A number of Revolution-era founders as well as other American leaders of the time, voiced some concern about the possible threat, political parties could pose to their new representative democracy. However, following the 1783 Treaty of Paris, the 1788 ratification of the Constitution, the 1789 election of George Washington and his 4-30-1789 inauguration, US citizens relaxed.
However, seven years later, they were shocked to learn their president, the man they were accustomed to trusting completely, had decided not to serve a third term (before 22nd Amendment – 1951 – presidents could serve an unlimited number of elected terms). However, it took some weeks before most Americans learned the news. Why? Because Washington’s famous Farewell Address, jointly drafted with James Madison and then later Alexander Hamilton, was not personally deliverred to an audience. It was sent to the Philadelphia Daily Advertiser and was published on 9/19/1796 and subsequently in newspapers across all 13 states.
Many Americans today, if they are aware of the Farewell Addrress, are likely unaware of the warnings Washington conveyed to his young country. Essentially, there were three: (1) be wary of excessive foreign entanglements (favored neutrality); (2) prioritize national unity over regional or local interests and (3) political factions or parties posed threats to the new Republic. More precisely, Washington, who joined no party, cautioned against them becoming too powerful and suggested they should be restrained.
The deep national respect still accorded Washington’s final counsel, is reflected today in the US Congress. The Farewell Address is read outloud annually on February 22nd (Washington’s birthday) by a senator from a different party, each year.
The following paragraphs offer some additional political history and then address the relevance today of Washington’s concerns about hyper-partisanship.
American Political Parties (1796 – 2024):
When the Farewell Address was published, there were already two parties: the Federalists, founded by John Adams and Alexander Hamilton and the Democratic Republicans, by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (Virginia neighbors and life-long friends). Washington himself never joined a party, because of his deep commitment to non-partisan governance.
Thus, his appontment of Jefferson as secretary of state and Hamilton as treasury secretary, while understandable, led predictably to conflicts between the two. The single most contraversial issue was Hamilton’s proposal to establish a central Bank of the United Sates that would assume and pay the total existing Federal and state debt. It was approved by Congress and signed into law by President Washington in 1791.
The Federalists supportred the two Washington Administrations, while the Democratic Republicans – pro states rights and anti strong central government – were quite critical.
Following Washington’s retirement to Mt. Vernon, where he died in 1799, the results of the hard fought 1800 presidential election between John Adams (Federalist) and Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican) underscored the problem. Adams was elected chief executive and Jefferson his vice president. After passage of the 12th Amendment (1804), parties ran tickets of candidates for both president and vice president, to avoid the inevitable policy problems of partisan squabbles at the top.
However, the persistence of two dominant parties continued and now seems embedded in the American political system. The Democratic Party was founded in 1828 and the Republican in 1854. While the names haven’t changed, their ideologies have flipped. In their early decades, Republicans were considered quite liberal (abolitionists) and the Democrats, very conservative (pro-slavery, pro Jim Crow).
As of 2024, 94 US political parties have been registered. A number were organized prior to the Civil War, reflecting differing attitudes toward slavery, race, equality and the union. Many disappeared after 1865. The more recognizable among the 94, beyond the Democrats and the Republicans, were the Marxist-Leninist Party USA, Communist Workers Party (Maoist), German-American Bund (Nazi) and Traditionalist Worker Party (Neo Nazi). The last was active between 2013 and 2018. In 2024, the largest American third party is the Libertarians, founded in 1972.
Why was Washington wary of Political Parties?
America’s first president and others, believed in and applied, the principles of the Enlightenment Philosophy to build the US Constitution and its representative democratic republic. One of the Enlightenment’s fundamental precepts was that human reason, armed with individual rights and freedoms, could engage in productive political debate and empower their governments through their informed consent, i.e. government power resides in the people.
Washington viewed factions and parties as inherently fractious, irrational and dangerous because they could lead people to substitute emotion for reason and encourage self-focused behavior and harmful decisions, including violence. However, he envisaged there would always be a sufficient number of rational American voters, guided by a sense of duty, who would work together for the common good and their natrion’s welfare.
