Sourcebooks: My Fellow Americans

Copyright © 2003, 2010 by Michael Waldman Cover and internal design © 2010 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Cover design by Kirk DouPonce/Dog Earred Design Sourcebooks and the colophon are registered trademarks of Sourcebooks, Inc. Front cover photos, from left to right: Library of Congress, Library of Congress, Library of Congress, Library of Congress, AP Images, AP Images, DKBras/BigStockPhoto.com Back cover photos, from left to right: Corbis Images, Corbis Images, Corbis Images, Corbis Images, AP Images, AP Images, AP Images Additional Photo Credits and Audio Credits at back All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from its publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.

It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.—From a Declaration of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations All brand names and product names used in this book are trademarks, registered trademarks, or trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebooks, Inc., is not associated with any product or vendor in this book.

Published by Sourcebooks MediaFusion, an imprint of Sourcebooks, Inc. P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-4410 (630) 961-3900 FAX: (630) 961-2168 www.sourcebooks.com Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data My fellow Americans : the most important speeches of America’s presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama / [compiled] by Michael Waldman. p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

1. Presidents—United States—Messages. 2. Political oratory—United States. 3. United States—Politics and government.

I. Waldman, Michael.

J81.4.M93 2003 352.23’8’0973—dc21 2003006879 Printed and bound in China.

OGP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

MyFellowAmericans.indd 2

6/28/10 10:08 AM

To my brother Steve

MyFellowAmericans.indd 3

6/28/10 10:08 AM

also by michael waldman A Return to Common Sense: Seven Bold Ways to Revitalize Democracy POTUS Speaks: Finding the Words that Defined the Clinton Presidency Who Robbed America? A Citizen’s Guide to the S & L Scandal Big Business Reader (2nd ed., edited with Mark Green) Who Runs Congress? (4th ed., with Mark Green)

MyFellowAmericans.indd 4

6/28/10 10:08 AM

CONTENTS DISC TRACK

1 1

1 1

1

1

PAGE Foreword Introduction

George Washington 2 1. “The American Experiment”: First Inaugural Address • April 30, 1789 3 2. “These Counsels of an Old and Affectionate Friend”: Farewell Address • September 19, 1796

Thomas Jefferson 4 3. “We Are All Republicans, We Are All Federalists”: First Inaugural Address • March 4, 1801

ix xi

3 9

17

Andrew Jackson 5 4. “The Rich and Powerful Too Often Bend the Acts of Government to Their Selfish Purposes”: Veto of the Bank of the United States • July 10, 1832 6 5. “Disunion by Armed Force Is Treason”: Proclamation on Nullification • December 10, 1832

30

1 1 1

Abraham Lincoln 7 6. “A House Divided Against Itself Cannot Stand”: Address to the State Republican Convention • June 16, 1858 8 7. “The Better Angels of Our Nature”: First Inaugural Address • March 4, 1861 9 8. “A New Birth of Freedom”: Gettysburg Address • November 19, 1863 10 9. “With Malice Toward None”: Second Inaugural Address • March 4, 1865

37 43 53 57

1

12

1

1

1

13

1 14 1

MyFellowAmericans.indd 5

15

25

Theodore Roosevelt 10. “The Man with the Muck-rake”: Dedication of the House Office Building • April 15, 1906 11. “The New Nationalism”: Speech at Osawatomie, Kansas • August 31, 1910

63 68

Woodrow Wilson 12. “The World Must Be Made Safe for Democracy”: Request for Declaration of War on Germany • April 2, 1917 13. “The Fourteen Points”: Address to Congress on Peace Terms • January 8, 1918

79 87

6/28/10 10:08 AM

DISC TRACK

1 17 1

18

1 1

19 20

1

21

1 22 1

23

1 24 1

25

1 26 2

1

2

2

2

3

2 4 2 2

5 6

2 7 2

8

2 9

MyFellowAmericans.indd 6

PAGE Franklin Delano Roosevelt 14. “The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: First Inaugural Address • March 4, 1933 15. “A Rendezvous with Destiny”: Acceptance Speech for Renomination • June 27, 1936 16. “The Four Freedoms”: 1941 Annual Message to Congress • January 6, 1941 17. “A Date Which Will Live in Infamy”: Request for Declaration of War Against Japan • December 8, 1941 18. “Our Sons, Pride of Our Nation”: D-Day Prayer • June 6, 1944

