull in the china shop he has run amok with the ship of the state.

It has inspired other presidents, most famously Dwight D. Eisenhower, to encapsulate their own farsighted farewell warnings about the existential threats facing our republic. But the only contemporary hardcover edition of the Farewell Address currently in print misstates the date of publication — it’s labelled September 17 rather than 19 — and declares that the speech was “delivered to the assembled members of Congress.” The Farewell’s most famous dictum — no entangling alliances — never actually appears in the address, while its core warning against hyper-partisanship has been ignored. Basic details have been lost alongside its central place in the civic debates of our nation.

About fifty years back in his farewell address President Eisenhower presciently warned “As we peer into society’s future, we — you and I, and our government — must avoid the impulse to live only for today, plundering for our own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow. We cannot mortgage the material assets of our grandchildren without asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage. We want democracy to survive for all generations to come.”

What a mockery of his dire warning that his own party’s members and leader today plunder for their own ease and convenience, the precious resources of tomorrow, and mortgage the material assets of their grandchildren asking the loss also of their political and spiritual heritage.

Washington used his Farewell Address to proclaim first principles that could offer enduring solutions: the pursuit of peace through strength, the wisdom of moderation, the importance of virtue and education to a self-governing people, as he established the precedent of the peaceful transfer of power. This was Washington’s final revolutionary act: an open letter to the American people, not formally delivered in front of legislators, but published in a newspaper on September 19, 1796.

The newspaper was not classy – not New York Times or such famous papers. It was a six cent Philadelphia daily known as “American Daily Advertiser”. As usual the first page was devoted to the customary catalogue of want-ads and items for sale: Irish Linens; Maderia wine, and runaway slaves.

The second and third pages comprised of a single item of dense text, addressed to “The People of the United States,” beginning with the words “Friends and Fellow Citizens,” and signed simply at the end in small type, ‘G. Washington’.

As the news of the First President’s departure spread on the streets of Philadelphia, George and Martha Washington were already gone, their bags packed by slaves in the shadow of Independence Hall, rolling on the three-day journey toward their beloved Mount Vernon on the banks of the Potomac.

For one hundred and twenty years “The Farewell Address” held undisputed sway. During the Civil War both sides quoted from it to justify their stand. It was unfailingly followed in US foreign Policy. But the world does not stand still. Washington’s advice of neutrality and equidistance from both England and France (then the world’s most powerful nations), given America’s natural barriers the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and dangers of permanent foreign alliances no longer held good. With the advent of airplanes – distance is no protective barrier and with electricity and telephones, (add the increasing means of communication in the late twentieth century), speed of communication exploded exponentially, and Washington’s advice about permanent foreign alliances no longer hold good. But again, his logic that permanent foreign alliances will lead to America’s involvement in war’s of the allies with no benefits to American public at large, ring eerily true – Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria and so on. Even though the politicians claim the strategic importance to the US of these involvements, the basic fact is the Presidents of USA successively are providing cannon fodder of American people to their opponents and nothing else.

In ‘The Power of Myth’ Joseph Campbell recalled, “When I was a boy, we were given George Washington’s Farewell Address and told to outline the whole thing, every single statement in relation to every other one. So I remember it absolutely.”

But in the wake of the First World War, the Farewell Address began to fall out of favour. Two Washington scholars — President Woodrow Wilson and Senator Henry Cabot Lodge — squared off on whether the United States should enter the League of Nations, debating the meaning and applicability of the Farewell.

By the Second World War, Americans had turned from Washington’s advice about the dangers of permanent foreign alliances out of practical necessity. A parade of conservatives, cranks and conspiracists picked up its banner, the lowlight being a Nazi front group known as the German American Bund, which made the Farewell the centrepiece of a sinister rally in Madison Square Garden in which they proclaimed George Washington “the first Nazi.”

He stated in a letter to John Jay in 1796 “I am sure the mass of citizens in the United States mean well; and I firmly believe they will always act well whenever they can obtain a right understanding of matters . . . [but] the inventors and abettors of pernicious measures use infinitely more industry in disseminating the poison, than the well-disposed part of the community do to furnish the antidote.”

In his Farewell Washington also warned of the pernicious impact of partisanship. He acknowledged that the spirit of party “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.” But he understood partisans’ perspective, stating plainly, “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.”

Beyond those wise limits, Washington warned, rampant factions were a “fatal tendency” in democracies. “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, according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels and modified by mutual interests.”

Washington’s description in the final draft of the Farewell Address of the destructive effects of faction was positively prophetic:

The spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. . . . 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 finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.”

