documents in American history and the foundation of the Federalist Party's political doctrine. Washington later accepted a commission from President John Adams, despite his stated desire to retire from public service, as the Senior Officer of a Provisional Army formed to defend the nation against a possible invasion by French forces during the Quasi-War. Washington held true to his statements in his farewell address, despite spending months organizing the Officer Corps of the Provisional Army, and declined suggestions that he return to public office in the presidential election of 1800. Washington's statements on the importance of religion and morality in American politics and his warnings on the dangers of foreign alliances influenced political debates into the twentieth century, and have received special consideration as advice from an American hero. Alliances with foreign nations Washington's hope that the United States would end permanent alliances with foreign nations was realized in 1800 with the Convention of 1800, the Treaty of Mortefontaine which officially ended the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, in exchange for ending the Quasi-War and establishing most favored nation trade relations with Napoleonic France. In 1823, Washington's foreign policy goals were further realized in the Monroe Doctrine, which promised non-interference in European affairs so long as the nations of Europe did not seek to colonize or interfere with the newly independent Latin American nations of Central and South America. The United States did not enter into any permanent military alliances with foreign nations until the 1949 North Atlantic Treaty which formed NATO. Reading in Congress Philadelphia residents signed a petition in January 1862 during the American Civil War requesting that Congress 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 House of Representatives in February 1862, and reading Washington's address became a tradition in both houses by 1899. The House of Representatives abandoned the practice in 1984, but the Senate continues the tradition. 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 since 1896. Additionally, readers make an entry into a black, leather-bound journal maintained by the Secretary of the Senate upon finishing. During Strom Thurmond's filibuster of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, George Washington's Farewell Address was read by Strom Thurmond. In popular