Washington's Farewell Address Analysis

A Pulitzer prize winner for history and author of the ¨Founding Brothers: A Revolutionary Generation¨, Joseph J Ellis discusses the causes and effects of George Washington's 1791 ¨Farewell Address¨ in the chapter, ¨Farewell¨. Ellis´s year 2000 account of the Washington's address provides an objective approach towards Washington's perspective as president and those of his peers and the people. Furthermore, this secondary source also analyzes whether Washington's actions were ultimately beneficial to the nation while also reviewing their direct correlation to the historic and modern worlds. Since he attempts to logically evaluate all aspects of the address, Ellis organizes his ideas well by explaining background knowledge to Washington's choices and providing the arguments against them, thus discussing his purpose for the address. Ellis evaluates how Washington's presidency has changed the values of the government as well as the national identity. Although he …show more content…
In Washington's farewell address, he clearly states, ¨tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent Alliances, with any portion of the foreign world¨ (152). This statement correlates directly with Washington's foreign policies with France and Britain as he often utilized both nations to his advantage when necessary. Although this utilization often brought up criticism against him, it is clear that his choices for alliances were very calculated and were discontinued when the relationship was no longer advantageous as seen in the Franco-American alliance. Although some people, like Benjamin Franklin ache, believed Washington´s diplomatic involvement with Britain made him a traitor, historians, like Ellis, have since acknowledged that his policies were beneficial to the United