Washington’s remedy was modest but comprehensive: partisanship could not be removed from democracy, but it could be constrained by vigilant citizens and the sober-minded separation of powers.

Speaking to the assembled ambassadors of postcolonial countries, Kennedy said, “All of you who are citizens of countries who have newly emerged to freedom, can find some inspiration in the Farewell Address of George Washington.” Calling the Farewell a text “alive with the spirit of liberty,” Kennedy ran through its central tenets. Washington, the president noted, “told our forefathers to reject permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others, and said any nation failing in this is to some degree a slave. He warned against foreign influences which seek to tamper with domestic factions, who practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion. His rule for commercial relations was to have with them as little political connection as possible.”

When Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency after Kennedy’s assassination, he embraced Washington’s Farewell as a unifying text in a time of domestic division.

At the height of the 1964 presidential campaign, with GOP nominee Barry Goldwater opposing the Civil Rights Act and declaring that “extremism in defence of liberty is no vice,” Johnson cited the Farewell at a Democratic Party dinner in Pennsylvania.

“The one division our forefathers most feared, the division that they warned us against, was the division of extreme factionalism,” Johnson drawled. “Jefferson warned against it, Hamilton and Madison warned against it. In his Farewell Address, the first President, George Washington, warned against allowing parties to become ‘Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western.’ He told us to beware of that kind of partisanship which, in his words, ‘agitates the community with ill- founded jealousies and false alarms . . . kindles the animosity of one party against the other . . . foments occasionally riot and insurrection.’ ”

Johnson liked to describe himself as a free man, an American, a public servant and a Democrat — in that order. He had served as Senate majority leader, alternately battling and working with President Eisenhower and congressional Republicans to pass legislation. He was earthy and expansive, could be rude and ruthless, and he loved the game of politics.

At a 1967 dinner honouring his sometime Republican ally Illinois senator Everett Dirksen, with whom he worked to pass landmark civil rights and voting rights legislation, Johnson again reached to the Farewell Address’s warning to fight factions. “I think all Americans should appreciate the problems of the leader of the opposition — as well as the temptations. I know because I have been there,” Johnson said.

The problem is to stand firmly with the administration on a foundation of common idealism, while dissenting from those measures that do not fulfil these ideals. In other words, the first allegiance of any American is to our heritage — to its protection — to its preservation and to its enlargement. As George Washington put it in his Farewell Address: “The name American, which belongs to you in your national capacity, must always exult the just pride of patriotism . . . with slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. . . . The independence and liberty you have possessed are the work of joint counsels and joint efforts; of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

Succeeding Presidents Gerald Ford, Ronald Regan, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama have used the Farewell Address selectively to support their stance and policies. One thing is certain – that during his term and when the time comes for Donald Trump to hang up his boots, there will be no reference to the Founding Father’s Farewell Address and his warning to the future generation of Americans – probably because he doesn’t even know about it..

When most needed Washington’s Farewell Address is completely forgotten by the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his party-men, who are striving hard with the blessings of an ill-informed illiterate President Donald Trump, to ensure a divided United States – this time not Federalists versus Democratic Republicans, Northerners versus Southerners, Republicans versus Democrats – but White Conservatives versus Coloureds, Hispanics and Others. The White Conservatives are easily recognizable today with their MAGA hats, toting guns and violently reacting to even common discourtesy. They are the new patriots who want an America populated by Anglo Saxon preferably Protestants, where those outside this select circle are either second class citizens with limited rights or immigrants, illegal or otherwise, who have be degraded, whose lives don’t matter and who ultimately should return to where they came from.

This is the reason, why these White Conservative fail to realize that they themselves are illegal immigrants, who one hundred to five hundred years ago came to this country UNINVITED and by the power of their weapons settled all over the country almost exterminating the Native Americans. This is the America the White Conservatives pine for reversing the policy of open immigration that the United States has followed for at least two and a half centuries. Percy Bysshe Shelly’s words in “To a Skylark” sums up the feelings of the White Conservatives:

“We look before and after,
And pine for what is not;
Our sincerest laughter
With some pain is fraught;
Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”

And that is the White Conservatives dilemma – PINING FOR WHAT IS NOT.

John Avlon’s book on Washington’s Farewell is a timely reminder of the divisive partisan atmosphere presently prevalent in United States of America. The present generations of Americans have forgotten the sage advice of the First Founding Father and seeing the state of his beloved America Washington is likely to be restlessly turning in his grave. The book was timely – published in 2015, just ahead of the most divisive Presidential election in the 230 plus years of the Republic. Both the Democrats and the Republicans (especially Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell) should now re-read Washington’s Farewell Address, learn the lessons and heed his wise counsel to make United States the greatest country of the World.

