Addressing America: Washington's Farewell and the Making of National Culture, Politics, and Diplomacy, 1796-1852 Author: Jeffrey J. Malanson Persistent link: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/2649 This work is posted on eScholarship@BC, Boston College University Libraries. Boston College Electronic Thesis or Dissertation, 2010 Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted. Boston College The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Department of History ADDRESSING AMERICA: WASHINGTON‟S FAREWELL AND THE MAKING OF NATIONAL CULTURE, POLITICS, AND DIPLOMACY, 1796-1852 a dissertation by JEFFREY J. MALANSON submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy May 2010 © copyright by JEFFREY JAMES MALANSON 2010 Abstract “Addressing America: Washington‟s Farewell and the Making of National Culture, Politics, and Diplomacy, 1796-1852” Jeffrey J. Malanson Dissertation Advisor: David Quigley This dissertation argues that George Washington‟s Farewell Address established the foundational principles of U.S. foreign policy and was the central text through which citizens of the Early Republic came to understand the connections between the nation‟s domestic and foreign ambitions. In the eyes of most Americans, the Declaration of Independence affirmed their ideals and the Constitution established their government, but it was Washington‟s principles that would ensure the nation‟s maturation into a world power. The Address became deeply embedded in the popular consciousness through annual readings on Washington‟s birthday, frequent discussion of its principles in the press, and as an integral component of the civic education of the nation‟s youth. Ordinary Americans far removed from the nation‟s capital and from complicated debates over particular foreign policies and their implications could still express an informed opinion on the wisdom of those policies based on their understanding of the Farewell. “Addressing America” goes beyond this popular story to illuminate how the Farewell shaped the fundamental disagreement over the conduct of U.S. foreign policy from 1796 to 1852. When Washington issued his valedictory he intended it as a flexible and pragmatic statement of the general principles that should guide the construction of foreign policies aimed at protecting American interests. An essential part of Washington‟s wisdom was the recognition that the nation‟s interests would change over time, and thus so too would its foreign policies. Five years later, incoming President Thomas Jefferson summarized his approach to foreign policy in his inaugural address of 1801 by promising “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none.” This phrase was universally seen as an allusion to the Farewell Address and it immediately entered the popular lexicon as a way of pithily describing the nation‟s core foreign policy principles. Over time “entangling alliances with none” became associated directly with Washington. More than just a case of misattribution, the linking of this phrase to the Farewell permanently altered the meaning of the Address for most Americans; instead of a flexible statement of general principles, it became a rigid prescription for a permanent foreign policy of virtual isolation from the rest of the world. In the fifty years after Jefferson‟s inaugural, the overarching narrative of American foreign policy is the conflict between these competing interpretations of the Farewell Address and how these differences in principle produced a varied understanding of both U.S. foreign policy and America‟s place in the world. This dissertation is the first work of historical scholarship to conduct a sustained examination of the ways that Washington‟s Farewell Address was understood over time by early Americans and how it fundamentally shaped their view of the United States and its place in the world. Table of Contents Acknowledgments vi Introduction 1 One: Constructing the Farewell Address 13 Two: Washington‟s Farewell in the American Mind, 1796-1817 61 Three: John Quincy Adams and the Legacy of the Farewell Address 111 Four: America‟s Fundamental Principles of Foreign Policy and the Panama Congress of 1826 178 Five: The Revaluing of American Principles, 1826-1850 240 Six: “Washington or Kossuth”?: The Farewell Address in the American Mind after Fifty Years 306 Conclusion 365 Appendix A: The Foreign Policy Portion of Washington‟s Farewell 372 Address Appendix B: The Monroe Doctrine 379 Bibliography 383 v Acknowledgments First and foremost, I owe a debt of gratitude to the members of my dissertation committee: David Quigley and Seth Jacobs of Boston College, and Drew McCoy of Clark University. Each read multiple drafts of my entire dissertation, providing feedback and guidance and acting as a constant source of encouragement. I must especially thank my advisor, David Quigley, who was a champion of this project from the proposal stage forward, and who, despite being named Dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences part way through the process, still made the time to regularly meet with me and read my sprawling chapter drafts. A graduate student could not ask for better mentors. The graduate students and faculty members of the BC History Department‟s Americanist Writing Group also deserve a note of thanks here. Not only did my fellow graduate students regularly read my 50-70 page chapters, offering insightful and much needed commentary, but the monthly meetings gave me firm deadlines for which to get work completed. The research for this dissertation was made possible by generous financial support from a variety of sources. A Massachusetts Society of the Cincinnati Fellowship from the Massachusetts Historical Society and a Kate B. & Hall J. Peterson Fellowship from the American Antiquarian Society enabled me to conduct extended research at two of the nation‟s foremost archives. A Summer Research Stipend from the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College permitted me to round out my research with trips to vi the Library Company of Philadelphia, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Library of Congress, and the National Archives. Finally, a Dissertation Fellowship from the Boston College Graduate School of Arts and Sciences allowed me to take a year off from teaching and get the vast majority of my dissertation writing completed. Last, but certainly not least, I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge family. My families, both the one I was born into and the one I married into, were a constant source of support and their enduring faith in me propelled me forward. My parents deserve special praise for always encouraging me to pursue my dreams, even if they took me to graduate school and multiple degrees in history. For as much as I owe all of these advisors, institutions, and family members, this work would not have been possible without the unwavering support of my wife, Katie. I am not normally at a loss for words, but I feel incapable of adequately expressing what having my best friend and the love of my life by my side throughout my time working on this project has meant to me. Being able to share the joyful moments and endure the difficult ones with her made this process not only survivable but enjoyable as well. Thank you for everything. vii Introduction For more than fifty years after its first publication in September 1796, George Washington‟s Farewell Address persisted for most Americans as the central document that shaped their understanding of the relationship the United States should have with the rest of the world and the principles that should guide its foreign policy. Washington could not have known when he sat down to prepare this Valedictory that it would have this type of significant and lasting impact, but he surely would have been gratified to learn that Americans still so highly valued the principles and maxims he had felt were essential to the nation‟s future growth and prosperity. This dissertation is interested in how the Farewell Address and its principles were used and understood by American policymakers and the American public from 1796 to 1852, and how these evolving views shaped the direction and conception of U.S. foreign policy and the larger project of the early American republic. Throughout this period the Address acted as both a principled foundation and rhetorical justification in debates about U.S. foreign policy between presidents, secretaries of state, diplomats, and members of Congress. Outside of this “official” sphere, it also carried a tremendous cultural importance, as it was seen as being not just the Father of his Country‟s vital Legacy to the American people but also the prescription for the achievement of the future glory he had predicted. Ordinary Americans far removed from the nation‟s capital and from complicated debates over foreign policies and their implications could still express an informed opinion on the wisdom of those 1 policies based on their understanding of the Farewell. Most importantly, the Farewell was the central lens through which most Americans viewed and understood the ongoing project that was the United States and its growth and development as a power on the world stage. When George Washington wrote about foreign policy in his Farewell Address he was really discussing an approach to foreign policy and the principles that should underlie it. As will be seen in this dissertation‟s first chapter, he devoted multiple manuscript pages to expressing these ideas, but his multitude of points and warnings can be boiled down to a single core idea: that the object of foreign policy should be the attainment and protection of America‟s best interests. Washington believed that an honest assessment of those interests, unclouded by foreign attachments or antipathies, by partisanship, or by anything else not concerned solely with strengthening the Union, would produce a wise foreign policy.