By Christopher Harper
In my successful efforts this week to avoid the nattering nabobs of negatism, I
turned to American historian Joseph Ellis, the author of a wonderful 2001 book
about the revolution.
In eloquent and thoughtful chapters, he explores important episodes about
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton,
James Madison, Ben Franklin, and John and Abigail Adams.
An exploration of Washington’s Farewell Address swept me away from the
bickering of talking heads and ignorant “experts.”
In 1796, Washington had decided to retire after two terms as president. But he
wanted to leave the country and the government with some wisdom before his
departure to Mount Vernon.
As Ellis notes, Washington makes three important points:
–Political parties may do more damage than good to the country.
“They serve to organize faction, to give it an artificial and extraordinary force;
to put, in the place of the delegated will of the nation the will of a party, often a
small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and, according to
the alternate triumphs of different parties, to make the public administration
the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than
the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common counsels
and modified by mutual interests.”
Washington’s concerns were on the mark. Within months after Washington’s
retirement, the government became divided between the Federalists and the
Republicans.
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