An excellent read and a good, great book.

[Jacob Mohr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avlon paints a vivid and mostly editorial-free portrait of our nation's brightest and most visionary guiding force. Washington's stern wisdom rings down the ages within the pages of this book, recontextualizing much of his paternal forethought and advice for our modern times. The Farewell Address remains a seminal text for statesmen of any nation to study and take to heart, and gives us insight into the very human but still seemingly near-divine figure that was George W. While the author at times is incapable of fully resisting the urge to editorialize and push Washington into a camp he likely could not have fathomed, this still remains a stirring rendering of our country's most famous face through the lens of his most famous legacy text. Highly recommended.

[Brett Milam · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the 21st century, we may think someone in the 18th century doesn’t have much wisdom to impart on us today. That there can’t possibly be something practical and useful for Americans, whether in our body politic or culturally. But John Avlon’s 2017 book (which I did through audiobook; I should note, Avlon himself read the book and he did great.), Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations, shows that aforementioned conventional wisdom to be unfounded in the case of George Washington, the United States’ first president.

Through examining Washington’s farewell address to the nation after serving two terms, Avlon gives not only a quasi-biography of Washington, but also a quasi-origin story for America itself, both the messiness of its gestation and the way in which Washington’s farewell fared throughout the succeeding presidents and centuries.

First, it’s worth spending time on that act itself: After serving two four-year terms, Washington voluntarily stepped down. Someone else in his position could have kept serving. But Washington didn’t. Because he believed the nation needed to live and breathe beyond him, his reach and his influence. In the 18th century, that was a radical notion. In an 18th century replete with kings and queens and monarchial thinking, the idea of someone voluntarily relinquishing power is incredible and as much the story of America as anything else. Washington transitioned his power to someone else to take the helm. Peacefully.

(That’s precisely why people are so offended by the January 6, 2021 siege of the U.S. Capitol because it was the first time someone had made a serious attempt to impede that peaceful transition of power.)

I’ve never quite been somebody who is a “rah-rah, go America” kinda person, but I do believe that our foundational principles of self-government and liberty are beautiful, even if flawed and contradictory for all sorts of reasons, primarily that of the existence and maintenance of the institution of slavery. In short, the Founding Fathers, including Washington, believed, as Lincoln later would 70 years later, that the union of the United States itself was more important than risking civil war over slavery. Thus, they compromised. But, of course, that compromise was always a “can-kicking” measure that would eventually lead to civil war at some point.

Something else interesting to consider is that when Washington ascended to the presidency, he presided over 4 million Americans. Cincinnati, where I preside now, was considered the Western United States. Consider that today, the president presides over 320 million Americans and San Jose, California is the most western part of the continental United States, more than 2,400 miles from Cincinnati. I would offer the theory that perhaps that governing over such a lot body of people, consisting of their individual parts, as well as literally in terms of the geography, an impossible task, or at least, that we expect too much of one man or woman.

Or even that Washington’s administration and cabinet consisted of something like 50 people? Between Secretary of State, Secretary of War, Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury, with most of those 50 people belonging to the Treasury. Today’s government has 15 cabinet positions and many more subcategories, with about 2.1 million people serving in the federal workforce.

Not only is the country bigger, but the government is much bigger for the executive (the president) to “manage.” Washington also showed as the first president how much being president ages the officeholder, and Washington was old for his time, no less.

Another defining feature of America from the founding days is that of the character of the American people: Even then, Americans made fun of Washington for his pomp and circumstance. Again, it doesn’t seem radical today to make fun of the president, but back then? To make fun of the head of government? Radical. And beautifully American. (And Washington, like most presidents, hated it. Too bad.)

Perhaps my favorite aspect of Avlon’s book is the nitty-gritty he goes into with the battles over the Constitution, the set-up of the American government and Washington’s role in those debates. I think we’ve lost sight of just how tenuous it is to build a country, with a sustaining unity across regional differences (that existed then as they do now), ideological differences, religious differences and so on. Heck, it was fraught then! I think we sometimes gloss over the divisions then, thinking the Founding Fathers were on the same page on every issue and that the Constitution was recognized as this beautiful document and unanimously approved, but that wasn’t remotely the case! Avlon’s treatment of those divisions is well-worth the listen alone.

Again, as I said, the Founding Fathers were kicking the slavery question down the road, but even then, secession was on the lips of some American figures and the public. Keeping the peace, literally, was Washington’s primary preoccupation.

