George Washington was a Father of our country, and his farewell address is full of advice that he gave us and urge us to follow them as part of one nation. Some advice was: We must rely on GOD. He believed from the starting that we must seek GOD’s help in every matter, and religion and ethics are essential for good Government. In his farewell address, he clearly said: ‘Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them’.
The other advice was honesty; he served our country in war and peace and gave guidance that as a nation, we must abide by the rules of honesty. He said: ‘I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs that honesty is always the best policy.’ Even Washington urged that our Government always be righteous in money matters. He wished our country to take and use as little money as required and to keep away from piling up significant debt. He notices that in emergencies, such as inescapable wars, it would necessitate us to borrow, but he urged that the debts would be paid off as quickly as possible. Washington said that negligence to do this means we will be putting on our children’s shoulders to pay the debts as we should pay. Here are his words from his Farewell Address: ‘…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 burden which we ourselves ought to bear.’
Washington saw the danger of enduring union between the United States and foreign nations; that is why he warned us. He saw a rising of political parties and sectionalism as a warning to the national union. Even during his time, Federalists and Republicans were divided by being pro-British and pro-France. He wished England would conquest France as his primary purpose was to neglect a war the country could not bear. We as a nation are not following Washington’s advice as we are still facing cultural divisions that are tearing apart our national unity. He urges Americans in his farewell address to put aside their brutal likes and dislikes as he said: ‘The nation which indulges toward another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.’
Washington’s comments have set out as an ingenuity for American solitude, and his counseling against connecting a permanent alliance was worth paying attention for more than a century now. George Washington’s guidance is part of our American inheritance that should be known to all our citizens.