To mark the 250th anniversary of the United States, we’re cataloging 25 objects that define the country’s history.
George Washington could have stayed in office for a third term. Many thought he would, yet he wrote that he would “decline being considered” in his now famous Farewell Address.
Washington wrote those words by candlelight in 1796 beside a simple brass stand that is now part of the Smithsonian Institution’s collection.
National Museum of American History curator Lisa Kathleen Graddy said the candle stand remains significant in America’s nearly 250-year-long history.
Can you describe the stand?
“It raises and lowers. It has two holders for candles. They can move in and out depending on where you want to position them. And it has a brass reflector.
“Of course, this was the only light available, so the brass reflector would magnify the light of the candles as Washington sat and wrote.”
Why preserve this as a defining object in American history?
“Museums are filled with the things you write with and write on and, in this case, write by. And it’s a marvelous piece. It’s the physical object that helps us remember the Farewell Address and George Washington’s thoughts and commitment to his new country as he was leaving the presidency.”
How do we know that this is the one George Washington used?
“This is according to his family. And that’s another thing I think that is wonderful about it. After the centennial in 1876, America became much more interested in history again. It always happens around the time of these anniversaries.
“Shortly after the centennial celebration, the family of his favorite granddaughter contacted the federal government. And they said that they were worried that, as years go on, pieces that they have that belonged to George and Martha Washington could scatter in bequests amongst the family. And they were afraid that they’d scatter to the winds. And so they wonder if the government would be interested in it.
“Congress sends Ellis Spear, who’s the chief commissioner of the patent office, to look at the collection and make an assessment. Spear goes and he looks at it, and he comes back and says, ‘Yeah, we want it.’”
George Washington labored with this Farewell Address for years. He got drafting help from James Madison and later Alexander Hamilton. What does that labored writing process reveal about George Washington?
“I think it shows how concerned he was that the country stayed together. It’s such a new country in 1796 still, and he hadn’t stepped down after his first term when he wanted to because everyone was afraid that without him, without the indispensable man, the country wouldn’t stay together. And so he stays another term.
“With the Farewell Address — in true father-of-his-country fashion — George Washington is able to say, ‘You’re grown up. I think you’re on the right path. You can do this. But here are my words of advice to you to keep on the course that you’ve set.’”
When you look at this candle stand, what does it tell you about the country?
“I think about George Washington sitting with this, editing drafts and writing down his ideas, and about how seriously people took this. How committed he and others are to the idea of this democracy that they fought for and they want to survive, and I think that’s part of the reason the family saves it. It’s not just a relic of Washington. It’s a talisman of faith in the United States and its survival.”
This interview was edited for clarity.
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Will Walkey produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Walkey also produced it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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