I also learned more about Washington and his beliefs. For instance, that Washington believed fiercely in religious pluralism and bringing people from all over the world to our shores was in and of itself a strong bulwark against tyranny. If you were to be a country of one religion or one kind of people, that creates the chance for one-man rule or one-sort of rule. Granted, again, this is all caveated by the fact that black people were living under tyranny of white people. In an amusing moment in the context of his religious pluralism beliefs, Washington seemed offended by the idea of being thought a bigot while also owning hundreds of slaves.

Another interesting push from Washington was that of education and his belief that the United States needed a national university. The logic goes, we are a representative democracy built on the minds of the people and therefore, the minds of the people need to be properly civically shaped and prepared. Fortunately in my opinion, that idea never took off. I already shudder at the idea of the government playing a role in K-12 education under the same premise.

Also, I had the misconception that it was Washington who said in his farewell address, “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none,” but that great quote comes from Thomas Jefferson and his first inaugural address in 1801. That said, Jefferson was basically echoing Washington’s sentiments. It wasn’t that Washington was an isolationist, but that he wanted the United States to grow and prosper independently since it was a nascent country and because he worried greatly about foreign influence. That’s why he kept an arm’s length from the French Revolution, much to the consternation of other political leaders of the time. With the advent of globalism and the shrinking of the world, particularly in the post-WWII world, people think Washington’s idea of avoiding entangling alliances is out of fashion, but I think there’s still something to be said for keeping America independently minded and instead of isolation, being “non-interventionist.”

In the previous audiobook about presidential assassinations I reviewed, I mentioned how remarkable it is that regular Americans today clearly, obviously have better access to quality medicine than even presidents of yesteryear, including in the case of George Washington. For all intents and purposes, Washington died of a sore throat or some sort of inflammation of his throat. The cure at the time was yet again, bloodletting! I couldn’t not mention that silliness.

Washington and the other Founding Fathers, because of being Founding Fathers, came to mean whatever someone wanted them to mean and to project upon them, as these almost deity-like figures. Avlon’s book toward the latter half deals with this, tracing how Washington’s farewell and warning to future generations about debt, education, entangling alliances and primarily, avoiding the corrosive partisanship and factionalism that could destroy the union, was used by presidents and figures thereafter.

For an ugly example, the infamous Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden in 1939, with World War II on the precipice of beginning, the leaders there took Washington as their own, believing his sentiment about isolationism to mean staying out of German affairs. They even said Washington was the “first Nazi.”

Or another ugly example, with those seceding from the Union to form the Confederacy believing that Washington’s words applied to their cause. That’s disgusting. It disgusts me that the traitorous Robert E. Lee, the antithesis of everything Washington stood for as president and in his farewell warning, shared a family tree with him and the name of a university.

Nonetheless, there were positive examples, like Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s using the farewell warning blueprint to do his own farewell warning about the military industrial complex.

Overall, I thought this book from Avlon was well-researched, comprehensive, and a fascinating examination of history, both intimate in the little, but important, details regarding the fights over the founding of the United States, and the broad sweep through history thereafter to see how Washington’s influence waxed and waned.

Avlon doesn’t sugarcoat Washington’s hypocrisy or contradictions. In fact, that’s sort of the point? That the Founding Fathers were human, not deities, but it was those flawed humans who created what would become our beautiful inheritance, flawed as it is, but fixable. There’s beauty in that struggle. There’s beauty in that promise. There’s beauty in that ability to fix, to amend.

And in today’s world of hyper-partisanship and divisiveness, something Washington warned against as the first and only independent president, Avlon is correct that Washington’s warnings from the 18th century still have relevance to us today, if only we’d listen and heed.

[Tracy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think every American needs to read/listen to this book and then reflect upon Washington's words and search their hearts to see if they are truly heeding them. I'm going to bet that if they are honest with themselves, they will find that they are guilty of factionalism and several other isms that Washington warned about.
The more I read about George Washington, the more I admire him and am thankful that he was our first president.

[Peter A · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a gem, a compelling, well-written, must read for anyone interested in learning more about the Washington’s Farewell Address (almost like an informal augmentation to the constitution) that helped guide the United States for its first 100 years, and far beyond. I would especially recommend it to any US citizen born after 1950, or in fact anyone interested in the early formation of the United States. To underscore the importance of this Farewell Address, this document, together with the constitution, influenced many generations of Presidents of the United States (even Presidents as recently as Reagan, Clinton, and Obama cited the Washington’s Farewell Address), allowing them either to prevent or assert a policy. It provides insights into the moral integrity and wisdom of our first President, two traits we need in today’s public government and politics. And it begs us to consider our role and responsibilities as citizens of the United States.

