This will come as a shock to many, and as an outrage by a few, but George Washington probably was not a Christian in the biblical sense. No where in his writings or in his public addresses—at least none currently available—does he express salvific faith in the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Rather, Washington was a deist, like Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. But even here, neither Washington, Franklin, or Jefferson were classical deists, believing that God made the world but was indifferent to the activities of mankind. Washington held to the notion that God indeed was concerned about issues of justice, mercy, and peace, and often intervened in human history. Washington’s favorite term for God was “Providence” and Washington often employed it in terms of God’s giving of gifts, of His protection and aid in the American cause, and of His guidance in establishing the American republic.

Although there is good reason to doubt whether Washington ever came to faith in Jesus, there can be no doubt that Washington was commitment to religious liberty. As one writer put it:

As President, Washington’s respect for the individual rights of conscience—not mere toleration, but full recognition of the necessity for personal choice in matters of belief or disbelief—demands our attention again more than six generations later. His fundamental message of religious freedom, “to bigotry no sanction,” is an essential doctrine for peace and mutual respect among a diverse people.

Washington would be perplexed by the efforts of some to suppress free expressions of worship and to denigrate religious thought and practices. He would also be saddened by the attempts of many today to advance their own belief system through coercion rather than persuasion and through direct mechanisms of government rather than through appeals to the heart. [1]

It seems appropriate on this President’s Day, given the recent controversy surrounding the Obama Administration’s disregard for and attack on the First Amendment rights of religious institutions to refuse contraception and abortion related services to their employees, that we remind ourselves of the first principle of liberty—the freedom of conscience. George Washington understood that if we are no longer free to think then we are no longer free to be.

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After Washington’s election to the presidency in 1789, he received many congratulatory messages from churches, dioceses, and synagogues. The most famous of these messages came from the Jewish congregation at Newport, Rhode Island—Jeshuat Israel (now Touro Synagogue).

At the time of the adoption of the Constitution and Washington’s election, there were six Jewish congregations in the United States: Shearith Israel in New York City; Jeshuat Israel in Newport; Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia; Beth Shalome in Richmond, Virginia; Beth Elohim in Charleston, South Carolina; and Mikveh Israel in Savannah, Georgia. It was proposed by Shearith Israel that all six write a congratulatory message to the president because “that mode will be less irksome to the president than troubling him to reply to every individual address.” [2] However, due to slow communication and inaction on the part of Shearith Israel, the Savannah congregation sent their own message to Washington. And when Jeshuat Israel in Newport learned that Washington was planning a trip to Rhode Island they too decided to act independently.

On August 17, 1790, Moses Seixas, the Warden of the Hebrew congregation at Newport read the following letter to President George Washington:

Sir:

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.

With pleasure we reflect on those days—those days of difficulty, and danger, when the God of Israel, who delivered David from the peril of the sword—shielded Your head in the day of battle: and we rejoice to think, that the same Spirit, who rested in the Bosom of the greatly beloved Daniel enabling him to preside over the Provinces of the Babylonish Empire, rests and ever will rest, upon you, enabling you to discharge the arduous duties of Chief Magistrate in these States.

Deprived as we heretofore have been of the invaluable rights of free Citizens, we now with a deep sense of gratitude to the Almighty disposer of all events behold 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 every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language equal parts of the great governmental Machine:

This so ample and extensive Federal Union whose basis is Philanthropy, Mutual confidence and Public Virtue, we cannot but acknowledge to be the work of the Great God, who ruleth in the Armies of Heaven, and among the Inhabitants of the Earth, doing whatever seemeth him good.

For all these Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal 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 honour, you are gathered to your Fathers, may you be admitted into the Heavenly Paradise to partake of the water of life, and the tree of immortality.

Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790.

Moses Seixas, Warden [3]

Washington’s reply to Jeshuat Israel, written the following day, expressed more than mere toleration of religious liberty; it embraced full and real equality for the first of our rights—freedom of conscience, just as the First Amendment intends:

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.

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.

G. Washington [4]

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In the 1930s and ’40s, as Hitler and the Nazi party gained and abused power, Washington’s letter took on added significance to Jewish Americans. On the 150th anniversary of Washington’s reply to the Newport synagogue, in August 1940, the letter was celebrated by a nationally broadcasted reading of the letter and speeches about religious liberty. To this day, Touro Synagogue holds an annual reading of Washington’s letter in their historic synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.

[1] Alonzo L. McDonald, To Bigotry No Sanction: George Washington and Religious Liberty (McLean, Va.: The Trinity Forum, 2008), 4.

[2] Circular Letter of Shearith Israel, 1790, quoted in Paul F. Boller Jr., George Washington and Religion, in To Bigotry No Sanction, 31.

[3] “Moses Seixas’ Letter from Congregation Yeshuat Israel,” Newport, Rhode Island, August 17, 1790, http://www.tourosynagogue.org/index.php/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/85-seixas-letter, accessed February 20, 2012.

[4] George Washington, “To the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island,” August 18, 1790, http://www.tourosynagogue.org/index.php/history-learning/tsf-intro-menu/slom-scholarship/86-washington-letter, accessed February 20, 2012.