95 102 109 118 122

Harry S. Truman 19. “The Truman Doctrine”: Address to Congress on Greece and Turkey • March 12, 1947 20. “Do-Nothing Congress”: Whistle-Stop Speech • September 18, 1948

129 136

Dwight D. Eisenhower 21. “Atoms for Peace”: Address Before the UN General Assembly • December 8, 1953 22. “The Military-Industrial Complex”: Farewell Address • January 17, 1961

145 153

John F. Kennedy 23. “Ask Not What Your Country Can Do for You”: Inaugural Address • January 20, 1961 24. “Missiles in Cuba”: Address to the Nation on the Cuban Missile Crisis • October 22, 1962 25. “Let Us Reexamine Our Attitude Toward the Cold War”: Commencement Address, American University • June 10, 1963 26. “Ich Bin Ein Berliner”: Speech at the Berlin Wall • June 26, 1963

161 166 175 181

Lyndon B. Johnson 27. “Let Us Continue”: Address to Congress after the Kennedy Assassination • November 27, 1963 28. “We Shall Overcome”: Address to Congress on Voting Rights • March 15, 1965 29. “I Shall Not Seek, and I Will Not Accept, the Nomination of My Party”: Speech on the Vietnam War • March 31, 1968

187 193

Richard M. Nixon 30. “The Great Silent Majority”: Address to the Nation on Vietnam • November 3, 1969 31. “We Have Done Some Things Wrong”: Farewell Address to White House Staff • August 9, 1974

213

Gerald R. Ford 32. “Our Long National Nightmare Is Over”: Remarks upon Taking the Oath of Office • August 9, 1974

203

224

231

6/28/10 10:08 AM

DISC TRACK

PAGE

2

10

Jimmy Carter 33. “A Crisis of Confidence”: Speech on Energy and National Goals • July 15, 1979

2

11

Ronald Reagan 34. “Government Is Not the Solution to Our Problem; Government Is the Problem”: First Inaugural Address • January 20, 1981 35. “Leave Marxism-Leninism on the Ash-Heap of History”: Address to Members of British Parliament • June 8, 1982 36. “Slipped the Surly Bonds of Earth”: Address to the Nation on the Challenger Explosion • January 28, 1986 37. “I Cannot Escape Responsibility”: Remarks on the Iran-Contra Scandal • March 4, 1987

2 2 2

2

2 2 2

2

12 13 14

15

16 17 18

19

2

20

2

21

2

22

George H.W. Bush 38. “A Kinder and Gentler Nation”: Acceptance Speech, Republican Convention • August 18, 1988 Bill Clinton 39. “What Would Martin Luther King Say?”: Remarks to the Church of God in Christ in Memphis • November 13, 1993 40. “In the Face of Death, Let Us Honor Life”: Eulogy for the Victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing • April 23, 1995 41. “Let That Be Our Gift to the Twenty-First Century”: State of the Union Address • January 27, 1998 George W. Bush 42. “Freedom and Fear, Justice and Cruelty, Have Always Been at War”: Address to Congress after the Attacks of September 11 • September 20, 2001 43. “The Day of Your Liberation Is Near”: Address on Iraq • March 17, 2003

237

245 252 262 267

275

285 291 295

305 314

Barack Obama 44. “A More Perfect Union”: Remarks in Philadelphia • March 18, 2008 45. “I am Not Bound to Win, but I am Bound to be True”: Remarks to the House Democratic Caucus • March 20, 2010

323

347

Bibliography and Suggested Reading

355

Photography and Audio Credits

361

Acknowledgments

362

Notes

MyFellowAmericans.indd 7

336

7/8/10 3:09 PM

A NOTE ABOUT THE AUDIO Through the words and voices of its presidents, the history of America comes alive. The audio CDs that accompany and are integrated into this book feature the greatest of those voices, plus a little more. We encourage you to use the book and CDs together to best experience the rich and remarkable history in this collection.

