no threatening danger to demand his continuance at the helm.  Many persons thought that he was more than glad to be relieved of the increasing abuse of the scurrilous editors.  No doubt he was, but we can hardly agree that merely for the sake of that relief he would abandon his Presidential post.  But does it not seem more likely that his unwillingness to convert the Presidency into a life office, and so to give the critics of the American experiment a valid cause for opposition, led him to establish the precedent that two terms were enough?  More than once in the century and a quarter since he retired in 1797, over-ambitious Presidents have schemed to win a third election and flattering sycophants have encouraged them to believe that they could attain it.  But before they came to the test Washington’s example—­“no more than two”—­has blocked their advance.  In this respect also we must admit that he looked far into the future and saw what would be best for posterity.  The second term as it has proved is bad enough, diverting a President during his first term to devote much of his energy and attention to setting traps to secure the second.  It might be better to have only one term to last six years, instead of four, which would enable a President to give all his time to the duties of his office, instead of giving a large part of it to the chase after a reelection.

As soon as Washington determined irrevocably to retire, he began thinking of the “Farewell Address” which he desired to deliver to his countrymen as the best legacy he could bequeath.  Several years before he had talked it over with Madison, with whom he was then on very friendly terms, and Madison had drafted a good deal of it.  Now he turned to Hamilton, giving him the topics as far as they had been outlined, and bidding him to rewrite it if he thought it desirable.  In September, 1796, Washington read the “Address” before the assembled Congress.

The “Farewell Address” belongs among the few supreme utterances on human government.  Its author seems to be completely detached from all personal or local interests.  He tries to see the thing as it is, and as it is likely to be in its American environment.  His advice applies directly to the American people, and only in so far as what he says has in a large sense human pertinence do we find in it more than a local application.

“Be united” is the summary and inspiration of the entire “Address.”  “Be united and be American”; as an individual each person must feel himself most strongly an American.  He urges against the poisonous effects of parties.  He warns against the evils that may arise when parties choose different foreign nations for their favorites.