Peter Lillback his article “The United ‘Statists’ of America?” in the book Statism: The Shadows of Another Night, edited by Charlie Rodriguez (2015) lists the following warnings given by George Washington in his 1789 address to Congress (with Lillback’s wording appended):
1. “I pretend to no unusual foresight into futurity, and therefore cannot undertake to decide, with certainty, what may be its ultimate fate.” Washington was not a prophet and could not make a final prediction about the ultimate fate of the Constitution.
2. “If a promised good should terminate in an unexpected evil, it would not be a solitary example of disappointment in this mutable state of existence.” In our uncertain world good things have often ended up as disappointing evils and this could happen with our Constitution too.
3. “If the blessings of Heaven showered thick around us should be spilled on the ground or converted to curses, through the fault of those for whom they were intended, it would not be the first instance of folly or perverseness in short-sighted mortals.” If we lose our Constitution’s blessings of liberty, it would not be the first time that human foolishness has squandered the blessings of heaven.
4. “The blessed Religion revealed in the word of God will remain an eternal and awful monument to prove that the best Institutions may be abused by human depravity; and that they may even, in some instances be made subservient to the vilest of purposes.” The word of God’s revelation of the Christian religion provides an eternal example of the fact that the best human organizations can be used for evil ends. (Washington is here referring to the events surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.)
5. “Should, hereafter, those who are entrusted with the management of this government, incited by the lust of power and prompted by the Supineness or venality of their Constituents, overleap the known barriers of this Constitution and violate the unalienable rights of humanity:” America’s future power-hungry leaders could get away with a disregard of the Constitution’s limitations and harm our unalienable rights because the voters have become lazy or selfish.