When did Washington call America the "Great Experiment?"

Reckless

Hey all,

Having a little trouble with my Google-fu. I'm trying to settle a debate that's come up in the apartment. When or in which speech did Washington call America the "Great Experiment?"

Thanks for any help.

RUNN1NGMAN

He never uses the phrase "Great Experiment," but it's from his first inaugural address:

". . . since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

http://www.bartelby.com/124/pres13.html

TychoCelchuuu

http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=353

edit: to be slightly more helpful, 6th line down in the second paragraph of that letter.

Gaffero

From the 1st Inaugural: "... the destiny of the republican model of government are justly considered, perhaps, as deeply, as finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people."

He references it again in his Farewell Address several times. I don't think he ever calls anything "the Great Experiment" outright. A Google Books search turns up a piece suggesting that the Revolution is the Great Experiment: http://books.google.com/books?id=wC43cGylEesC&dq=george+washington+Great+Experiment&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=hacCiDRckU&sig=CkWx-jz-7B4VcR3qUqmXa26ZNRM&hl=en&ei=mY_qSee1NYuMtgfS69WbBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPA6,M1. One could argue that the post-Revolution Federal Government, under both the Articles of Confederation as well as the Constitution, constituted in experiment in a yet-untested form of a large-scale federal republic.

Take from that what you will; you might need to take a trip to the library to get that book for further reading, especially if there's money riding on the eventual answer.