In 1792 George Washington had a resignation letter drafted by James Madison sitting on his desk, until rivals Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson united to beg him to stay. This episode explores why Washington believed the young American experiment was so fragile, and how he finally walked away from power in 1796 by publishing his Farewell Address as an open letter in Claypool’s American Daily Advertiser.

We unpack his warnings about sectionalism, hyper-partisan political parties and the path to a frightful despotism, his case for neutrality after the Citizen Genet affair, and his view of religion, morality, education and public credit as pillars of the republic. We also trace the address’s long afterlife, from the Monroe Doctrine to the Senate’s annual reading on Washington’s birthday.

• Why Hamilton and Jefferson, bitter rivals, both urged Washington to serve a second term
• How the Jay Treaty and Pinckney’s Treaty showed the value of a united federal government
• Washington’s warning that party revenge cycles exhaust the public and invite a despot
• The Proclamation of Neutrality and lessons from French minister Citizen Genet
• How the 1862 petition began a Senate tradition of reading the address every year