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In 1790, George Washington visited Rhode Island to acknowledge the state’s recent ratification of the Constitution and to promote passage of the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the Constitution. (Many states had ratified with the understanding that the Constitution would be amended to include such a bill.) As was the custom, when Washington visited Newport he was met by a delegation of citizens who read messages of welcome. One of those who welcomed Washington was Moses Seixas, the warden of the Touro Synagogue in Newport. In his welcome, Seixas gave thanks to “the Ancient of Days, the great preserver of men” that the Jews, previously “deprived . . . of the invaluable rights of free Citizens” on account of their religion, now lived under a government “which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” In his response to Seixas’ welcome, Washington used some of Seixas’ own words to describe with moving eloquence the religious liberty found in the new republic, which the proposed Bill of Rights would help protect.
In 1790, religious liberty was something new. Religious diversity, and thus a rough informal tolerance, generally characterized most, but certainly not all, of American colonial life. But as the exchange of letters between Seixas and Washington makes clear, Americans during the Revolution became committed to something more than tolerance. They were committed to religious liberty. When Washington visited Newport, Americans were sorting out what this meant (See Memorial and Remonstrance), as they would continue to do (See An Address. . .Celebrating the Declaration of Independence), and indeed as we still are doing. Given how unsettled the innovation of religious freedom was, and the difficult history of Jews in Christian Europe, it was of the utmost importance that Washington used his extraordinary moral authority to support this new and untried liberty
Gentlemen:
While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.
The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.
If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.
The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.
It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.
May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.1
May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.
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