George Washington, at the end of his second (and final) term as President, wanted to share with citizens of the United States the lessons he learned, in the hopes to provide guidance to the future of the very young republic. Thus, he wrote this farewell address, published in the newspapers to reach all citizens, as a “warning for a parting friend.”

Avlon’s book is partitioned into three sections: the first, “The Crisis of Creation” describes Washington’s experiences as General and President that provided him the insights he shared in the document and describes the process of putting together the document; the second, “Washington’s Pillars of Liberty”, describes Washington’s six major points (Pillars), and gives background on each; and the third section, “The Afterlife of the Idea”, describes how generations after Washington drew upon the wisdom of Washington’s advice.

The six pillars, or principles, are
• National Unity. This was paramount in Washington’s time, trying to create the notion of an “American”, a citizen of the United States. How we would be stronger together than separated, and how we had to see our regional differences as strengths.
• Political Moderation. Washington was reacting to extremes that were coming to life during this administration, even in his own Cabinet. See more below.
• Fiscal Discipline. Live within your means to avoid passing on debt to your children, but also make wise investments
• Virtue and Religion. National morality cannot exist without religious principle. But a quick note that Washington welcomed all religions, with the farmer’s pragmatics that good workers are good workers independent of their religion.
• Education. “In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened. In addition, Washington wanted to have a national university and national military academy. The latter happened (West Point); the former did not. He wanted these to help the young nation build strong ties across the regions, creating a more integrated United States.
• A Foreign Policy of Independence. Peace through strength. “Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all …” Washington wanted to give the young nation space to grow and be strong. He had a sense for the future, but it required to be on good terms with all, trade with all. The terms “entangling alliances” comes from Jefferson’s first inaugural address. But this principle guided the United States for more than 100 years.

His words were not intended as a straight jacket but need to be interpreted by each generation. And the different pillars would move to the foreground or background depending upon the times. In Lincoln’s time – it was national unity.

The book is extremely well written and makes a compelling read.

Takeaways for me:
• There was a study of many democracies throughout history (their strengths and weaknesses) by James Madison, that informed the creation of the US Constitution.
• Washington was a very hard working, self-learned, self-sacrificing individual, whose integrity created the opportunity for the US constitution, whose model helped the young nation get on its feet, and whose wisdom guided the nation for years.
• Even Washington, whom we now think of very highly, was severely criticized during his Presidency, for fear of becoming a “monarch” or for not intervening to help the French during their fight with England.
• Washington spent a great deal of time writing this address, working from a draft for this first term ending (which never came) from James Madison, and then with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. Washington was the final editor and the framer of the ideas. This approach seems logical to me but was someone controversial when years after his death it was discovered that Hamilton wrote the text.
• And the play Hamilton actually uses the words in the Farewell Address in one of its songs!
• Washington is very underrated as a President. This document shows his wisdom in thinking about the forces that the country needed to understand to preserve itself, and prosper.
• It is time for students to learn about this document, and for all of use to help instill a sense of “citizen” in our children, with a set of responsibilities that will support the continuing experiment called the United States.

And in our age, the “pillar” that concerns many of us is “Political Moderation”. Washington’s writing foreshadows some of the issues we are encountering today:

• “The spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, …. Agitates the community will ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles animosity of on part again another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions.” (page 128)
• “But the greatest danger could spring from the chaos of a dysfunctional democracy, compounded by relentless party warfare, which, Washington warned, would erode faith in the effectiveness of self-governance and open the doors to a demagogue with authoritarian ambitions. “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.” (page 127)

A final comment: Another piece of advice by President Washington is “I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is the best policy.” Washington worked his entire life to set a moral example for future generations. Our country would be better served by adhering to his advice to thinking of the moral example they are setting.

[Luke Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I think the fact that there is a whole book dedicated to not one man, but to ONE SPEECH, speaks pretty highly to the importance of that book's subject matter. Washington's Farewell is both a fun and informative work focusing on several key point of Washington's farewell address, its creation, and they way in which it has influenced subsequent presidents.

This is what I would call a "lite" historical work, as it doesn't get bogged down in dates, obscure quotes, and minor historical characters. Instead it sticks more to people like Lincoln, both Roosevelt presidents, Eisenhower, Reagan, and Clinton. The author seems to have a fascination with the recent hip hop musical "Hamilton" which has gotten a lot of praise in the last year or so. I haven't seen or heard this work and so that aspect was lost on me but that didn't take away from the work any for me.

