The Evolving of America, II

Abraham Lincoln

On February 19, 1862, which was in the midst of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation that Americans mark George Washington's birthday by pausing to read Washington's "immortal Farewell Address."  This blog post will share some of what Washington included in that proclamation.    With his usual modesty, Washington suggested that listeners (or readers) regard his words as those of "the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel."

What Washington suggested was that 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."  In other words, he was concerned that politicians might forget that they were cheering for the same team--for America.  Washington warned that divisiveness between parties when taken to extremes hurts the nation.  

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    The following quotes share some of Washington's warnings about the dangers to our nation caused by political extremes: "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."

    Continuing, "There is 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..."  But, Washington reminds, that there is a "constant danger of excess."  He continues, "It is important, likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution in those entrusted with its administration to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the power of one department to encroach upon another.  ...The necessity of receptacle checks on the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constructing each the guardian of that public weal against invasions by the others, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern..."

    Washington continued:  "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."

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Once in a while, it is wise for those of us who live in a very different world from that of our ancestors, to look back at the wisdom of those in the past.  As I read Washington's words from his Farewell address, I was shocked by how important they are for us to read today.  Likewise, in the middle of a Civil War, Lincoln realized that those same words would be important at that time for the nation to read.  

In fact, he thought the wisdom of Washington was so important that his birthday should be observed every year, and that the wisdom of his immortal words in his Farewell Address should be read as a reminder of the importance of our unique country.  Out of that ideal came the creation of President's Day.  Not all states recognize President's Day as an official holiday, and Kansas is among those.  Washington's Farewell Address is recited annually in the United States Senate, a tradition that continues to follow the suggestion of Lincoln.  

As I read Washington's words, they seem as important to me in 2024 as they were when he first spoke them.  May those trusted with the honor of holding offices in our government heed Washington's warnings about the dangers of political extremes.  

Members of both the Senate and the House take the same oath:  "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take the obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will faithfully perform the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."  The Supremacy Clause makes federal law paramount over the contrary positions of state officials, and certainly paramount to any dictate of political parties.     

 

The Evolving of America, I

Memorial Day  *  Country over Party

 The Constitution our Founding Fathers drafted established a framework that would be capable of adhering to fundamental ideals, but also capable of expansion into unforeseen or changing events.  George Washington's election as our first president was indescribably important, for his wisdom and humility established norms not specifically detailed.  For example, he chose to serve for two terms, determined to avoid the possibility of a tradition that presidents would serve for life like kings.  Some later Presidents chose to serve longer than two terms, but ultimately Washington's wisdom regarding limiting presidential service to two terms was adopted.

Try to imagine the responsibility of George Washington as our first president.  He could not look back on what former presidents had done. The entire process of ratification of The Constitution, presidential election, and ratification of the Bill of Rights took place from 1788 to 1791.  It is hard for us to imagine, in our times of immediate transmittal of information and transportation from one side of America to the opposite side, the natural delays of the 1700s.  Yet, this was the environment in which Washington served.  

Not only was the communication and transportation so different from today, he was dealing with a variety of cultures, not only in ethnicity, but in one particular situation, matters of religion.  Washington himself was a devout 18th-century Anglican, following the faith of England, but the split from England had loosened any strict adherence.  Washington wrote, "I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far, that we should never again see their religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of Society."  Even on his own plantation, historians have found evidence that Washington did not oppose the practice of Islam and other traditional African religions at Mount Vernon.

Baptists and Methodists, as well as other new sects, were even less restricted by traditional structures of the old church, and fellow Patriots of George Washington, such as Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, were deeply skeptical of all organized religion.  Our Bill of Rights was not finally ratified until December 15, 1791, but the opening words of that document are:  Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and Article VI of the Constitution itself provided "The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both in the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States."

John Winthrop, an English Puritan lawyer who served 18 annual terms as Governor or Lieutenant-governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, said America became a religious "refuge."  However, he, also gave a speech identifying two kinds of liberty: a natural liberty to do as one wished, whether "evil as well as good," vs a restrained liberty intended to do good.  In the Antinomian Controversy, in which Winthrop served as an assistant, the Colony was split by whether following religious laws was required for salvation.  The result was that religious differences proved not to be a refuge for everyone.

President Washington was faced with guiding the new nation through not only the various differences of Christians and Catholics, but other religious beliefs from across the world.  His broad tolerance (his choice of words) for differences is seen in his visit in 1790 to the Touro Synagogue of New Port, Rhode Island, and his letter to that body which clarified his broad view of tolerance.  "It is no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights."

However, perhaps of greater concern to Washington was not religious differences among Americans but rather what he called "the baneful effects of the Spirit of Party." In his farewell address, he emphasized the danger of political parties losing sight of their responsibility to work together for the good of the nation, warning against putting party first.

The Evolving of America, II will be posted in next week's blog.