Philadelphia Reflections: George Washington on the Federal Union

PHILADELPHIA REFLECTIONS
Musings of a Philadelphia Physician who has served the community for six decades

Related Topics

The Constitution
The Constitution was not just a paper written at a convention. It was a choice between uncertain alternatives, and new difficulties soon were revealed by making those choices. Its reliance on compromise displays the powerful influence of 18th Century Quaker Philadelphia.

Dislocations: Financial and Fundamental
The crash of 2007 was more than a bank panic. It was a collision of several revolutions which were all ripples from the same splash.

Shaping the Constitution in Philadelphia
After Independence, the weakness of the Federal government dismayed a band of ardent patriots, so under Washington's leadership a stronger Constitution was written. Almost immediately, comrades discovered they had wanted the same thing for different reasons, so during the formative period they struggled to reshape future directions . Moving the Capitol from Philadelphia to the Potomac proved curiously central to all this.

Federalism Slowly Conquers the States
Thirteen sovereign colonies voluntarily combined their power for the common good. But for two hundred years, the new federal government kept taking more power for itself.

George Washington in Philadelphia
Philadelphia remains slightly miffed that Washington was so enthusiastic about moving the nation's capital next to his home on the Potomac. The fact remains that the era of Washington's eminence was Philadelphia's era; for thirty years Washington and Philadelphia dominated affairs.

Return to Home

Comments

George Washington on the Federal Union

President George Washington

"It is of infinite moment that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, habitual and immovable attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to think and speak of it as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned; and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."

(1737)