True, this work is nowhere in depth as says Edmund Morris' incredible 3 part biography of Theodore Roosevelt but it if you're looking for a piece of history which to me largely goes under the radar and is of reasonable length, I would highly recommend it.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there was a time when we needed guidance from Washington, this is the time and this book offers it. His Farewell Address speaks directly to our hyper-partisan age, warning of the dangers of factionalism and calling us to remember that we are all Americans, despite our differences.

[David Antis · Rating 2 out of 5]

An OK history, but author could have stopped his analysis of the addresses' impact in the early 20th century instead of trying to maintain its relevance (and the authors bias) all the way to the present political environment.

[Richard]

This summer (2017), the author is making the rounds pushing his book. It seems a little late for a book published in January, but Trump’s presidency is creating unique circumstances.

Avlon’s interview with the Constitution Center on their We the People is very informative — you might even think you don't need to read the book, perhaps. The author is also on a CNN telecast. Neither of these is short, by the way.

What keeps the book and author in the mix is the concept of “faction”. That was the founders’ term for what today we would point to as partisanship. The problem, in a nutshell, is that members of a party see their own success as so critical that they put it above the health and stability of the country itself.

Here’s the illustrative example I find most disheartening: The Constitution imposes a duty on the President to nominate a replacement Supreme Court justice; it also imposes a duty on the Senate to “advise”, and — perhaps — consent to that nomination. The founders saw all three branches as crucial, so the strong implication is that the Senate should be working with the President to find an acceptable compromise.

But that’s not what McConnell and his leadership team did. They simply decided that the new nomination could wait for a year, until a new President was in place. There was no advice, there was no Constitutionally-mandated progress at all. The Senate could have staked out a position so extreme that the President would remain unwilling to compromise, of course. However, that would have made the “advise” visible to the public. The country might have been able to gauge which party was being reasonable, and which was blocking progress.

This is often compared to the filibusters that had prevented the confirmation of prior justices and other appointments. But there were two critical differences: the debate in those cases was quite visible. We can still go back to prior records and see precisely which Senators were taking which positions, and what aspects of the nominations were controversial. (We often examine the record of the defeated nomination of Robert Bork and the successful confirmation of Clarence Thomas, as obvious examples.) But the hidden problem is that while the filibuster is merely a Senate rule, and thus revocable at the Senate’s discretion, what was being shredded here was the Constitution itself.

For partisan gain — faction — McConnell dismissed what the Constitution demanded.

To me, this is seems to be a glaring example of what Washington was warning about.

I haven’t read the book yet, so my conclusion is tentative.

What I find equally interesting is how cognitive science is revealing how such patterns emerge. There is accumulating evidence that our origins as a social species deeply interfere with our thinking. We tend to affiliate ourselves with people who think like us, and then we tend to think like the people we affiliate with. Once something becomes important to us, the belief that we are correct becomes tied to our own identity, and our mind has subconscious tricks to keep us away from threats to that part of our identity. The academic terms covered by this include motivated reasoning as well as identity-protective cultural cognition . Presumably Joshua Greene’s Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them covers this in depth, but I haven’t gotten around to reading it yet.

I suspect some folks, while reading my “illustrative example” found their blood pressure rising as they began assembling their counterargument. That is precisely the point of the illustration: that feeling — the anger. An important aspect of their identity was being denigrated. Training in logic certainly wouldn’t encourage an emotional response, so why does the heightened passion seem so natural? That emotional phenomena is the origin of factionalism, or tribal partisanship.

[R.J. Heller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great moments in history are plentiful, and many of them speak to the human need to persevere and keep things going at all cost. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream,” speech or John F. Kennedy’s inaugural speech to the nation in 1961 are memorable. But there is one moment, which has seemed to disappear from history is the decision of George Washington to relinquish power and step down as president of the United States.

Now, with the publication of Washington’s Farewell by John Avlon, the spotlight is squarely on what the author believes is a monumental decision from an equally monumental man. Avlon writes, “This is the story of the most famous American speech you’ve never read. Once celebrated as civic scripture, more widely printed than the Declaration of Independence, George Washington’s Farewell Address is now almost forgotten.”

George Washington, the first president of the United States stepped into uncharted territory when he agreed to become the very first to step into that office. The fledgling nation, coming off its defeat of an empire many considered unbeatable, quickly needed to use the momentum of victory and form a government that would put into action the foundational elements of the Declaration of Independence. To do that, Congress would need to place someone in charge. They again, found themselves turning to the same quiet, now seasoned and confident Virginian who led the Continental Army to victory over the British and was now being asked to lead a country, George Washington.