Wherever possible, the greatest speeches of presidents from the recorded era are brought to you as completely as space limitations allowed. Speeches from before recorded sound have been faithfully recreated here by the voice talents of Pat Duke and Roger Mueller. Also, while we were creating this book, we faced the realization that many presidents from the recorded era simply would not have speeches featured in the book itself. In the interest of offering a complete record of presidential voices, these CDs include short audio segments of what we believe to be every president ever recorded, a history that goes all the way back to Benjamin Harrison.

MyFellowAmericans.indd 8

6/28/10 10:08 AM

foreword Once every few years, a dramatic moment draws us together as Americans, sometimes joyous, sometimes calamitous— planes strike the World Trade Center, the Challenger space craft blows up before our eyes, young people tear down the Berlin Wall, peace comes after war. We watch, we listen, we wonder. But each time, there is one person to whom we turn to explain and give meaning—our president.

On a summer night during the Great Depression, historians tell us, one could walk through the streets of Baltimore and hear every word Franklin Roosevelt spoke from a fireside in the White House. Families up and down the blocks were gathered ’round their radios, and his voice carried through open windows. Memories of John F. Kennedy’s voice crystallizing in the cold air as he spoke during his inaugural remain forever etched. When he was slain, we waited anxiously to hear Lyndon Johnson and were relieved by his humility and his call to continue.

When Richard Nixon resigned, we needed to hear Gerald Ford tell us, “Our long national nightmare is over.” And as schoolchildren tried to make sense of the Challenger explosion, Ronald Reagan wisely recalled for us “the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for the journey and waved good-bye and ‘slipped the surly bonds of earth’ to ‘touch the face of God.’” Michael Waldman knows as well as anyone the importance of the bully pulpit, having been the chief speechwriter in the Clinton White House. But, as Waldman reminds us, up until the time of Teddy Roosevelt, presidents spoke much less frequently than today. George Washington gave few public addresses, even though he had the finest speechwriting team in history—Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison. Washington thought his deeds

spoke more persuasively than his words. Thomas Jefferson was a shy man who loved to write (he sent endless written messages to his cabinet officers) but spoke only when required: he sent his State of the Union messages to Congress on paper and gave only two major speeches, his first and second inaugurals!

Abraham Lincoln gained political prominence through the power of his oratory. For years after, students studied his Lyceum speech, given as a young man, as well as his “House Divided” speech; his debates with Douglas that lifted him onto the national stage; and his address at Cooper Union that convinced New Yorkers he might be a good nominee for the presidency. Once elected, however, Lincoln refrained from speaking much. His first and second inaugurals, along with the Gettysburg Address, are among the only ones he delivered. At a time when presidential speeches seem two-a-penny, one longs for a day when a speech was both singular and incandescent.

Rereading Lincoln’s presidential speeches here, one is reminded how a leader can give deeper and fresher meaning to the American experience through the power of the pen.

At Gettysburg, as Garry Wills pointed out in his Pulitzer prize–winning book, Lincoln at Gettysburg, Lincoln reinterpreted American history, placing the value of equality on the same plane as liberty. In his second inaugural, as Ronald White has underscored in his book, Lincoln’s Greatest Speech, Lincoln pointed the nation toward a peace of reconciliation.

Both speeches rely upon a theme of America’s birth, death, and rebirth—at Gettysburg, cast in secular terms, and in his second inaugural, cast as a spiritual rebirth. The two together are among the most important statements ever made about who we are as a people.

ix

MyFellowAmericans.indd 9

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

And that’s the point. Our presidents not only wear the two traditional hats of head-of-state and head-ofgovernment, they also give us voice as a people. Every speaker must come to know his or her own voice, but power comes when a speaker’s authentic voice is also the voice of the people being addressed. Our best presidents have known that instinctively, and they have helped to define who we are, what we are experiencing, and how our experience fits into our great national experiment.

