If you were to ask Americans to name the greatest speech in our nation’s history, many would probably choose Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address. As a devoted admirer of Lincoln, I would be hard pressed to argue otherwise. It seems only fitting that America’s greatest president delivered one of America’s greatest speeches.

Having said that, there is another presidential address that deserves to stand alongside Lincoln’s masterpiece, yet few Americans have read it. I can still remember memorizing the Gettysburg Address in school, but I don’t recall ever being taught George Washington’s Farewell Address. That is unfortunate because, in terms of its impact on our nation, it may be every bit as important.

Perhaps one reason it is so seldom read is because it isn’t easy reading. At roughly 7,500 words, it is more than twenty times longer than Lincoln’s address at Gettysburg. It seems only fitting that America’s greatest president delivered one of America’s greatest speeches.

The origins of the document are fascinating. James Madison prepared an initial draft in 1792 when Washington considered retiring after his first term. He ultimately decided to remain in office as bitter disagreements between Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson threatened to divide the young republic. Washington feared that without steady leadership, those growing political tensions might tear the nation apart.

When Washington retired after his second term in 1796, Hamilton used Madison’s earlier draft to produce the Farewell Address we know today. The result was not merely a retirement announcement, but a blueprint for preserving the American Republic.

Perhaps every newly elected member of Congress should be required to read it before taking the oath of office.

Washington was so revered that many Americans wanted him to become king, an idea he firmly rejected. Later, when supporters urged him to seek a third presidential term, he declined again. That decision was extraordinary. Throughout history, powerful men have usually searched for ways to remain in office. Washington willingly surrendered power, setting a precedent that endured for nearly a century and a half.

The central theme of his address was national unity. He feared Americans would begin identifying themselves primarily as Northerners, Southerners, Easterners, or Westerners instead of simply Americans. He believed sectional division posed the greatest threat to the new Republic.

His warning proved tragically accurate. Less than seventy years later, the nation was torn asunder by the Civil War.

Washington also warned against the influence of political parties. He believed parties would eventually become more interested in defeating one another than in serving the country. Reading those words today, one cannot help but wonder what he would think of modern Washington.

One of his most memorable observations was, “The spirit of party… is itself a frightful despotism.” It’s a warning that seems just as relevant today as it was more than two centuries ago.

Washington reminded Americans to obey the Constitution. If laws needed to be changed, they should be changed legally through the constitutional process, not ignored whenever they became inconvenient.

At the time, the America had a population of about five million people represented by 138 members of Congress. Together they were building a constitutional republic founded on the consent of the governed.

High on Washington’s list was the importance of personal virtue. He believed freedom could not survive unless citizens possessed honesty, integrity, self-discipline, and moral courage—qualities that are in short supply in today’s political climate.

He also stressed the importance of education, warned against excessive public debt, encouraged commerce with all nations, cautioned against permanent foreign alliances that could draw America into unnecessary war. He reminded future generations that the presidency belongs to the country, not to the individual who occupies the office.

Washington was not claiming to possess some gift of prophecy. His wisdom came from a lifetime spent watching governments succeed and fail. The Farewell Address was not a prediction of America’s future so much as a collection of hard-earned lessons from a man who had devoted his life to securing its future.

America was extraordinarily fortunate that Washington chose to become its first president and, just as importantly, chose to walk away from power when he believed his work was finished. He left behind not only a new nation, but a blueprint for preserving it.

More than two centuries later, his Farewell Address remains one of the most important American documents that almost nobody has read.