Washington's Farewell Address Back to Index

The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive  government of the United States, being not far distant, and the time  actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the  person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to  me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of  the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have  formed, to decline being considered among the number of those out of  whom a choice is to be made.

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured that  this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the  considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful  citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service  which silence in my situation might imply, I am influenced by no  diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful  respect for your past kindness; but am supported by a full conviction  that the step is compatible with both.

The acceptance of, and continuance hitherto in, the office to which your  suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of  inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared  to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much  earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty  to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been  reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address  to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and  critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous  advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the  idea.

I rejoice, that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal,  no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the  sentiment of duty, or propriety; and am persuaded whatever partiality may  be retained for my services, that, in the present circumstances of our  country, you will not disapprove my determination to retire.

The impressions, with which, I first undertook the arduous trust, were  explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will  only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the  organization and administration of the government the best exertions of  which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the  outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own  eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the  motives to diffidence of myself; and every day the increasing weight of  years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as  necessary to me as it will be welcome. Satisfied that, if any  circumstances have given peculiar value to my services, they were  temporary, I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and  prudence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not  forbid it.

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the  career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the  deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved  country for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for  the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the  opportunities I have thence enjoyed of manifesting my inviolable  attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though in usefulness  unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these  services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an  instructive example in our annals, that under circumstances in which the  passions, agitated in every direction, were liable to mislead, amidst  appearances sometimes dubious, vicissitudes of fortune often  discouraging, in situations in which not unfrequently want of success  has countenanced the spirit of criticism, the constancy of your support  was the essential prop of the efforts, and a guarantee of the plans, by  which they were effected. Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall  carry it with me to my grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows  that Heaven may continue to you the choicest tokens of its beneficence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free  constitution which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom  and virtue; that, in fine, the happiness of the people of these States,  under the auspices of liberty, may be made complete, by so careful a  preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire to  them the glory of recommending it to the applause, the affection, and  adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it.

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. 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  sentiments which are the result 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. Nor can I forget, as an encouragement to it your indulgent  reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.

Interwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your hearts,  no recommendation of mine is necessary to fortify or confirm the  attachment. The unity of government which constitutes you one people, is  also now dear to you. It is justly so: for it is a main pillar in the  edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home,  your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty  which you so highly prize. But as it is easy to foresee that, from  different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken,  many artifices employed, to weaken in your minds the conviction of this  truth; as this is the point in your political fortress against which the  batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and  actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it is of  infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of  your national Union to your collective and individual happiness; that you  should cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment to it;  accustoming yourself to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your  political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with  jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion  that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the  first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country  from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the  various parts.

For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens, by  birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to  concentrate your affections. The name of AMERICAN, which belongs to you in  your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriotism,  more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight  shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits and  political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed  together; the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint  councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.

But these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more  immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds  the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union  of the whole.

The North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by  the equal Laws of a common government, finds, in the productions of the  latter, great additional resources of maritime and commercial enterprise and precious materials of manufacturing industry. The South in the same  intercourse, benefitting by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture  grow and its commerce expand. Turning partly into its own channels the  seamen of the North, it finds its particular navigation invigorated; and  while it contributes, in different ways, to nourish and increase the  general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the  protection of a maritime strength, to which itself is unequally adapted.  The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds, and in the  progressive improvement of interior communications, by land and water,  will more and more find, a valuable vent for the commodities which it  brings from abroad, or manufactures at home. The West derives from the  East supplies requisite to its growth and comfort, and what is perhaps of  still greater consequence, it must of necessity owe the secure enjoyment  of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence,  and the future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union,  directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one Nation. Any other  tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether  derived from its own separate strength, or from an apostate and unnatural  connection with any foreign power, must be intrinsically precarious.

While, then, every part of our country thus feels an immediate and  particular interest in union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find  in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resource, proportionably greater security from external danger, a less frequent  interruption of their peace by foreign Nations; and, what is of  inestimable value, they must derive from union an exemption from those  broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict  neighboring countries not tied together by the same government, which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient to produce, but which  opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and  imbitter. Hence, likewise, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which, under any form of government, are  inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly  hostile to republican liberty. In this sense it is, that your Union ought  to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the  one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.

These considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and  virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the UNION as a primary  object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government  can embrace so large a sphere? Let experience solve it. To listen to mere  speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that  a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of  governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a happy issue to  the experiment. It is well worth a fair and full experiment. With such  powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country,  while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there  will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who in any  quarter may endeavor to weaken its bands.

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, it occurs as  matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for  characterizing parties by geographical discriminations, Northern and  Southern, Atlantic and Western; whence designing men may endeavor to  excite a belief that there is a real difference of local interests and  views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within  particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other  districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies  and heart burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend  to render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by  fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately  had a useful lesson on this head; they have seen, in the negotiation by  the Executive, and in the unanimous ratification by the Senate, of the  treaty with Spain, and in the universal satisfaction at that event,  throughout the United States, a decisive proof how unfounded were the  suspicions propagated among them of a policy in the general Government  and in the Atlantic States unfriendly to their interests in regard to  the Mississippi; they have been witnesses to the formation of two  treaties, that with Great Britain, and that with Spain, which secure to  them everything they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations,  towards confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to  rely for the preservation of these advantaged on the UNION by which  they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers,  if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect  them with aliens?

To the efficacy and permanency of your Union, a government for the whole  is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be  an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and  interruptions which all alliances in all times have experienced. Sensible  of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay, by the  adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your  former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice,  uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature  deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of  its powers uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a  provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and  your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws,  acquiescence in its measures, are duties enjoined by the fundamental  maxims of true liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right  of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government.  But the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an  explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory  upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to  establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the  established government.

