“I rejoice in the belief,” the new President was to say, “that mankind will reverse the absurd position that the many were made for the few; and that they will not continue slaves in one part of the globe, when they can become freemen in another.” Toward this end, the speech exclaimed, America would play a part, “the salutary consequences of which shall flow to another Hemisphere & extend throughout the interminable series of ages!”9 Washington never made a clearer proclamation of what made the United States special.
