Washington’s Farewell:

Washington’s Farewell: The Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations by John Avlon        Audio Book: 10 hours   Hardback Book:  368 pages       

A good look behind the scenes of George Washington and many of the other Sons of Liberty, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin.    The author gives a detailed look at George Washington, the man, the soldier, the leader and the President.      He fleshes out the views of the times and the views of the men in political power dealing with establishing a new sovereign nation while dealing with the personalities and attitudes of the various men in power each trying to push their own agenda.     Washington in his role as Father of the new fledgling nation did his best to lead the country as he saw right and fit yet he had his detractors many of whom were in his inner circle of trusted colleagues.   Washington was not comfortable with public speaking, his strength lay in his ability to strategize and lead.   He was a soldier with a quick mind and the ability to survey his course and that of his enemy then determine whether to surge forward or drop back – he shone as a leader of his men.   He was a complicated man who was often at odds with his words.    While wishing for the freedom for all men and feeling in his heart that one man owning another man was not right, still he owned over 300 slaves by the end of his life who worked on his tobacco plantation.    He saw to it that families were not separated and there were 135 children at Monticello.    At his death he freed all of the slaves that he owned and provided for the education of all their children (which was illegal in Virginia at that time).   He also had explicit instructions included that none of his heirs would be able to change this.    Sadly, the slaves that were owned specifically by his wife Martha at his death were not freed and she kept them in bondage until her death.   The press hounded Washington mercilessly and drudged up all of his shortcomings and slandered him calling him a puppet of the English King when he tried to make nice with England to stay out of another war with them that the United States would not have been able to afford.   When he explained to the people that there would very much need to be some form of taxation, the existing states at that time rebelled.   Poor guy had his hands full.   He never wanted to be President, he just wanted to protect the country in its infancy and help it stay on the right track.    When the office was basically thrust on him because of his popularity during the war against England, he very reluctantly accepted it with many misgivings.    He wanted to retire from office after his first four year term but with all the political turmoil going on and in-fighting he thought perhaps he should stay another term to keep things stabile and going forward instead of backward.   He had enough by the end of 8 years in office and wanted no more.   He wanted to go back to being a gentleman farmer and live out his days in peace at Monticello.   Instead of delivering a farewell speech to the masses, he chose instead to write a farewell to the nation to be printed in one of the newspapers at that time, hoping to offer his parting thoughts on what democracy is and how in his mind he thought it best to go forward.   He offered warnings to the citizenry of what pitfalls might lay ahead and how he thought it best to achieve liberty without becoming a debtor nation.   He warned of foreign intrigue and how the United States should not be pulled into the wars of other countries.    While he did not stress separatism he did call for the people to stay out of the affairs of other countries and mind the business at hand making the United States  a great nation and prospering the way of life here at home.   Washington’s farewell has been quoted by many Presidents and other groups since its origination.    Each quoting and bending the meaning to their purposes including the Bund, the American Nazi Party who asserted that George Washington was the first Nazi back in the late 1930s!   Various groups both pro and con have cited examples from Washington’s farewell to suit their position or use it against their opponents to cast doubt on their intentions.    The reader will learn so many good things from this book and the author gives you the feeling of being in the room with heavy weights from the nation’s history from the late 1700s to the present.   Very good read, great insight into the lofty characters we studied in school, but, this book will leave you feeling as though you know the people they were.   Good job.