Among the many paintings depicting the signers of the Constitution, gathered in Philadelphia in 1787,

one has often intrigued people who work at the White House. It shows most of the signers in detail but others are only sketched in and large patches of white space are left unmarked. More than one president has suggested to audiences that the painter did that for a reason: he wanted to tell each succeeding generation that it is up to it to carry on the work, to complete the canvas. That’s what these presidential speeches, collected here with so much care, represent. Each one provides an important brush stroke that paints in yet another piece of the American story.

David Gergen Cambridge, Massachusetts July 11, 2003

x

MyFellowAmericans.indd 10

6/28/10 10:08 AM

Introduction “Four score and seven years ago”…“A date which will live in infamy”…“Ask not what your country can do for you”…“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” From our earliest days, and especially in the past century, presidents have led with their words—using what Theodore Roosevelt called the “bully pulpit” to inspire, rally, and unite the country. By moving ordinary citizens, these speeches moved history. Franklin Roosevelt called the presidency “preeminently a place of moral leadership.”

As he understood, only a president can speak, with a clear voice, to the whole country—and on behalf of the nation to the world. If you want to understand American history, the great speeches of American presidents are a good place to start. And not just to read them, but to hear them.

From 1995 to 1999, I was director of speechwriting in the White House for President Bill Clinton. I worked on two inaugural addresses, four State of the Unions—all told, editing or writing nearly two thousand speeches.

Drawing on that experience, I have selected what I believe to be the forty-three most significant speeches by American presidents, from George Washington to George W. Bush. These are the speeches that made the greatest impact—those most remembered by later generations, or those that will most likely be so recalled. To introduce each speech, I explain the historic context, the goals of the talk, and how it was composed. The text is accompanied by two audio CDs that feature the actual voices of all the presidents since Benjamin Harrison.

A few explanations are in order.

First, these are the complete speeches—some have been edited for length, but more are presented in their

entirety. I think it’s best to read these speeches in full, to move beyond the familiar soundbites or slogans. Second, this book focuses on those speeches made by presidents while they were in office. There are four exceptions, however: Abraham Lincoln’s “House Divided” speech, Theodore Roosevelt’s “New Nationalism,” George H.W. Bush’s 1988 convention address, and Barack Obama’s speech on race, each chosen because of the way it illuminates key themes of the presidency of those four men.

Third, you’ll notice that most of these speeches date from the twentieth century. Before then, presidents rarely spoke in public. When they did, they didn’t ask citizens to support specific policies. Such appeals were considered demagogic. (Indeed, one of the articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson actually accused him of going on a speaking tour—not only that, doing so in a “loud voice”!) Congress, rather than the chief executive, ran the country—and the great orators, such as Daniel Webster and Henry Clay, held forth on Capitol Hill.

When presidents addressed the public, they usually did so in writing. We have included three of those written addresses—George Washington’s “Farewell Address,” and two by Andrew Jackson—because their ringing phrases lived beyond the day’s controversies.

Social change—and new technologies—transformed the presidency. At the turn of the twentieth century, new national media—wire services, national magazines, photographic reproduction—began to transmit the words and especially pictures of leaders to a wide new audience. The industrial revolution produced a demand for a stronger national government. From the beginning, as Alexander Hamilton urged, the chief executive was the source of

xi

MyFellowAmericans.indd 11

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

“energy.” Now the country wanted action. As government grew, so did the presidency.

And from Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson forward, chief executives came to see their public speeches as a key tool for leadership. Soon radio would carry the voice of the president directly to millions of citizens. FDR’s skill on the medium was key to his success, and to those of other contemporary orators, such as Churchill—and Hitler.

Then came the next revolution, and it was televised. The first presidential TV talk aired in 1947. Eisenhower held the first televised press conference in 1955. In the 1960s, the televised presidency truly came of age. Three television networks now had nightly newscasts, and the president was the “star.” Presidents often spoke to the country in widely watched, prime-time addresses. Richard Nixon, when he resigned in a speech from his desk, began, “This is the thirty-seventh time I have spoken to you from this office.”

