Polarized Times: George Washington's Wish for Non-Partisanship
While this might seem like a time of the worst political polarization ever, historians are aware that polarization in politics is nothing new. It is as old as politics itself unfortunately, and it was present from the time of the very first presidential administration, that of George Washington. Washington himself strongly disliked the notion of factionalism in politics, and he warned about the dangers of political partisanship. He did so most strongly perhaps in his Farewell Address, published in 1796.
By 1796 George Washington had served two terms in office. During the Revolutionary War, he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. He was foremost among the Founding Fathers and had presided over the convention that drafted the United States Constitution. He established the national and lasting model of the military being subject to civilian authorities, something that was amazing for its time, and something that remains a fundamental tenet of democracy today. He became known as the "father of his country" during his lifetime and it is a title that he retains to this day.
Washington was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. No one has done that since and it is doubtful than anyone ever will. He supervised the creation of a strong national government that maintained neutrality during the French Revolutionary Wars. He established many precedents still in use today, including the cabinet system, the inaugural address, and the title Mr. President. His decision to retire from office after two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment, passed in 1951, now limits the president to two elected terms.
The election of 1796 was the third presidential election, but the first in which two political parties vied for power, something Washington had hoped would never come to pass. The election was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was not only the first contested presidential election, but it would end up being the only one in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets.
When Washington refused a third term in office, incumbent Vice President John Adams from Massachusetts became a candidate for the presidency on the Federalist Party ticket along with former Governor Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina. Their opponents were former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson from Virginia along with Senator Aaron Burr of New York for the Democratic-Republicans. At this time, each man from any party ran alone, as the formal position of "running mate" had not yet been established, but it was intended that one man would be at the top of the ticket (though as the election of 1800 would later prove, this was not always respected).
The campaign was an acrimonious one, with Federalists attempting to associate the Republicans with the violent French Revolution and the Democratic-Republicans accusing the Federalists of wanting to turn the country into a monarchy ruled by an elite aristocracy. Republicans sought to identify Adams with the policies developed by fellow Federalist Alexander Hamilton, which they portrayed as too much in favor of Great Britain. Paradoxically, Hamilton himself opposed Adams and worked to undermine his election. In foreign policy, Republicans denounced the Federalists over Jay's Treaty.
Federalists attacked Jefferson's moral character, alleging he was an atheist, and a coward during the Revolution. Adams supporters also accused Jefferson of being too pro-France. The proof, they said, was clear when the French ambassador expressed his support for Jefferson and attacked the Federalists right before the election.
Adams won the election, receiving 71 electoral votes. Jefferson received the second highest number of electoral votes, 68, and was elected vice president according to the prevailing rules of the day. This election marked the beginning of a polarization in electoral politics that would continue forward, with only a brief period of respite during the time of James Monroe.
As his presidency was coming to an end, Washington published his Farewell Address, issued as a public letter on September 17, 1796. It was drafted primarily by Washington himself with help from Hamilton. James Madison had helped with an earlier draft. In the address, Washington wrote of the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people.
For Washington, an important concept was morality, which he called "a necessary spring of popular government", He said:
"Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Washington also warned against foreign influence in domestic affairs as well as against American meddling in European affairs. But among his strongest messages was his criticism of bitter partisanship in domestic politics. He called for men to move beyond partisanship and serve the common good. He warned against "permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world". Washington told the nation that the United States must concentrate primarily on American interests. He supported friendship and commerce with all nations, but advised against involvement in European wars and entering into long-term "entangling" alliances. For Washington, the notion of non-involvement in foreign affairs was of paramount importance.
On the subject of partisanship, Washington warned of the dangers of political parties to the country as a whole. These warnings were the result of the recent rise of two opposing parties within his government (the Democratic-Republican Party led by Jefferson, and Hamilton's Federalist Party). Washington had fought to remain neutral during a conflict between Britain and France brought about by the French Revolution, while the Democratic-Republicans had made efforts to align with France and the Federalists had made efforts to ally with Great Britain. While Washington understood that it was natural for people to organize and operate within groups such as political parties, he saw a big picture in which political parties would have the tendency to seek more power than other groups and to take revenge on political opponents. He believed that disagreements between political parties weakened a government.
Washington acknowledges that political parties are sometimes beneficial in promoting liberty in monarchies, but he believed that political parties must be restrained in a popularly elected government because of their tendency to distract the government from their duties, create petty jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms among the people, and provide foreign nations and interests undue access to the government.
Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797 and returned to Mount Vernon with a profound sense of relief. He turned his attention to his plantations and other business interests (including his distillery, which produced its first batch of liquor in February 1797).
In January 1862, a large group of Philadelphia residents signed a petition requesting Congress to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Washington's birth by reading his Farewell Address "in one or the other of the Houses of Congress.” It was first read in the United States House of Representatives in February 1862, and the reading of Washington's address became a tradition in both houses by 1899. The House of Representatives abandoned the practice in 1984, but the Senate continues this tradition to the present. Washington's Birthday is observed by selecting a member of the Senate to read the address aloud on the Senate floor, alternating between political parties each year.
Behind the cut below is that portion of the Farewell Address containing Washington's own words on the subject of political parties:
20 I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.
21 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
22 The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and 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 and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and 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.
23 Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
24 It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
25 There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
26 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, 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. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.
By 1796 George Washington had served two terms in office. During the Revolutionary War, he served as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army. He was foremost among the Founding Fathers and had presided over the convention that drafted the United States Constitution. He established the national and lasting model of the military being subject to civilian authorities, something that was amazing for its time, and something that remains a fundamental tenet of democracy today. He became known as the "father of his country" during his lifetime and it is a title that he retains to this day.
