(WASHINGTON GEORGE) Columbian Centinel featuring Washingtons

Sale 2148 - Lot 359

Unsold

Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500

(WASHINGTON, GEORGE.) Columbian Centinel, featuring Washington's farewell address. 4 folio pages on 1 leaf, 479 x 600 mm. Disbound, stitching holes and slight separation at center folds; slight wear at corners affecting two letters of text but not Washington's address; signature of early owner J. Stansbury above title. Boston, 24 September 1796

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Washington's famous words of farewell to his young nation are printed in six columns. The text, written with substantial uncredited contributions from James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, was never actually read in public by Washington and went directly to the newspapers. Washington here urges his successors to "avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are inauspicious to liberty." He also argues for an isolationist policy: "The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible . . . 'Tis our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances, with any portion of the foreign world."