The next explosion of technology came in the 1980s and mushroomed in the 1990s—and with it, the president’s voice was both more ubiquitous and less commanding. By the end of the century, there were four all-news cable networks (CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and CNBC). But broadcast television networks now balked at giving presidents time to address the public directly. Today, short of war or scandal, the only time a president can be assured of a national TV audience is in the annual State of the Union address. So presidential talk is now a matter not just of quality but quantity. In a typical, non-election year, Harry Truman spoke in public eighty-eight times; Ronald Reagan, 320 times; Bill Clinton, nearly 550 times. George W. Bush and Barack Obama kept a similar pace. They spoke in public nearly every day. The rise of the Internet and collapse of many newspapers already has begun to bend the way presidents speak. Many citizens now read full speech texts or videos without waiting for excerpts the next morning or on the evening news.

“experiment.” Perhaps a great argument is more like it—a long conversation, stretching over two centuries, about what we stand for.

What is the role of government? From Jefferson and Jackson through to the Roosevelts and JFK and Reagan and Clinton, the presidents have contested, with the demand for a strong hand in the capital alternating with the demand for a minimal state.

What is America’s role in the world? Washington warned against “permanent alliances.” But Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, and Truman argued the country must exert global leadership—and the Cold War dominated presidential rhetoric for half a century. Now George W. Bush and Barack Obama call Americans to a new kind of struggle with terrorists and nations that threaten through weapons of mass destruction.

And what of the dilemma of race? In these pages, Lincoln grows from a lawyer’s insisting on preserving the union to his second inaugural calling the Civil War God’s punishment for the sin of slavery. Lyndon Johnson adopted the civil rights anthem, “We Shall Overcome.” But as Bill Clinton preached from the pulpit in Memphis where Martin Luther King Jr. gave his last sermon, legal civil rights are incomplete if our communities are torn by violence and crime. Now, in his speech on race in Philadelphia, Barack Obama suggested that a new generation could move past painful divisions that scarred their parents.

The best presidential addresses call on our nation to live by its ideals, first (and best) expressed in the preamble to the Declaration of Independence. Time and again, presidents rely for moral authority on what historian Pauline Maier calls our “American scripture.” Lincoln at Gettysburg argued that the country’s founding vision required us to end slavery. Roosevelt argued that the same ideals required a new strong central government to combat economic inequality. Ronald Reagan quoted those same founders to argue instead for a more limited government.

And presidents from Wilson to Roosevelt to Reagan to Bush have sought to extend that vision worldwide.

There are lessons here for aspiring leaders and would-be

The memorable speeches in this book teach us about our country in several ways. The very first presidential talk, Washington’s inaugural, called our nation a great

xii

MyFellowAmericans.indd 12

6/28/10 10:08 AM

Introduction “great communicators.” These speeches—for all their pomp and poetry—are distinguished by their muscularity.

They are more than words; they are action. They convey big ideas, often controversial ones. They are memorable not solely because they are eloquent, but because, so often, they pressed people to change their minds. (One recurring theme, in fact, is surprise—presidents knew that by confounding expectation, they kept the initiative in their hands.)

In the end, the fact that we still listen to these words reflects well on our democracy. Usually, presidents cannot command. They can only persuade. For all the majesty of

office, they rise only as far as they bring the people with them. True, citizens no longer huddle around the radio, anxiously listening to FDR’s latest fireside chat. But in the crowded and dangerous decade since September 11, 2001, we again listen intently to the words of our president. In a time of crisis, for all our cynicism, we look to the president for inspiration, information, and direction. This book— along with the CDs that accompany it—gives us a chance to hear for ourselves how, in our best moments, our leaders have challenged our ideas, stirred our hearts, and moved our nation.

Michael Waldman New York City June 2010

xiii

MyFellowAmericans.indd 13

6/28/10 10:08 AM

MyFellowAmericans.indd 14

6/28/10 10:08 AM

George

Washington

1st President: 1789–1797 Born: February 22, 1732, in Westmoreland County, Virginia Died: December 14, 1799, in Mount Vernon, Virginia Disc Disc 1, X, Tracks Track 2–3 X

MyFellowAmericans.indd 1

6/28/10 10:08 AM

MyFellowAmericans.indd 2

6/28/10 10:08 AM

1 george washington

“the american experiment” When George Washington traveled from Mount Vernon to New York City to take the oath of office, there had never before been a president of the United States. Crowds wild with adulation followed his coach up the East Coast.

