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| It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible. ~George Washington |
Washington's Farewell Address 1796
Page 6: On International Relations
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 a habitual hatred or a 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 or 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 defense 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? It is 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 it is 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. It is 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 twenty-second of April,
I793, is the index of 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 anything 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.
Geo. Washington.
Page 6: On International Relations
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 a habitual hatred or a 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 or 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 defense 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? It is 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 it is 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. It is 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 twenty-second of April,
I793, is the index of 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 anything 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.
Geo. Washington.
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