Following up on my previous post, The Declaration Of Independence, Faith, And Antisemitism: Newport This Week, Annual George Washington Reading Goes Virtual:
On Sunday, Aug. 17, Touro Synagogue Foundation will host the George Washington Letter Reading, an annual event honoring our nation’s heritage of religious freedom. This year marks the 78th anniversary of the reading of the famous letter.
George Washington’s 1790 letter “To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport” was written after his first trip to Rhode Island as president. In his eloquent reply to a letter by Moses Seixas, warden of the local Jewish congregation, Washington attested to the new government’s commitment to freedom of religion, an entitlement he regarded as an “inherent natural right.” The federal government, Washington stated, “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance” borrowing the now-famous phrase from Seixas’ letter that expressed their shared vision for America’s government.
The annual event has a long tradition of distinguished keynote speakers and letter readers, including Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.
To learn more about President Washington’s 1790 letter to the congregation that worshiped in Touro Synagogue, the nation’s oldest surviving Jewish house of worship, dedicated in 1763, visit here {video].
Letter From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island (Aug. 18, 1790):
To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island:
Gentlemen
While I receive, with much satisfaction, your Address replete with expressions of affection and esteem; I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you, that I shall always retain a grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced in 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 a 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 was by 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 figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid. May the father of all mercies scatter light and not darkness in 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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