As Washington crossed the Hudson River to New York City, a band played “God Save the King,” with new words honoring the American leader. As James Madison noted ruefully, the selection of Washington as president was the only part of the government that the people truly liked.

But what was the presidency? Nobody really knew. Was it like an elected monarch? Was it merely an adjunct to the Congress? On the role and scope of the new office, as on much else, the Constitution was vague. The first chief executive would have to begin to fill in that outline, and he would begin by delivering an inaugural address.

Amid pomp and artillery fusillades, before a large crowd on Wall Street, Washington was sworn in. Then he went indoors to address the Congress. Representative Fisher Ames, a renowned orator in Congress, described the talk:

very unsteadiness, he showed the audience he shared their respect for civilian authority. With his endearing stage fright, Washington cloaked the new republican form of government with his own monumental personal standing.

What should an inaugural address say? At first, Washington drafted a long list of legislative recommendations. But as he explained, he decided that would best wait for another occasion—what would become the message on the State of the Union. His diffidence won warm public approval; in fact, it was what audiences of the day expected from a leader. Though they revered Washington, citizens had just fought a revolution against overweening executive authority. Instead of offering a detailed program, Washington spoke instead in broad and sweeping terms about the newly launched country. He understood the president was head of state before he was head of government. Washington also announced he would not take a salary, a bit of showmanship that was likely as popular then as it would be now. As he did in his farewell address later, he warned against factionalism and “party animosity,” and urged Americans to think of their country and not just their communities.

The speech took an unmistakable spiritual tone. Over nearly a third of its length, Washington spoke of divine guidance for the new nation. Historians believe that Washington, like Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin and others of the day, was a deist. He did not follow the doctrine of a church, but held to the Enlightenment view that an indefinable supreme being created the universe.

Washington’s wartime experiences convinced him that the new nation had been so fortunate in so many ways that it must have been blessed by Providence. Repeatedly, he

It was a very touching scene and quite of the solemn kind. [Washington’s] aspect grave, almost to sadness; his modesty, actually shaking; his voice deep, a little tremulous, and so low as to call for close attention; added to the series of objects presented to the mind, and overwhelming it, produced emotions of the most affecting kind upon the members. I…sat entranced. It seemed to me an allegory in which virtue was personified.

Washington, as one historian noted, was a confident military commander, but when it came to assuming the nation’s highest civil office, he lost his composure. By this

3

MyFellowAmericans.indd 3

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

argued that public happiness depended on private virtues such as honesty.

Washington knew his generation faced challenges novel and grave. Earlier self-governing republics had ended in failure. None had stretched across a landmass the size of the thirteen states. The new country constantly would have to contend with empires that coveted its land and wealth. Even the Constitution, though better than the improvisational governments of the decade before, was only an outline. Hence the power of Washington’s eloquent charge to the citizens: “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment intrusted to the hands of the American people.” The cause of the new ­government was the same cause fought

for in the Revolution; it was a test of the virtue of the people and of the republican (and, increasingly over the years, of the democratic) idea. These first words spoken by a president fixed the idea of America as an experiment in liberty. The American “experiment” would reappear in Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (the Civil War was testing whether or not a nation “conceived in liberty” could endure).

The presidency would evolve continuously. For most of the country’s first century, Congress would overshadow the White House and its occupants. Only gradually did the chief executive become the prominent and singular figure in American government, expected to initiate policy. But Washington’s inaugural fixed one of the chief responsibilities of office: to speak for the nation’s core political principles.