Washington was unanimously elected president by the Electoral College in the first two national elections. No one has done that since and it is doubtful than anyone ever will. He supervised the creation of a strong national government that maintained neutrality during the French Revolutionary Wars. He established many precedents still in use today, including the cabinet system, the inaugural address, and the title Mr. President. His decision to retire from office after two terms established a tradition that lasted until 1940, when Franklin Delano Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term. The 22nd Amendment, passed in 1951, now limits the president to two elected terms.
The election of 1796 was the third presidential election, but the first in which two political parties vied for power, something Washington had hoped would never come to pass. The election was held from Friday, November 4 to Wednesday, December 7, 1796. It was not only the first contested presidential election, but it would end up being the only one in which a president and vice president were elected from opposing tickets.
When Washington refused a third term in office, incumbent Vice President John Adams from Massachusetts became a candidate for the presidency on the Federalist Party ticket along with former Governor Thomas Pinckney of South Carolina. Their opponents were former Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson from Virginia along with Senator Aaron Burr of New York for the Democratic-Republicans. At this time, each man from any party ran alone, as the formal position of "running mate" had not yet been established, but it was intended that one man would be at the top of the ticket (though as the election of 1800 would later prove, this was not always respected).
The campaign was an acrimonious one, with Federalists attempting to associate the Republicans with the violent French Revolution and the Democratic-Republicans accusing the Federalists of wanting to turn the country into a monarchy ruled by an elite aristocracy. Republicans sought to identify Adams with the policies developed by fellow Federalist Alexander Hamilton, which they portrayed as too much in favor of Great Britain. Paradoxically, Hamilton himself opposed Adams and worked to undermine his election. In foreign policy, Republicans denounced the Federalists over Jay's Treaty.
Federalists attacked Jefferson's moral character, alleging he was an atheist, and a coward during the Revolution. Adams supporters also accused Jefferson of being too pro-France. The proof, they said, was clear when the French ambassador expressed his support for Jefferson and attacked the Federalists right before the election.
Adams won the election, receiving 71 electoral votes. Jefferson received the second highest number of electoral votes, 68, and was elected vice president according to the prevailing rules of the day. This election marked the beginning of a polarization in electoral politics that would continue forward, with only a brief period of respite during the time of James Monroe.
As his presidency was coming to an end, Washington published his Farewell Address, issued as a public letter on September 17, 1796. It was drafted primarily by Washington himself with help from Hamilton. James Madison had helped with an earlier draft. In the address, Washington wrote of the necessity and importance of national union, the value of the Constitution and the rule of law, the evils of political parties, and the proper virtues of a republican people.
For Washington, an important concept was morality, which he called "a necessary spring of popular government", He said:
"Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle."
Washington also warned against foreign influence in domestic affairs as well as against American meddling in European affairs. But among his strongest messages was his criticism of bitter partisanship in domestic politics. He called for men to move beyond partisanship and serve the common good. He warned against "permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world". Washington told the nation that the United States must concentrate primarily on American interests. He supported friendship and commerce with all nations, but advised against involvement in European wars and entering into long-term "entangling" alliances. For Washington, the notion of non-involvement in foreign affairs was of paramount importance.
On the subject of partisanship, Washington warned of the dangers of political parties to the country as a whole. These warnings were the result of the recent rise of two opposing parties within his government (the Democratic-Republican Party led by Jefferson, and Hamilton's Federalist Party). Washington had fought to remain neutral during a conflict between Britain and France brought about by the French Revolution, while the Democratic-Republicans had made efforts to align with France and the Federalists had made efforts to ally with Great Britain. While Washington understood that it was natural for people to organize and operate within groups such as political parties, he saw a big picture in which political parties would have the tendency to seek more power than other groups and to take revenge on political opponents. He believed that disagreements between political parties weakened a government.
Washington acknowledges that political parties are sometimes beneficial in promoting liberty in monarchies, but he believed that political parties must be restrained in a popularly elected government because of their tendency to distract the government from their duties, create petty jealousies among groups and regions, raise false alarms among the people, and provide foreign nations and interests undue access to the government.
Washington retired from the presidency in March 1797 and returned to Mount Vernon with a profound sense of relief. He turned his attention to his plantations and other business interests (including his distillery, which produced its first batch of liquor in February 1797).
In January 1862, a large group of Philadelphia residents signed a petition requesting Congress to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Washington's birth by reading his Farewell Address "in one or the other of the Houses of Congress.” It was first read in the United States House of Representatives in February 1862, and the reading of Washington's address became a tradition in both houses by 1899. The House of Representatives abandoned the practice in 1984, but the Senate continues this tradition to the present. Washington's Birthday is observed by selecting a member of the Senate to read the address aloud on the Senate floor, alternating between political parties each year.
Behind the cut below is that portion of the Farewell Address containing Washington's own words on the subject of political parties:
20 I have already intimated to you the danger of parties in the state, with particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally.
21 This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.
22 The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and 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 and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and 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.
23 Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind, (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight,) the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.
24 It serves always to distract the Public Councils, and enfeeble the Public Administration. It agitates the Community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.
25 There is an opinion, that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the Government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of Liberty. This within certain limits is probably true; and in Governments of a Monarchical cast, Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor, upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And, there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest, instead of warming, it should consume.
26 It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those intrusted with its administration, 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. A just estimate of that love of power, and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the Guardian of the Public Weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern; some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way, which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for, though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit, which the use can at any time yield.