TIL that George Washington was the only President of the United States not to belong to a political party.

And it should also be pointed out that Washington's speech had an element of bullshit, too. Not only did he side with one political faction over another on many issues, but the various colonies had a long history of political factions that were pseudo-political parties, dating all the way back to the 1600s. America was around for 150 years before the Revolution, and the colonies each had legislatures where voting blocs formed over one political philosophy or another.

The American Revolution itself pitted Whigs vs. Tories, a.k.a. Patriots vs. Loyalists, which were the political "parties" of the Washington's time, even if they didn't have cute mascots and national conventions like they would later on. Washington was on the Patriot side, the Loyalist politicians were mostly forced to leave the country, and then after the was was won, the Patriots began to split, as political factions tend to do over time.

People read his speech and assume he was talking about something that was just beginning and was brand new, but in fact, he was complaining about a situation that wasn't unlike today, and had been like that since the country's founding.

/r/todayilearned Thread Parent Link - en.wikipedia.org