204th ANNIVERSARY OF GWFA - US Senate

 [Pages H7935-H7936]

From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

ANNIVERSARY OF PRESIDENT WASHINGTON'S ``FAREWELL ADDRESS''

  (Mr. DeLAY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. DeLAY.  Mr. Speaker, 204 years ago, President George Washington's 
``Farewell Address'' was published in the New York Herald.
  For generations, the ``Farewell Address'' was one of the most 
recommended political works in American history. Schoolchildren studied 
it and citizens celebrated it. In fact, in 1862, President Lincoln even 
issued a national proclamation recommending that people all over the 
country read the address aloud.
  One lengthy section of Washington's address dealt with the importance 
of religion and morality to public life. After declaring that religion 
and morality were indispensable to political prosperity, Washington 
bluntly asked, ``Where is the security for property, for reputation, 
for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert?'' He continued, 
``Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality 
can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.''
  Washington warned Americans that without religious principles, 
neither education nor any other force would be capable of protecting 
either our life or our property. This is a lesson to remember today, 
the 204th anniversary of the printing of Washington's ``Farewell 
Address.''