George Washington: First Inaugural Address

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

In the opening paragraph of the First Inaugural Address, Washington explains how his election as president changed his life. He had been happy with his “immutable decision” never again to assume public office after his retirement from the army in December 1783. He was content to spend his “declining years” on his plantation, which served as a private “asylum” from public responsibilities. The voice of his country, however, which he could “never hear but with veneration and love,” reminded him of his duty.

His promise to refrain from further service in public office was not the only reason Washington was reluctant to become president. In his inaugural address, he explains his concern that he might be physically unable to do the job because of intermittent bad health and “the gradual waste committed on it by time.” Although he had led the army for eight years, he realizes “his own deficiencies.” He is inexperienced in “civil administration” and feels that he was not endowed with great natural intellect. He asks his fellow citizens to excuse any errors he might commit because of what he describes as “incapacity as well as disinclination for the weighty and untried cares before me.”

In Washington's inaugural address, his “first official act” as president, he asks God to “consecrate” the new government to preserve the liberty and happiness of the American people. He further requests that each person employed in the new government be enabled to succeed in fulfilling “the functions allotted to his charge.” Like the members of Congress and the American people, Washington pays homage to God. No other people could see so clearly the workings of the Almighty—“the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men”—during the war for independence and “the important revolution just accomplished” in adopting a new efficient federal government. The peaceful, voluntary method of replacing the Articles of Confederation with the new Constitution during a time of “crisis” was unique in nation building. With “pious gratitude” for these past gifts, Washington anticipates “future blessings” for the “new and free government.”

Among the powers of the president, the Constitution called upon him to recommend to Congress “such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.” This, however, Washington says, was not the right time for him to present a list of things for Congress to consider. Instead, Washington pays tribute “to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism” of the members of Congress. By referring to the broad powers given to Congress by the Constitution, Washington tells the members of Congress to define “the objects to which your attention is to be given.” Such a procedure is more congenial to Washington, who feels confident that “no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over” Congress. In so doing, Washington is confident “that the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality, and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world.” Washington believes that if Congress fulfills its mission, America will thrive. He thinks that God will smile upon America if it follows “the eternal rules of order and right” ordained by “Heaven itself.” “The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government” are perhaps completely dependent upon “the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.”

Washington does make one specific recommendation for Congress to consider, however. Utilizing Article V of the Constitution, Washington asks Congress whether it is “expedient at the present juncture,” to propose amendments in the form of a bill of rights. Because the lack of such a list of liberties had been the primary objection to the Constitution, the proposal and adoption of a bill of rights would quiet former Antifederalists. Rather than preparing a specific bill of rights to be proposed, Washington again assigns this duty to Congress, saying, “I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good.” Washington feels confident that Congress will “carefully avoid every alteration which might endanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience.” Congress will assuredly determine the extent of “the characteristic rights of freemen” that will “advantageously” promote “the public harmony.”

Washington has another specific provision primarily for the consideration of the House of Representatives. He reminds Congress that when he was appointed commander in chief in 1775, he refused to take a salary and charged Congress only for the expenses he incurred. Now he renounces compensation for his services as president, which he views as a duty he owes to his country.

In closing, Washington again appeals to God—“the benign Parent of the Human Race,” who has blessed the American people with the opportunity to deliberate in “perfect tranquillity” and with the “dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a [new] form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness.” Washington says that he hopes the divine blessing will be bestowed on “the temperate consultations, and the wise measures on which the success of this Government must depend.”