More fractured Savage History…

George Washington” warned us about political parties at his farewell address….

Now the reality:
All about the Washington’s farewell address
The “Farewell Address” for Washington was written by James Madison in 1792 – and modified by Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay in 1796. Its main purpose was to announce that Washington was retiring and would not be President for Life.

It was written by the co-authors of the Federalist Papers with input from Washington. The speech was never actually delivered by Washington. It was published in a Philadelphia newspaper. (TelePrompTers didn’t exist yet – if you think I’m suggesting an analogy between Barack Obama and George Washington being stooges of smarter or more ambitious men – you’re right)

Here is the context:

“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 endeavour 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 every thing 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 advantages 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?”

This has nothing to with modern day politics – the Federalists were warning against the division between the North and the South and making the case for Federalism and unity in the election of 1796. For some reason they had created an electoral college, but didn’t want contested elections.

All 4 men were key architects of the Federalism envisioned in the Constitution and the Federalists papers. They’re warning against the regional division that is going to happen 70 years later and tear the country apart. More than anything, it is advocating one party rule (the Federalist Party). It’s like Barack Obama giving a speech saying the Republican party is impeding progress and it should disband and go away. Would you challenge that idea?

The Election of 1796 was putting the Federalist John Adams up against the French loving Thomas Jefferson. John Jay had authored the Jay Treaty with England in 1794. The Jay Treaty settled the remaining issues with England, but provoked France to think the U.S. was taking sides in the ongoing war between England and France which became clearer as Adams built up a military naval force. (Remember my question about what France’s motivation was in separating the American colonies from England?)

James Madison and Thomas Jefferson strongly opposed the Jay Treaty (and Alexander Hamilton forming the 1st Bank of the United States) and that’s what led to the schism among the Founding Fathers.  The idea that George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are side by side on Mount Rushmore when they became bitter adversaries in real life just shows how shallow our understanding of history is.  We like simple story lines with happy endings.   Did you know the man who carved Abraham Lincoln into Mount Rushmore was a member of the KKK and earlier had worked to create a carving of Robert E Lee on Stone Mountain, GA?

Adams would win the election of 1796, but the electoral college wasn’t designed to deal with political factions – so Thomas Jefferson ended up being Vice President.   When Adams tried to outlaw political opposition with the Alien and Sedition act of 1798, Jefferson and Madison worked to undermine the laws.   Adams would be replaced in 1801 by Jefferson and then James Madison and the Federalists were history.

A good portion of the address also talking about the issue of not letting the United States take sides in the current war in Europe…. he references the Neutrality Proclamation of 1793. France and England were at war yet again – France had helped the United States win its Revolution of course. By 1796, the French Revolution had ended the monarchy and was spreading genocide among the parts of France that opposed the end of the Monarchy.  France control was expanding outside its borders in the Netherlands and taking control all the way over to the Italian peninsula and the Rhine River. Napoleon Bonaparte was waiting in the wings to become the leader of France which would ultimately drag us into the War of 1812 on the side of France.

Disney history with smiling cartoon faces is so much more pleasant.