From: kristi De Simone
Date: 2/28/00
Time: 9:41:54 PM
Remote Name: 155.247.244.72
Kristi De Simone -week seven- primary source assignment- In George Washington's Farewell Address in Philadelphia Pennsylvania on September 17,1796 He address the public with a speech that prepared them for a new leader, who would be Washington's successor. Because Washington declined to be considered among those who would be chosen to be the next president, he was shaping the country to prepare carefully for the future. Washington says, the unity of government, which constitutes you people, is also now near to you. Government's main target is the people's independence, the support of happiness at home, peace abroad, safety, and prosperity, of that very liberty which is so highly prized. When others try to weaken the thoughts of America, estimate the immense value of the national union to collective and individual happiness, he says. Federal government in America is a country right. Washington states that, to the efficacy and permanency of your union a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute. They must experience the infractions and interruptions, which all alliances in all times have experienced. The government, is the offspring of our own choice. The political systems are the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government. The constitution, as strong as it is it's expected to change when it is needed. The constitution is an authentic act of the whole people. It is sacredly obligatory upon all of us. The idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. Washington says, to save and preserve the government in the present state it is necessary that the country steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority. Resist with care the spirit of inovationation upon its principles, however misleading the pretexts is. One method of assault may be to effect in the forms of the Constitution alterations that will impair the energy of the system, and will determine what can not be directly overthrown. This farewell address was a statement of political principle not partisan preferences because Washington's main focus was on the politics of the nation. He was not trying to persuade a party vote, but he was pushing toward a smart vote. He was acknowledging that he was stepping down form office and he would now be a citizen once again, and he had to live with the same government the people had, and he wanted them to choose smart and direct them into the right path.