Primary sourceSpeech19 September 1796

George Washington's Farewell Address

George Washington · 19 September 1796

The 1796 farewell letter from President Washington to the American people, drafted largely by Hamilton.

Hamilton drafted most of the address's text, shaping its warnings against faction and foreign influence.

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Scan of a printed broadside titled 'The Address of Gen. Washington to the People of America, on his declining the Presidency of the United States.' It has a central engraved portrait of a man in military uniform with epaulettes, facing left, above dense small-print text in two columns. The paper is aged orange-brown. — George Washington's Farewell Address, printed broadside, 1796.

About this source

What it is

This is George Washington's 1796 farewell letter to the American people, announcing he would not seek a third term. It was first published in a newspaper and then widely reprinted as a pamphlet and broadside.

Why it matters

Although the ideas came from Washington, most of the actual writing was done by Alexander Hamilton, building on an earlier draft by James Madison. The address warns against political faction, sectionalism, and foreign entanglement. It shows how closely Hamilton shaped Washington's public voice and policies during the early republic.

Look closer

Why might Washington have wanted help writing such an important public statement?
What does it mean that the ideas are credited to Washington but much of the writing to Hamilton?
What warnings in the address still feel relevant, and what does that suggest about the fears of the time?

This speech is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Alexander Hamilton and George Washington on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.