4

MyFellowAmericans.indd 4

6/28/10 10:08 AM

George Washington’s

First inaugural address

*

hear…

Federal Hall, New York City • April 30, 1789

disc 1 track 2

Fellow-Citizens of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: Among the vicissitudes incident to life no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order, and received on the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest predilection, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years—a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence one who (inheriting inferior endowments from nature and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration) ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions all I dare aver is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I dare hope is that if, in executing this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens, and have thence too little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me, my error will be palliated by the motives which mislead me, and its consequences be judged by my country with some share of the partiality in which they originated.

Such being the impressions under which I have, in

obedience to the public summons, repaired to the present station, it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the

The 1889 painting by Ramon de Elorriaga entitled The Inauguration of George Washington

MyFellowAmericans.indd 5

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes, and may enable every instrument employed in its administration to execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this homage to the Great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, nor those of my fellow-citizens at large less than either.

No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency; and in the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities from which the event has resulted can not be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.

By the article establishing the executive department it is made the duty of the President “to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” The circumstances under which I now meet you will acquit me from entering into that subject further than to refer to the great constitutional charter under which you are assembled, and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute, in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications I behold the surest pledges that as on

one side no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assemblage of communities and interests, so, on another, that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire, since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained; and since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.

Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far

“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States.” an ­exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the Constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of

6

MyFellowAmericans.indd 6

6/28/10 10:08 AM

George Washington

Washington’s handwritten draft of his first inaugural address

7

MyFellowAmericans.indd 7

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that whilst you carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience, a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and a regard for the public harmony will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the question how far the former can be impregnably fortified or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.

To the foregoing observations I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself, and will therefore be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty required that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From this resolution I have in no instance departed; and being still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline as inapplicable to myself any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department, and must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed may during

my continuance in it be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.

Having thus imparted to you my sentiments as they have been awakened by the occasion which brings us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the Human Race in humble supplication that, since He has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating in perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, so His divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.

“You will join with me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.�

8

MyFellowAmericans.indd 8

6/28/10 10:08 AM

2 george washington

“These Counsels of an Old and Affectionate Friend” On September 19, 1796, in his seventh year in office, President George Washington rode from the capital in Philadelphia to his home at Mount Vernon. In the city he left behind, newspaper readers opened Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser. There, on page two, was a startling message addressed to “the PEOPLE of the UNITED STATES”—not a speech, but a written address to the public. Within days, newspapers all across the country rushed it into print. One, in New Hampshire, dubbed it “Washington’s Farewell Address.” George Washington would not run for a third term.

Today, we take it for granted that leaders stay in office for an allotted time and then leave. Then, the idea was novel—an innovative contribution to democracy. In revolutions before and since, victorious strongmen clung to office until death. Kings passed on the throne to their heirs. King George III, hearing of an earlier decision by his adversary Washington to resign his army commission and decline the chance for ultimate power, is reported to have said, “If he does that, he will be the greatest man in the world.”

As it happened, by the end of his second term, Washington was feeling rather bruised. He had mulled stepping aside after his first term, and had asked James Madison to draft a message explaining his reasons. Madison urged Washington not to go before Congress to deliver the address, but rather to aim it straight at the American people. As presidential historian Garry Wills has observed, it would have been the first use of the presidential “bully pulpit.” Washington decided to run for reelection, but he kept Madison’s draft in reserve.

Four years later, after a contentious second term, he was even more determined to decline a third term. The president

wrote a bitter, self-pitying draft, defending his honor and denouncing his critics. He even included, in its entirety, Madison’s draft from four years before, perhaps to show he had not cravenly sought power (and to show that one of his chief critics knew so). Washington sent his draft to Alexander Hamilton, the former secretary of the treasury, now living in New York, and asked him to edit it, worrying about its “egotism.” Hamilton must have been aghast.

In part, he was upset that Washington was working with Madison, a political rival. He stalled for weeks, made minor edits, and then ultimately wrote an entirely new version. It was lofty, visionary, and altogether different. When he saw this text, Washington realized Hamilton’s version was much better. He used it as the basis of his Farewell Address.

