Why Washington Never Spoke His Farewell Address

George Washington never stood up and delivered his Farewell Address. It reached the country as newsprint on September 19, 1796, in a Philadelphia daily paper, and from there it was reprinted across the states. The text runs to 6,088 words in the Yale edition, and two short passages from it are practice texts on this site, of 399 and 240 characters.

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be enlightened.

George Washington, 1796.

Where did the Farewell Address come from?

Washington was at the end of two terms and had decided to go home to his farm at Mount Vernon. He wanted to say so in public, and he wanted to leave advice behind. James Madison had drafted an earlier version four years before, when Washington first thought about stepping down, and Alexander Hamilton helped shape the final wording in 1796.

The choice of a newspaper rather than a hall was deliberate. A printed address could be copied by every paper in the country within weeks, while a spoken one reached only the room it was given in. The Senate Historical Office describes the result as a letter to the American people, and the document it publishes is taken from the final manuscript held by the New York Public Library.

What is in the two passages you can type here?

The first is about good faith between countries. Washington asks that the new republic keep justice and peace with all nations, then puts a question mark in the middle of the paragraph: can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it? The passage is 399 characters and is the only text in the speech category here that swings from a command to a question and back.

The second is two sentences on schooling. Washington asks the country to promote institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge, on the grounds that a government answerable to public opinion needs that opinion to be informed. At 240 characters it is one of the shortest passages in the whole collection, and it is the one most people finish in a single unbroken run.

What is easy to miss about this text?

The reading tradition started sixty six years after the address appeared, and not in the Senate. In January 1862, with the country in crisis, a thousand citizens of Philadelphia petitioned Congress to have the address read aloud on Washington’s birthday. Both houses agreed, and the reading took place in the House chamber on February 22, 1862.

It did not become a habit at once. The address was first read in a regular session of the Senate in 1888 and in the House in 1899, and the House kept the practice up until 1984. Since 1893 the Senate has chosen one member each year to read the whole thing aloud on Washington’s birthday, after which the senator signs a leather bound book kept by the secretary of the Senate.

One more thing rewards a careful eye. The Senate edition modernizes spelling, capitalization and punctuation, while the text behind our practice passages keeps the older capitals, so Nations and Morality carry capital letters mid sentence. If two versions in front of you disagree about a capital letter, neither is wrong; they are different editions.

What do you practice by typing these passages?

Both passages are marked medium, and each drills something different. The good faith paragraph puts two semicolons, a question mark, and mid-sentence capitals into 69 words, so the Shift key is in use where you do not expect it. The knowledge passage is built from inserted phrases fenced off by commas, which trains the small pause that keeps a sentence readable without breaking your rhythm.

Eighteenth century public prose is useful practice for a reason that has nothing to do with history. Sentences are long, subordinate clauses are frequent, and punctuation carries the structure that a modern writer would carry with short sentences. Typing it forces your hands to treat commas and semicolons as part of the flow rather than as stopping points.

FAQ

Did Washington ever read the Farewell Address out loud?

No. It appeared in print on September 19, 1796 and was reprinted by papers around the country. The public readings began decades later, in 1862.

Who wrote the Farewell Address?

Washington, working from an earlier draft by James Madison and with help from Alexander Hamilton on the final wording. The decisions and the voice are Washington’s.

How long is the whole address?

6,088 words in the Avalon Project text, counted from the opening greeting to the signature. The two passages here are 399 and 240 characters.

Is it still read in the Senate?

Yes. Since 1893 one senator has read it each year around Washington’s birthday, and signs a bound book afterwards.

Why do capital letters appear in the middle of sentences?

Because the older editions capitalize nouns such as Nations and Morality. Modern reprints, including the Senate edition, normalize them.

Type the two passages, then the texts around them

Both are in the typing test with source and year attached, and the shorter one on general diffusion of knowledge is the gentler start. Two neighbors extend the same register. Jefferson’s first inaugural is 313 characters of the same period and reads as a reply. Susan B. Anthony in 1873 is 318 characters and shows how the phrasing was still being argued over eighty years later.

If long clauses are what trip you up, the underlying skill is reading ahead, and our guide to touch typing covers it. The complete text is on the Avalon Project at Yale Law School, and the Senate edition with its history of the annual reading is Senate Document 106-21.