All obstructions to the execution of the Laws, all combinations and  associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design  to direct, control counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities are destructive of this fundamental  principle and of fatal tendency. 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; and, according to the  alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration  the mirror of the illconcerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather  than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common  councils, and modified by mutual interests.

However combinations or associations of the above description may now and  then answer popular ends, they are likely, in the course of time and  things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious and  unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people, and to usurp for themselves the reins of Government; destroying afterwards  the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

Towards the preservation of your Government and the permanency of your  present happy state, it is requisite, not only that you steadily  discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but  also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation upon its  principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be  to effect, in the forms of the constitution, alterations which will impair  the energy of the system, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly  overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that  time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of  governments, as of other human institutions; that experience is the surest  standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; that facility in changes, upon the credit of mere hypotheses  and opinion, exposes to perpetual change, from the endless variety of  hypotheses and opinion; and remember, especially, that, for the efficient  management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a  government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of  liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a Government,  with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It  is, indeed, little else than a name, where the government is too feeble  to withstand the enterprise of faction, to confine each member of the  society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and to maintain all in  the secure and tranquil enjoyment of the rights of person and property.

I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical  discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you  in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of  party, generally.

This spirit, 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, more or less stifled, controlled, or  repressed; but in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest  rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the  spirit of revenge, natural to party dissention, which in different ages  and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a  frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and  permanent despotism. 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.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless  ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs  of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of  a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

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 find a facilitated access to the  government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy  and the will of one country, are subjected to the policy and will of  another.

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; and in governments  of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with  favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character,  in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged.  From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of  that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger  of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate  and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance  to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should  consume.

It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its administration, to  confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres,  avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon  another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of  all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of  government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power, and  proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is  sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of  reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and  distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the  guardian of the public weal against invasions by the others, has been  evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country  and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to  institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or  modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong,  let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution  designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this,  in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always  greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit  which the use can at any time yield.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,  religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man  claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great  pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to  respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their  connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked,  Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense  of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of  investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the  supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may  be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar  structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national  morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.

'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule, indeed, extends with more or less force to  every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the  general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a  government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public  opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible; avoiding  occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater  disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not  only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of  peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned,  not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves  ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your  representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that  you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts  there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no  taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and  unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties),  ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of  the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the  measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time  dictate.

Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and  harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a  free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided  by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course  of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any  temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can  it be, that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a  nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that  permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and  passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place  of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The  nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual  fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to  its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its  duty and its interest. Antipathy in one Nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes  of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling  occasions of dispute occur. Hence frequent collisions, obstinate,  envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill will and resentment sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best  calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the  national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to  projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister  and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the Liberty,  of nations has been the victim.

So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the  illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common  interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays  the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter,  without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to  concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which  is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions: by  unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained; and by  exciting jealousy, ill will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the  parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to  ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the  favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their  own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with  the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference  for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base of  foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to  practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a  great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the  latter.

Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe  me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly  awake; since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government.

But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the  instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence  against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive  dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on  one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real Patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are  liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in  extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political  connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let  them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have none, or a very  remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the  causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence therefore,  it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the  ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a  different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government,  the period is not far off, when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality  we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when  belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon  us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose  peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to  stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of  any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of  European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice?

`Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any  portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to  do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity  to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public  than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat  it therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a  respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances  for extraordinary emergencies.

Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an  equal and impartial hand: neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors  or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and  diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing;  establishing with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable  course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the  government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best  that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary,  and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and  circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view, that `tis folly  in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must  pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under  that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the  condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of  being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no  greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. 'Tis an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride  ought to discard.

In offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and  affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting  impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the  passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto  marked the destiny of nations. But if I may even flatter myself that they  may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that  they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn  against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the  impostures of pretended patriotism; this hope will be a full recompense  for the solicitude for your welfare by which they have been dictated.

How far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by the  principles which have been delineated, the public records and other  evidences of my conduct must witness to you and to the world. To myself,  the assurance of my own conscience is, that I have at least believed  myself to be guided by them.

In relation to the still subsisting war in Europe, my proclamation of the  22d of April, 1793, is the index to my plan. Sanctioned by your approving  voice, and by that of your representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has continually governed me, uninfluenced by any  attempts to deter or divert me from it.

After deliberate examination, with the aid of the best lights I could  obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances  of the case, had a right to take, and was bound in duty and interest to  take, a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as should  depend upon me, to maintain it, with moderation, perseverance, and  firmness.

The considerations which respect the right to hold this conduct, it is not  necessary on this occasion to detail. I will only observe that, according to my understanding of the matter, that right, so far from being denied by  any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.

The duty of holding a neutral conduct may be inferred, without any thing  more, from the obligation which justice and humanity impose on every  nation, in cases in which it is free to act, to maintain inviolate the  relations of peace and amity towards other nations.

The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be  referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant  motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and  mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption  to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it,  humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes.

Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious  of intentional error, I am nevertheless too sensible of my defects not to  think it probable that I may have committed many errors. Whatever they  may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to  which they may tend. I shall also carry with me the hope, that my country  will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that, after forty-five  years of my life dedicated to its service with an upright zeal, the faults  of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must  soon be to the mansions of rest.

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it which is so natural to a man who views in it the  native soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations, I  anticipate with pleasing expectation that retreat in which I promise  myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the  midst of my fellow citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a  free government, the ever favorite object of my heart, and the happy  reward, as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors and dangers.

George Washington

United States, 17th September 1796