EDITORIAL: 1796: George Washington's warning

Feb. 20—On Monday the United States of America celebrates an amalgamated holiday. Presidents Day straddles the former celebrations of the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and George Washington on Feb. 22.

Presidents Day tends to be more of a three-day weekend than a patriotic observance. In these times a day spent shopping serves as neutral ground between dueling notions of patriotism. The nation has gone in a few short years from a basic shared understanding of citizenship and leadership to an inability to accommodate any version except one's own.

President George Washington warned his fellow citizens that this might happen. In his Farewell Address, delivered Sept. 19, 1796, he delivered a long and paternal reflection on the union, the uniqueness of the American experiment and the threats it would face.

Some historians consider the address to be the moment when the United States could really claim to exist as a republic. Its first president, having declined to accept a third term or — far worse, in George Washington's eyes, an indefinite reign too much like that of a king — would step down for the election of another citizen. In an article in Smithsonian magazine in 2011, Joseph Stromberg wrote that the address marked "one of the first peaceful transfers of power in American history and cement[ed] the country's status as a stable, democratic state."

Stromberg quoted Harry Rubenstein, then curator of political history at the National Museum of American History. "This moment is crucial for creating the in-and-out system of government that we have. And this is unique. In that time and era, politicians would gain power, or kings would stay in office until they die."

Rubenstein added, "'Stepping down is unique. It's a powerful statement about Washington and democracy."

In the following 224 years, presidential successions followed Washington's example. No matter how bitter the campaigns or how contested the results, the winner emerging from the total of Electoral College votes from each state assumed office. Neither an incumbent nor a losing candidate tried to grab the presidency as it was transferred — until now.

Attempts after the 2020 elections and in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol to block that unique and powerful transfer of presidential power bring George Washington's warnings sharply to mind.

Foiled election-grabbing heads the list of actions with which the immediate past president, Donald Trump, has sullied the dignity of the presidency and endangers democracy. Washington predicted it.

All obstructions to the execution of the laws...are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.

He spoke of "sacredly" maintaining the Constitution and urged "unity of government."

...watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.

And he deplored "the alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension...."

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

George Washington, who knew nothing of telecommunications and whose news arrived by horseback, spoke of human dealings in terms that eerily describe current events. Dissension has distracted Congress, weakened the administration of the laws, agitates Americans daily and has now fomented insurrection. The difference today is that it happens faster than the first president could have imagined.

No one ever paid attention to Washington's admonition against political parties. No one else was George Washington, a singular statesman. The country has always had a two-party system, around which government structures have molded themselves. And it works, as long as most presidents and most politicians have given the Constitution and the republic their ultimate loyalty as Washington counseled. When they do not, "cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men" have free rein.

Thank you, Mr. President.

The Day editorial board meets regularly with political, business and community leaders and convenes weekly to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Tim Dwyer, Managing Editor Izaskun E. Larrañeta, staff writer Erica Moser and retired deputy managing editor Lisa McGinley. However, only the publisher and editorial page editor are responsible for developing the editorial opinions. The board operates independently from the Day newsroom.