In the early days of America, a new nation was finding its footing, guided by a hero and its first president, George Washington. As he journeyed across the young republic, promoting the newly ratified Constitution and the promise of the Bill of Rights, Washington understood the power of connecting with “We the People.” His historic visit to Newport, Rhode Island, in August 1790, wasn’t just a presidential tour; it was a moment where the ideals of religious freedom and American tolerance would be tested and affirmed, setting a vital precedent for generations to come in American history.
It was there, in Newport, that Washington received a poignant letter from Moses Seixas, a leader of the local Hebrew Congregation. This heartfelt appeal, representing the hopes of Jewish Americans and all who sought true religious liberty, prompted one of Washington’s most profound declarations. His powerful response, known today as Washington’s letter to the Touro Synagogue, transcended mere religious toleration, championing the inherent rights of all citizens. This landmark exchange by our founding fathers helped pave the way for the First Amendment and shaped the very definition of freedom of conscience in our nation’s story.
📖 Read the Episode Transcript
Speaker 1: And we returned to our American stories. Up next, a story on one of the most important series of letters regarding our nation’s great principle of religious tolerance. Here to tell the story is our regular contributor and the founder and chairman of Bold Gold Media Group, Vince Benedetto. Let’s get into the story.
00:00:32
Speaker 2: In August 1790, America was a new nation with a new Constitution and a new government, and the country had a war hero for its president, a man the country knew and loved. A one-page thank you letter written by George Washington on August 18th of that year would set the course of religious liberty and tolerance in America and pave the path for the passage of the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. The story of how that letter, Washington’s letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Rhode Island, came to be, reflects not just his character and ideals, but also his new nation’s. America’s first president understood the importance of visiting the people of the new constitutional republic he was leading, as well as the power of the first three words of the newly ratified Constitution: “We the People.” He spent a good deal of time making ceremonial tours of the nation, visiting the people of the states he had been chosen to serve. The first nine states, the number required for the Constitution’s ratification, had been reached by June 1788, and the Constitution became effective in March 1789. On April 30th, 1789, Washington took his oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City. Washington was the wonder of his era. He built an army from nothing, defeated the world’s greatest empire, willingly walked away from power, presided over an unprecedented Constitutional Convention, and was unanimously elected by the Electoral College to be the New Republic’s first president. Rhode Island was the last of the holdout states, ratifying the Constitution in May 1790. Washington understood the gravity of the moment, visiting the Ocean State not only to acknowledge the state’s ratification of the Constitution, but also to promote the passage of the Bill of Rights. When Washington arrived in Newport, he was greeted with an outpouring of affection. Among those welcoming him was Moses Satius. Satius was the warden of Newport’s Toro Synagogue. The congregation likely numbered in the hundreds of the time, and the number of Jewish people in the new Nation was no more than two thousand in a country of nearly four million. Calling Jewish Americans a minority would be an understate. Satius also understood the gravity of the President’s visit and took it upon himself to write a letter to Washington on behalf of his congregation:
00:03:23
Speaker 3: “Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your person and merits, and to join with our fellow citizens in welcoming you to Newport.”
00:03:35
Speaker 2: He continued with an analogy comparing the Revolutionary War with the struggles of the ancient tribes of Israel, and likened Washington to King David. Seatius then began his short but powerful appeal on behalf of his congregation and all American Jews, referencing the history of Jewish persecution around the world and throughout history.
00:04:00
Speaker 3: “As we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free citizens, we now, with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposa of all events. We hold a government erected by the majesty of the people, a government which, to bigotry, gives no sanction, to persecution, no assistance, but generously affording to all liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship, deeming everyone, of whatever nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental machine.”
00:04:31
Speaker 2: Satius closed his letter with a prayer for the new present.
00:04:35
Speaker 3: “For all these blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an benign administration, we desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of Days, the great Preserver of men, beseeching him that the Angel who conducted our forefathers through the wilderness into the promised land, may graciously conduct you through all the difficulties and dangers of this mortal life. And when, like Joshua, full of days and full of honor, you are gathered to your father’s, may you be admitted into the heavenly Paradise to partake of the Water of Life and the Tree of Immortality.”
00:05:12
Speaker 2: Washington was moved by these sentiments. On the same day, he responded to the expressions of gratitude with his letter strongly affirming the principles of freedom of religion. Washington’s reply to Satius’s plea would be the clearest statement on the subject by a nation’s leader in world history. Unlike so many nations past and present ruled by kings and despots who tolerated the Jewish faith, Washington, incorporating some of Satious’s own language, proclaimed the followers.
00:05:48
Speaker 4: “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 inherentrant natural rights, or, 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.”
00:06:22
Speaker 2: Washington, revealing his reverence for Scripture, addressed the Jewish people specifically.
00:06:29
Speaker 4: “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 everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
00:06:52
Speaker 2: Washington’s speedy and personal reply was itself significant. It demonstrated his view that the president, in rights and under law, is the equal of the citizens and was elected to serve them rather than have them serve him. Most importantly, the leader of America, himself an Anglican in an overwhelmingly Christian country, addressed the Jewish people as equals. Washington concluded his letter with a prayer of his own. These may very well be the most beautiful words he would ever write.
00:07:32
Speaker 4: “May the Father of all merciless 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.”
00:07:55
Speaker 2: Washington’s letter no doubt affected public sentiment, as did his tour of the nation in support of the Bill of Rights. For on December 15th, 1791, three-fourths of the States ratified the first ten Amendments to the Constitution, and there, in the First Amendment, was the very first freedom protected from government interference, a head of freedom of speech or the press, freedom of assembly, or the right to petition the Government. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. America was and still is a refuge for religious people around the world and a refuge for atheists and agnostics. Too, we have George Washington and our Founders and Moses Satius too to thank for it. And two letters written on the same summer day back in 1791.
00:09:06
Speaker 1: And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by our own Monty Montgomery. A special thanks to Joseph Goodwin and to Brian Hilton, and of course, a special thanks to Vince Benedetto. He and I co-wrote this piece for Newsweek a year or so ago and just thought, “Wow, let’s bring this to life.” And Vince’s radio guy through and through, a terrific historian and also a station owner that carries our American Stories. A special thanks to Vince, and we were both blown away by the end of that Washington letter. “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.” That’s the Lord’s and way. “Everlastingly happy.” Beautiful words for all of us to live by. The story of tolerance, the real kind, on our American Stories.
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