In 1862 when the nation had factually, and not just figuratively, come apart the Senate commemorated our first president’s birthday with a reading of Washington’s Farewell Address.  Andrew Johnson, the only southern senator who remained in his seat after secession, said that “in view of the perilous condition of the country, I think the time has arrived when we should recur back to the days, the times, and the doings of Washington and the patriots of the Revolution, who founded the government under which we live.”  Since 1896, one senator has been selected to perform this annual duty.   When he finishes with his reading, the senator signs his name and jots down a few personal remarks in a leather-bound book.  In 1987 John McCain was asked to do the reading and these are the remarks he wrote in response to the current presidential crisis–Iran-Contra: “In this stressful time when once again the confidence of the people in their institutions is being threatened, I believe it is entirely fitting to reflect on General Washington’s emphasis on morality and government.  Closer adherence to his words is the surest path to a restored institution of the presidency and a renewal of the faith of the American people in their system of government.”  

The crisis today feels more like 1862 than 1987, so yes let’s take some time to reflect.

In his 32-page address, Washington lectured on a range of issues from foreign to domestic.  I would like to focus on two problems that he highlighted that are at the root of our current perilous times: the growing fanaticism of the political parties and the failure to understand that a man’s good character is more important than his politics when it comes to selecting a president.  Washington warned about both, the first directly and the second indirectly.

We must stay focused on the immense value of unity and not allow our divisions to be emphasized.  Unity is the “main pillar in the edifice of your real independence,” wrote Washington, it is “the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize.” Washington warned that “from different causes and from different quarters, much pains will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth.”  We must be constantly watchful for the efforts that will be made to alienate folks from one another.  The term “identity politics” had not yet been coined, but it was a problem that Washington knew to be undermining our unity.  “The name of American…must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations.”  Washington knew that the formation of political parties was unavoidable, and the two-party system was already solidifying when he left office.  We need to be vigilant and watchful, however, for its dangerous excesses “to prevent its bursting into a flame.” They can “agitate the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindle the animosity of one part against another, [and] foment occasionally riot and insurrection.”  

Good government cannot happen without moral actors.  Washington wrote of the “habits of thinking” that guide behavior.  “Religion and morality are indispensable supports” to our political prosperity.  Without them our country will not survive.   These are the greatest “pillars of human happiness.”  Washington and all of the founders understood that limited government was only made possible by a virtuously self-regulating and public-spirited citizenry.  In 1775 Sam Adams wrote: “He who is void of virtuous Attachments in private Life, is, or very soon will be void of all Regard for his Country. There is seldom an Instance of a Man guilty of betraying his Country, who had not before lost the Feeling of moral Obligations in his private Connections.”^[1] 

Washington was not a great president because of the position he held on any of the political issues of his day.  I’m sure not many people could even list what they were.  He was known as a man of great character.  The election of Donald Trump demonstrated a lack of concern for what type of person is capable of great leadership, for not even his most avid supporters could argue that he was a man of stellar character with a strong moral center.  Trump did not create the political divisions that are ripping our country apart, after all, they concerned Washington in 1796.  Yet he did nothing to cool the passions or “prevent its bursting into a flame.”  To the contrary, he has ignited the crisis “with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms,” he has increased “the animosity of one part against another,” and finally on January 6th, 2021 he fomented a “riot and insurrection.”  

So let’s do more than just reflect, as John McCain suggested, but let’s restore Washington’s “emphasis on morality and government…as the surest path to a restored institution of the presidency and a renewal of the faith of the American people in their system of government.”  

Character really does matter. It really does.

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                [1]  “Samuel Adams to James Warren – 1775,” Samuel Adams Heritage Society, last modified 2013, accessed September 4, 2016, http://www.samuel-adams-heritage.com/documents/samuel-adams-to-james-warren-1775.html.