Senate's annual reading of Washington farewell address: wisdom for ages
(Read article summary)Today the Senate continues the tradition of reading President George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address to the People of the United States. That’s the letter in which the most Founding Father of all announced that he had had it and was not going to be president for a third term, no how, now way.
Quiz time! Which venerated American document other than the Constitution will be read aloud in its entirety in Congress this year?
You probably heard about the Constitution’s audiobook moment. The Republican-controlled House listened to the whole thing on Jan. 6, the second day of the current session. Members of both parties took turns reading lines, so it ended up as kind of a bipartisan activity.
But you may not know this: Every year near the end of February the Senate holds a reading of President George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address to the People of the United States. Today the Senate will read the letter in which the most Founding Father of all announced that he had had it and was not going to be president for a third term, no how, now way.
The grind of keeping the young country together had worn him down. “The shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome,” Washington wrote, somewhat darkly.
Washington intended his address to guide future generations of US citizens. He warned against the divisive nature of sectional rivalries and political factionalism, among other things.
