Washington's Farewell Address

What it is

This is a printed anthology from 1923 that collects Washington's Farewell Address together with speeches by Daniel Webster and Abraham Lincoln. The original address was written by George Washington near the end of his presidency and announced his decision to step down and offered advice to the young nation.

Why it matters

The Farewell Address became one of the most influential political documents in American history, read for generations as guidance on unity and foreign policy. Its inclusion in a 1923 anthology alongside Webster and Lincoln shows how Washington's words were treated as part of a tradition of great American speeches.

Look closer

• Why would an editor in 1923 choose to pair Washington's address with Webster's and Lincoln's speeches?
• What does the survival and reprinting of this text over more than a century suggest about its importance?
• What might be lost by reading the address only as part of a later anthology, rather than in its original form?