Letter to the editor: Washington’s solemn warning

In 1796, George Washington announced he would not seek re-election to a third term as the nation’s first president. The nation had won a revolutionary war, established a confederation of states and then a U.S. Constitution crafted by representatives of the existing states and ratified under its provisions. As the first president, he established norms for public service, put down an insurrection against federal taxes and officials in Western PA, and guided the US to a stable footing among the world’s nations. George Washington and every president since has sworn the same oath of office, as stated in the U.S. Constitution and ratified by the several states.

As he retired, Washington issued a solemn warning against particular dangers to the young country and its form of government: regional divisions, the “baneful effect of the Spirit of Party,” and foreign influence. Of party influence, he wrote: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge natural to party dissention, which in different ages & 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 & miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security & 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.”

He also reminded public officials 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.”

Presidents’ Day began as a celebration of Washington’s birth. National holidays required Congress pass a law signed by the president; they are potent reminders of what we hold in common and who we are as a nation.

Washington’s Farewell Address has been so important a reminder of the precious value of and importance of safe-guarding our self-made form of government that it has been read annually in the Senate since 1896. On the anniversary of his birthday (February 22, 1732) it is good to read and remember Washington’s warnings on our behalf. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-20-02-0440-0002

 -Vivien Rose
Trumansburg