PATIENT
The Farewell Address
PRINTED
September 19, 1796
WRITTEN BY
Washington and Hamilton
KEY IDEA
Party spirit as an excess
CHIEF COMPLAINT
The first president is leaving. What does he want us to watch out for?
HISTORY OF PRESENT ILLNESS
Washington decided to retire after two terms and published a letter to the country in a Philadelphia newspaper. It was never delivered as a speech, and Alexander Hamilton wrote most of the final text from Washington's draft. Two lines are quoted most: the warning about the spirit of party and the advice to steer clear of permanent alliances. Both are usually quoted wrong.
REVIEW OF SYSTEMS
PARTY SPIRIT
He warned against it as an excess, rooted in 'the strongest passions of the human mind.' He did not call for banning parties.
THE OTHER SIDE
He granted that parties as 'useful checks' is 'within certain limits probably true.'
GEOGRAPHY
He warned against parties built on 'Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western' lines.
ALLIANCES
His words were 'permanent alliances.' 'Entangling alliances' is Jefferson's phrase.
AFTERMATH
The first contested party election came that same year, and the Constitution's rules had to be rewritten for it.
PHYSICAL EXAM — STYLE & STRUCTURE
- —The Constitution never mentions political parties.
- —In 1796 Adams (Federalist) won and his runner-up, Jefferson, from the opposing party, became vice president. That has never happened since.
- —The Senate has read the Address aloud every year since 1896, with the reader alternating between the parties.
- —Historians still argue about how nonpartisan Washington's own administration was.
ASSESSMENT & PLAN
Read the party-spirit passage in full, including the sentence about useful checks. Every claim is tagged Settled, Disputed or Popular myth with a source, and the live arguments (was Washington above party, do parties help or hurt self-government) show both sides at equal length in the full Study Guide.