Washington’s Farewell Address and Jefferson’s Inaugural Address Essay Example

justify">George Washington specifically said to be aware of having political parties. He said this because he believed it was dangerous to have power blocs arise from these different opinions. These different parties, the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists were beginning to surface had different thoughts, so these differences caused tension between those that supported one party or the other. At that time, the Federalists and Democratic-Republicans were altercating about many different subjects. One of which was which country, in the dispute between Britain and France, was correct.

George Washington wanted to warn America of this danger because that was one reason why Americans fought for independence from Britain, because they shared different ideas and opinions. In Washington’s Farewell Address he also stresses the importance of religion and morality. At one point in the American Revolutionary War, George Washington had a vision of a divine being. Meeting this divine being probably inspired Washington to be a more paternal person because when he received those visions he felt that he had been shown the birth, progress, and future of the United States.

George Washington probably felt responsible for the United States because of the vision, so in order to set a guideline for the United States he stated in his Farewell Address to have better morals, such as being truthful, compassionate, and tolerating. Being able to upkeep moral values was important because if Americans were able to continue to be good and pure then it would have been easier for the United States to make wiser decisions in the future. George Washington probably mentioned all of these things because during that time France was at war

with Britain.

The two political parties, the Federalists and Democratic Republicans, in America also supported different sides in that conflict. The Federalists supported the British when the Democratic Republicans supported France. Washington wanted America to not choose sides so they would not be involved in the conflict between France and Britain. In the end America got tangled up in the conflict and both countries were creating problems for America. The British also forced Americans into their navy, and this practice was known as impressment.

Thomas Jefferson says that a wise and frugal government will keep its own people from turning against each other, but also enable them to be independent and allow them to economically expand on their own whilst the government does not unfairly take what the citizens earned through hard work. Jefferson might have said this so that he could win favor with the citizens, because it complimented them and at the same time also gave an insight on what he was planning to do as the third president of the United States.

Jefferson also said that different opinions about one subject do not change what the subject is, so that subject will always stay the same, but the opinions about that subject may change. He probably talked about this because there was a big political difference between the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans and he wanted to unify everybody together. During that time the Federalists had a bitter rivalry with the Democratic-Republicans. Even though most people expressed nationalism there were still differences between many of the citizens in America.

Some citizens supported the Federalists and others supported the Democratic-Republicans.

These differences between the citizens eventually developed into sectionalism. The two biggest contrasting ideas were reflected in the parties that were formerly mentioned. Jefferson spoke about being fair and favoring the lower class even though he may have not completely supported the lower class to gain support from more people. During that time the number of people in the lower class outnumbered those in the higher class so Jefferson was probably thinking about getting support from the majority.

The previous president, John Adams, was also very unsentimental and cruel to some people, such as aliens. He originally created the Alien and Sedition Acts to weaken the Democratic-Republicans but because of these acts, some citizens were harmed by these acts. The things Jefferson spoke about would have also been very appealing to those that had suffered from Adams’ rule because it would have been a relief to get rid of those harsh acts. This would have been one reason for people to vote for Jefferson.

He was also trying to subtly unify, or at least lessen some tension between both the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans even though he himself did not really like the Federalists. Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were great presidents. George Washington was a fatherly character. He left so many messages in his Farewell Address for the future people. Everything he mentioned could have been a guideline for the next generation. George Washington warned the young America of possible dangers that it could have encountered in his Farewell Address and Thomas Jefferson was very honest and humble when he was giving is First Inaugural Speech. He was respectful of his

opponents and did not publicly humiliate them when he had the chance to. His character when giving his speech already showed that he would have done a great job as the third president. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both contributed to the making of the United States of America and a lot of their legacy is still here in modern day America. Citations Appleby, Joyce; Brinkley, Alan; McPherson, James. The American Journey. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. , 2003. Jeffrey Qiu’s notebook. Jefferson, Thomas. Thomas Jefferson: “First Inaugural Address”. 1801