This 226 year-old assumption may strike us today as naive or even innocent. But, neither Washington nor his colleagues, were either. In fact, they understood human nature far better than we do today. Why? Because they had to deal with people in every aspect of their daily lives as well as when addressing matters of personal or national importance. Trust in people was an instinctive part of their decision-making. Now, not so much.
Societies Reflect and Shape their Populations and thus their Politics: 1796 vs. 2024:
America’s founders, early leaders and most voters lived in small rural communities,based on farming. Thus, large landowners of the period were often local and later, natonal leaders. The contrast between the importance of urban voters then and today, dramatically illustrates the enormity of the the 2 plus century changes. The 1790 census population of the 13 states was 3.9 million and its 3 largest cities were: New York (60,000), Philadelphia (41,000) and Boston (18,000). The 2020 Census of the 50 states, Washington, D.C. and 5 territories. was 331,449,214, with 10 cities over over 1 million. The largest is New York with 8.3 million.
Informatation Sources in 1796 & 2024 Impact Politics too:
The sources then as compared to ours now, probably have had an even greater impact on 21st politics/elections, than the rural/urban divide.
1796: newspapers, books, schools, conversations, informal speakers and their community leaders, whom, by and large, were respected and trusted. Ben Franklin brought Tom Paine to the US after hearing him speak about politics in London coffee houses and taverns. And several of the most famous founders published the Federalists Papers to convince Americans to support ratification of the draft constitution.
2024:The single largest provider of information to Americans in 2024 is the internet, with special apps allowing searches to be tailored. Americans can now reinforce any opinion, belief, suspicion or fantasy, with a few clicks. Cyber sourcing has substantially changed the earlier reliance on trusted individuals for guidance, reducing the substantive role of candidates, particularly for state-wide positions.
George Washington, Dorothy Thompson and 21st Century US Political Parties :
Note: I am indebted to Professor Heather Cox Richardson and her Substack “Letters from an American” for historical knowledge and greater understanding. Recently, she reintroduced me to a courageous, famous American foreign correspondent and dedicated opponent of dictators, Dorothy Thompson (1893-1961).
Thompson interviewed Hitler in 1931. She was surprised to find that the future dictator of Germany, was a man of “…starttling insignificance.” When she asked him if he would abolish the constitution if he became chancellor, he said: “I will get into power legally and once in power, abolish the parliament and the constitution and found an authority state, ftrom the lowest cell to the highest instance; everywhere there will be responsibilitly and authority above; and discipline and obedience below.” In her next article, she said he wouldn’t succeed, because “…imagine a would be dictator setting out to persuade a sovereign people to vote away their rights.”
However, Hitler did become chancellor of Germany on 1/30/1933, when he swore to uphold the constitution (Weimar) and contrary to Thompson’s earlier, reasonable expectations, he quickly began implementing his agenda. By March 1933, he had dismantled the constitution, and opened the Dachao concentration camp to house, initially, his political opponents. In April the Jews were purged from the civil service and in May, all other political parties and the labor unions were banned.
Hitler expelled Thompson from Germany in 1935.
After returning to the US, she attended a 2/20/1939 Madison Square Garden rally hosted by the American Nazi party, attended by 22,000 American citizens. When she laughed loudly at the speeches and yelled “Bunk” (it was a politer age), she was forcefully removed by men in SS uniforms. She returned to her seat and was assaulted by the same ersatz storm troopers, but was rescued by New York police. In her next radio program, she commented: “I was amazed to see a duplicate of what I saw seven years ago in Germany. Tonight I listened to words taken out of the mouth of Adolf Hitler.”
Her husband, Sinclair Lewis, published a 1935 best-selling novel: It can’t happen here , drawing significantly on his wife’s experiences. When asked about the book, she responded: “No one ever recognizes their dictator in advance…when he shows up, he will be one of the boys and he will stand for everything traditionally American. “
And back to Washington’s Farewell Address:
President Washington was worrired that overly powerful American political parties could turn against the US representative democracy they had fought and died to establish. The question posed earlier, was the relevance of his concerns in 2024. He summarized his rationale in the Farewell Address:
“The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
Given America’s political history leading up to WWII and its evolution since, it is reasonable to conclude that democracies everywhere, including the United States, should accept Washington’s warning and be watchful for its manifestations.
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