Washington's Farewell Address: Freedom Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Paragraph.Sentence)

Quote #4

[…] for the efficient management of your common interests, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. (19.3-4)

Again, Washington tries to convince the audience that the federal government, despite what Anti-Federalists say, is the best way to protect people's freedom. Fear over the development of a centralized government was largely based at the time on the former colonists' experiences under a monarchy, but Washington repeatedly tells them that the federal government will be nothing like that.

Quote #5

[…] nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded […]. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. (32.1-3)

Another of Washington's big ideas in the farewell address is "don't make alliances with other countries." The big reason, as he mentions here, is that when you do that, you bind yourself to that other country and ruin relationships with others. It takes away from your ability to make your own decisions. In other words, it takes away a country's freedom to act in its own interest.