Addressing America: George Washington's Farewell and the Making of National Culture, Politics, and Diplomacy, 1796–1852

Abstract

Addressing America is a concise, well-written, powerfully argued book that examines the broad role played by the principles expressed in George Washington's Farewell Address in the first five decades after its 1796 publication. George Washington's address called for U.S. foreign policy to be shaped by an interest-driven, flexible neutrality—an approach not to be motivated by love or hatred for any other nation. Public readings of the message became part of the celebrations of Washington's birthday held throughout the country, and its themes of fairness and interest were widely shared by Americans. However, Thomas Jefferson's 1801 inaugural address subtly reformulated the message: the nation should pursue commerce and peace with all nations yet “entangling alliances with none.” That phrase took hold, recasting Washington's meaning and becoming a recipe for isolationism. In time, many Americans believed that the “entangling alliances” line was actually Washington's, and the understanding of his farewell address changed apace. In other words, even as Americans still paid heed to the address, their understanding of its meaning changed, transforming its “pragmatic and flexible maxims for the conduct of American foreign relations into a rigid and permanent declaration of virtual isolation from the outside world” (p. 34). Jeffrey J. Malanson contends that the next thirty years became a contest between the flexible and rigid visions of the farewell address.