Washington's Farewell Address
by George Washington
Published September 19, 1796 · Added May 27, 2026 · 44 min listen
TL;DR
George Washington's Farewell Address, published in a Philadelphia newspaper in September 1796, is the original letter from a departing American president to the public. Co-drafted with Alexander Hamilton, it warns about the dangers of permanent foreign alliances, regional factionalism, partisan loyalty above national interest, and public debt.
Most modern political arguments about American foreign policy and political polarization end up quoting from this document. It is roughly 6,000 words — about 45 minutes of audio — and reading or listening to the full version is a noticeably different experience from reading the highlight reel.
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