Avlon does a splendid job of detailing the rise of Washington, retracing moments in an early life when Washington quickly establishes his valor during the French and Indian War, to his marriage to Martha and eventually establishing his status in Virginian gentry with his estate and home, Mount Vernon. But if it was his agreement to lead the war for American independence that propelled him as a true devotee to the cause, it was his decision to relinquish that same power after the war was over that set the course for a nation to once again seek his leadership as its first president.

The approach Avlon uses in telling this story is the speech itself; one that Washington, with the assist of both Madison and Hamilton, struggled with for some time to publish. The foundation of the speech focused on what Washington called “the Pillars of Liberty”: National Unity, Political Moderation, Fiscal Discipline, Virtue and Religion, Education, and A Foreign Policy of Independence. When the speech was finally ready, Washington surprises everyone by having it printed in the newspaper and directly addressing it to the people by way of “Friends and Fellow Citizens.”

Newspapers were plentiful at that time, and our own president’s view today might have been kin to what Washington was feeling. Washington spoke many times about slander within newspapers, and in his farewell address noted that divisions are not good and certainly not made any better by partisan newspapers, gossip and deceit. Washington railed against the creation of political parties, but soon realized they were inevitable. Avlon writes, “Most political speeches are full of promises, New Deals and New Covenants. Washington’s Farewell was a “warning from a parting friend,” written for future generations of Americans about the forces he feared could destroy our democratic republic. Chief among these were hyper-partisanship, excessive debt and foreign wars — dangers we still struggle with today.”

Avlon writes clearly with a discernable pen being careful not to heap praise and glory on everything Washington. His adeptness at piecing both history and, subsequently, the story of this specific address is flawless and shows experience sharpened by the author’s work as a CNN political analyst and as Editor in Chief of the Daily Beast.

Washington’s Farewell is a well-crafted piece of history that should be known and read by young and old. We all make decisions daily and never give them another thought. Some decisions can be lasting, even monumental, in the simplest of lives by impacting the individual, or a people, or maybe even a nation. Decisions are what made this country, and continue to do so every single day, partisan politics or no partisan politics. This speech is a refreshing reminder from a father of both family and country that words can ignite and impact the future course of a country, not for just a few of us, but for everyone. As noted by the late historian Daniel Boorstin: “The heirs of Jefferson and Madison would be Democratic-Republicans, the heirs of Hamilton and Adams would be the Federalists. But the heirs of Washington would be all Americans.”

[Ted Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book exceeded my expectations. I'm hoping to one day teach a class on politics and this would be assigned reading. Before this book, I was vaguely aware that George Washington had made notable remarks in his farewell to the American people. I'm glad that John Avlon took the time to make me aware of this moment's lasting importance. America's first president spent 6,000 words delivering words of cautious wisdom.

"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 sentitments which are the results 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."

His sentiments are refined by Avlon into six pillars: 1) National Unity, 2) Political Moderation, 3) Fiscal Discipline, 4) Virtue and Religion, 5) Education, 6) Foreign Policy. Washington viewed these as the key areas that the young republic would need to nurture.

The one that most resonated with me was "Political Moderation." It's worth remembering that George Washington is the nation's first and only independent president. He believed that much could be achieved "by prudence, much by conciliation, and much by firmness." George Washington was not refering to a moderation characterized by "faintheartedness and from laziness of the soul. Instead, he wanted a politics rooted in virtue. His skepticism of political parties sounds prophetic in 2020. As someone who grows weary of today's polarized political climate, I appreciated his warnings about overly identifying with a political party.

"The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormitties, is itself a frightful despotism...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 occassionally riot and insurrection...There being constant danger of excess, the effort outhgt to be by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it."

Washington was also very cautious and concerned about the potential for America to become overcommitted and overinvolved in foreign conflicts. He was pro-trade and valued America's pursuit of economic and cultural exchange. But he was an astute student of history and realistic about the inevitable overreach that comes with the temptation to build an empire. While his speech encourages staying away from the military conflicts in Europe, Washington would be horrified by America's long history of war and conflict in the Middle East and in East Asia. His preferred approach was a foreign policy that sought to maintain friendly terms with all, and that military force would only be used as a policy of last resort. He wanted America to maintain policy independence and to cultivate good relationships around the globe. The purpose was not for America to remain isolated, but to prioritize the prosperity of the American people. Avlon writes, "[Washington's] was a focus of his fears about foreign wars and their high cost in blood and treasure." The man had personally seen the horrors of war, including the blood spilled and the money spent. He did not want to see American lives lost unless it was in the cause of defending national interest. I concur!