Washington’s address is remembered best for two things. The first is the denunciation of faction, accompanied by a call for national unity. As historian Joseph Ellis notes, Washington was addressing a nation that would have to fare without him, saying in effect: “Think of yourself as a single nation; subordinate your regional and political differences to your common identity as Americans; regard the federal government that represents your collective interest as an ally rather than as an enemy (as ‘us,’ if you will, rather than ‘them’).”

More influential was the discussion of foreign affairs.

The new nation was being sucked, seemingly inexorably, into the ever-raging European wars—a small, powerless country that risked being caught up in the battles between European giants. The French Revolution had thrilled Thomas Jefferson’s Republicans and horrified the Federalists. That split threatened the new American government. Washington’s administration had enraged

9

MyFellowAmericans.indd 9

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

the Republicans by negotiating the Jay Treaty, which, by ending British aggression against American shipping with generous concessions, brought the United States closer to England. His purpose was not to tilt toward London, but neutrality. Washington believed the young nation could prosper only if it steered clear of “permanent alliances” with one side or the other. (He never referred to “entangling alliances,” though many people wrongly think the phrase his. It belonged to Jefferson in his first inaugural.) In fact, Washington privately suggested the United States needed two decades of peace and isolation to build up strength enough to defend itself, a prophecy that was proven prescient in the war of 1812. His denunciation of faction was an early version of the later adage that “politics must stop at the water’s edge.”

The policy of isolationism set out in the Farewell Address was followed for over a century by presidents of all parties. Its doctrine was appealed to, frequently, by those opposing U.S. involvement in wars and foreign adventures.

Perhaps the most important thing about Washington’s address was that it said “farewell.” Biographer James Flexner has written, “Washington’s desire to retire at the end of his second term was so climactic an act that the precedent he thus established was not violated for more

than a century and then restored by a Constitutional amendment.…He was demonstrating the principle essential to a free government that succession should be determined as a matter of course by the people rather than by Father Time’s scythe. He had gone against the precedents of history, which made his act the more remarkable, the more endearing.”

On March 4, 1797, his successor, John Adams, took the oath of office. As a gesture of esteem, Thomas Jefferson, the new vice president, signaled to Washington that he should go first as the three men left the stage. In full view of the crowd, Washington refused: he was now a private citizen. Republican government would live beyond its first president.

Alexander Hamilton wrote the first draft of Washington’s Farewell Address

MyFellowAmericans.indd 10

6/28/10 10:08 AM

George Washington’s Farewell Address

*

hear…

Published September 19, 1796

disc 1 track 3

Friends and Fellow-Citizens: The period for a new election of a citizen to administer the Executive Government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.…

The acceptance of and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this previous to the last election had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexed and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence impelled me to abandon the idea. I rejoice that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer renders the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the sentiment of duty or propriety, and am persuaded, whatever partiality may be retained for my services, that in the present circumstances of our country you will not disapprove my determination to retire.…

Here, perhaps, I ought to stop. But a solicitude for your welfare which can not end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge

me on an occasion like the present to offer to your solemn contemplation and to recommend to your frequent review some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel.…

[The] common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a

“I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among the number of those out of whom a choice is to be made.…” wise people to discourage and restrain it.

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 passion. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

11

MyFellowAmericans.indd 11

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

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.

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.

Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness—these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked, Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. 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.

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends

“It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world….” with more or less force to every species of free government.

Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric?

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent

12

MyFellowAmericans.indd 12

6/28/10 10:08 AM

George Washington much greater disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burthen which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives; but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that toward the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the Government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.

Observe good faith and justice toward all nations.

Cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct. And can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the course of time and things the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature.

Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

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 toward all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an 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.

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 toward 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.

13

MyFellowAmericans.indd 13

6/28/10 10:08 AM

My Fellow Americans

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

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.…

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 toward 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.

“I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy.” 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, 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.…

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

14

MyFellowAmericans.indd 14

6/28/10 10:08 AM

Weho pet ha ty o ue nj o y e d r e a di ngt hi sf r e eo nl i nepr e v i e w.

Y o uc a npur c ha s et he c o mpl e t eb o o ka ta nyt i me b yv i s i t i ngusa t : www. s i mpl e t r ut hs . c o m