[WASHINGTON, George]. Address of the late General George Washington, To the Citizens of the United States, on de-clining a re-election to the Office of President. Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, [1796].

[WASHINGTON, George]. Address of the late General George Washington, To the Citizens of the United States, on de-clining a re-election to the Office of President. Hartford: Hudson and Goodwin, [1796].

Large folio, 22 x 18 in., full margins, printed in five columns within typographic border. (Lightly toned, tears along folds, other minor defects, catching a few letters).

A LARGE FORMAT PRINTING OF WASHINGTON'S FAREWELL ADDRESS. “The 'great rule’ which Washington had set down in the Farewell Address served as a guide to American foreign policy for over a century; of all the Political Testaments of the 18th century the Farewell Address alone succeeded in achieving practical political significance...” (Felix Gilbert, To the Farewell Address, p.136). Another scholar regarded the Address as “an open letter to the American people, published in newspapers throughout country in the Fall of 1786, offering Washington’s distilled wisdom on what he regarded as the true meaning of the American Revolution (His Excellency, p.234). He warns that “Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots, who may resist the intrigues of the favourite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.”