Lest you be tempted to hero worship Washington, Avlon consistently reminds the reader about Washington's shortcomings and failures. The main one to focus upon is Washington's ownership of 317 slaves at the time of his death. While his will did provide a path for freedom, this only occured at the end of his life. A man who spent decades fighting for national liberty failed to see the horrors of slavery occuring in his own household. Hundreds of men, women, and children were not able to partake in liberty and instead were forced to labor and toil only for the benefit of Washington and his family. It's worth remembering his failures alongside his wisdom. I appreciated Avlon's honest, balanced assessment.

[Kirk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Washington's Farewell is a concise, multi-faceted summary and analysis of George Washington's once-canonized Farewell Address, which was finalized on September 17th, 1976, and published the subsequent Monday on September 19th, 1976. The book is written in three sections: a concise history of George Washington's roles and responsibilities as a political leader in both Colonial and Post-Revolutionary America leading up to the publishing of the Farewell Address (1), a summary of the six tenets of the Farewell Address including specific examples of the tenets in practice (2), and an analysis of the applicability (or failure to do so) of Washingtonian civics between Washington's death and the date of publication (3).

Avlon's prose is easily understood. He crafts Washington's story and beliefs into digestible chapters according to the organizational scheme previously described, and the book is full of wonderful citations from a cornucopia of American politicians, cultural leaders, and historical publications. He writes about Washington's political anxieties, and about his trust in the opinions of others insofar as those opinions served his conception of the virtuous American Citizen. I loved the numerous examples Avlon provided about Washington living up to his own high standard, and I appreciated that Avlon gave at least two examples of when Washington succumbed to pettiness and questionable ethics (pursuing the return of his runaway slaves, losing his temper after becoming the target of partisan propaganda). If you are at all interested in the interplay between founding fathers, and the similarities and differences between their temperaments and politics, Washington's Farewell provides a fair synopsis.

The second section is the slowest to get through, but also the most important, considering the author summarizes Washington's beliefs. The third section is arguably the most interesting as Avlon cites numerous examples of how different American politicians turned to Washington and his creeds in order to formulate their own opinions on foreign policy, domestic policy, political campaigning, and personal conduct (not to mention the formulation of their own Farewell Addresses). In this section, Avlon is a great guide demonstrating that current political issues are not simply modern concerns. On the contrary, the issues beguiling American political life are a consequence of human interaction, and can only be mitigated by practicing moderation and personal discipline.

If you're fatigued by the combustibility of CURRENT AFFAIRS, or not quite ready to shack up with that new six pound Ron Chernow publication, I recommend giving this history book a chance. It's an easy read, provides great reference material, and may inspire a new personal tradition come February 22nd (Washington's birthday).

[Rob1109 · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was a history minor in college. I’ve always been fascinated by US history. I’ve been a fan of John Avlon on CNN for some time. I picked up this up expecting it to be a surefire hit.

WRONG!

By page 50 I was skimming. By page 65 I gave up. It’s been a while since I’ve been disappointed so much in a book I was sure I’d enjoy.

About 85% of what I read is fiction. However, I do enjoy a good non-fiction book. IF it’s well-done. This, in my opinion, was not.

I had two main problems with this book.

The first one—and this is hard to explain—is that at least 60% of the book, maybe more is taken directly from the words of historical figures themselves. Avlon uses quotes and excerpts from diaries, journals and newspaper articles written by men like Washington, Madison, Jefferson, Hamilton and others.

Now, it could be fascinating. However, let’s be honest. People talked differently in the 1700s than they do today. They used different words and used the language differently. For example, Michael Connelly and Robert Louis Stevenson are both authors. Now, ask yourself—“Who would I rather read a book by?”

Non-fiction that reads like fiction is a wonderful thing. Not to get political but the “Killing” books by Bill O’Reilly are great books. I recently read a nonfiction book about the assassination attempt on President Reagan. It was one of the best nonfiction books I ever read. I’ve read nonfiction work by David Axelrod, Megyn Kelly, Bob Gates, Dana Perino, Bob Woodward, Hillary Clinton and several others. They were all enjoyable and great reads.

“Washington’s Farewell” was not. I felt like I had to put myself in the mindset of the 1700s. Now, if you’re okay with that, you may enjoy this book. I wasn’t.

The maybe 40% of the book that was not excerpts taken directly from the historical figues themselves, the parts Avlon wrote, were also boring. A struggle to get through. This “book” read like a text book. Boring. And this coming from a history minor in college.

Mr. Avlon is a very very bright man. I thoroughly enjoy listening to him on CNN. However, he needs to realize the difference between simply writing a historical account and telling an entertaining story.