George Washington's warning to future generations
Some warnings from President George Washington's "Farewell Address," about the forces that could destroy our democracy. In September 1796, as he became a private citizen, he worried about hyper-partisanship, excessive debt and entanglements in foreign wars.
Our first president said "our independence as a nation is inseparable from our inter-dependence as a people."
Many of his concerns still ring true, and many Presidents who followed him in office-- from Lincoln to Eisenhower, Reagan and Obama-- quoted from Washington's Farewell Address in their own farewell addresses.
Jon Avlon is the author of "Washington's Farewell: The Founding Father's Warning to Future Generations." The "Farewell Address" was published September 19, 1796.
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Avlon is editor-in-chief of The Daily Beast and a CNN political analyst. He spoke at the Clinton School of Public Service in Little Rock, Arkansas on April 27, 2017.
To listen to the speech, click the audio player above.
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