The Father of His Country
A special prayer in Hebrew and English for the
United States and "His Excellency George Washington, Captain,
General and Commander in Chief of the Federal Army of these
States," was read by the Reverend Gershom Mendes Seixas at the
Consecration Service of the new synagogue of Congregation Mikveh
Israel, in Philadelphia on April 3, 1782. Seven years later,
Washington, now the newly elected president of the United States, was
again the recipient of expressions of adulation and felicitations
from American Jewish congregations. In the Washington Papers at the
Library of Congress are the original addresses to him from the Hebrew
Congregation in Newport, Rhode island, and the Hebrew Congregations
in Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond. Also present are
the retained copies of the president's replies to them and to the
Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah. These are but the first
of a large number of letters from Jewish organizations and from
individual Jews to and from American presidents in the Library of
Congress, which is the depository of the papers of all the presidents
from George Washington to Calvin Coolidge, with the exception only of
John Adams. Some such letters in the papers of Washington, Jefferson,
Madison, and Lincoln should be allowed to speak for themselves.
The first Jewish community to address the newly
elected George Washington was the Hebrew Congregation of Savannah,
Georgia, on May 6, 1789. "Our eccentric situation," Levi
Sheftal writes in behalf of the congregation, "added to a
diffidence founded on the most profound respect has thus long
prevented our address." The congregation declares itself
beholden to Washington for his "unexampled liberality and
extensive philanthropy [which] have expelled that cloud of bigotry
and superstition which has long, as a veil, shaded religion-unrivetted
the fetters of enthusiasm enfranchised us with all the privileges and
immunities of free citizens, and initiated us into the grand mass of
legislative mechanism."
Washington's reply states:
Gentlemen:-I thank you with great sincerity for
your congratulations on my appointment to the office which I have
the honor to hold by the unanimous choice of my fellow citizens,
and especially the expressions you are pleased to use in testifying
the confidence that is reposed in me by your congregation ...
I rejoice that a spirit of liberality and
philanthropy is much more prevalent than it formerly was among the
enlightened nations of the earth, and that your brethren will
benefit thereby in proportion as it shall become still more
extensive; happily the people of the United States have in many
instances exhibited examples worthy of imitation, the salutary
influence of which will doubtless extend much farther if gratefully
enjoying those blessings of peace which (under the favor of heaven)
have been attained by fortitude in war, they shall conduct
themselves with reverence to the Deity and charity toward their
fellow- creatures.
May the same wonder-working Deity, who long
since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted
them in a promised land, whose providential agency has lately been
conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent
nation, still continue to water them with the dews of heaven and
make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the
temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is
Jehovah.
G. Washington.
Among the copies of President
George Washington's correspondence with civic, fraternal and
religious groups, in letterbook 38, series 2, April 16, 1789-August
17, 1790, is this text of a letter sent at the end of May
1789, to the Hebrew Congregation of the City of Savannah in
response to theirs of May 6, written by Levi Sheftal, in which
Washington expresses his pride that:
the people of the United States
have in many instances exhibited
examples worthy of imitation.
Manuscript Division, Papers of George Washington.
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After seven months of planning, on December 13,
1790, Manuel Josephson, president of Philadelphia's Mikve Israel, wrote
in behalf of the Hebrew Congregations of Philadelphia, New York,
Charleston, and Richmond:
Sir:-It is reserved for you to unite in affection
for your character and person every political and religious
denomination of men; and in this will the Hebrew congregations
aforesaid yield to no class of their fellow- citizens.
... The wonders which the Lord of Hosts hath
worked in the days of our Forefathers, have taught us, to observe the
greatness of His wisdom and His might throughout the events of the
late glorious revolution; and while we humble ourselves at His
footstool in thanksgiving and praise for the blessing of His
deliverance; we acknowledge you, the Leader of American Armies, as
his chosen and beloved servant; But not to your sword alone is
present happiness to be ascribed; that, indeed, opened the way to the
reign of Freedom, but never was it perfectly secure, till your hand
gave birth to the Federal Constitution, and you renounced the joys of
retirement to seal by your administration in Peace what you had
achieved in war.
To the eternal God, who is thy refuge, we commit
in our prayers the care of thy precious life; and when, full of
years, thou shalt be gathered unto thy people, thy righteousness
shall go before thee, and we shall remember, amidst our regret,
"that the Lord hath set apart the godly for himself,"
whilst thy name and thy virtues will remain an indelible memorial on
our minds.
Manuel Josephson.
President Washington received
this congratulatory address from the Hebrew Congregations in
Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond, written by
Philadelphian Manuel Josephson "on behalf and under the
authority of the several congregations." This marked the first
joint endeavor by a united American Jewry, comprising the leading
communities of the North and the South.
Manuscript Division, Papers of George Washington.
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To which Washington replied:
To the HEBREW CONGREGATIONS IN THE CITIES OF
PHILADELPHIA, NEW YORK, CHARLESTON, AND RICHMOND.
Gentlemen:-The liberality of sentiment toward each
other, which marks every political and religious denomination of men
in this country, stands unparalleled in the history of nations.
The affection of such a people is a treasure
beyond the reach of calculation, and the repeated proofs which my
fellow-citizens have given of their attachment to me and approbation
of my doings form the purest source of my temporal felicity.
The affectionate expressions of your address again
excite my gratitude and receive my warmest acknowledgment.
The power and goodness of the Almighty, so
strongly manifested in the events of our late glorious revolution,
and His kind interposition in our behalf, have been no less visible
in the establishment of our present equal government. In war He
directed the sword, and in peace He has ruled in our councils. My
agency in both has been guided by the best intentions and a sense of
duty I owe to my country.
And as my exertions have hitherto been amply
rewarded by the approbation of my fellow citizens, I shall endeavor
to deserve a continuance of it by my future conduct.
May the same temporal and eternal blessings which
you implore for me, rest upon your congregations.
G. Washington.
On August 17, 1790, Washington honored Newport,
Rhode Island, with a visit. The following morning, before his
departure, deputations called upon the president to declare their
affection and devotion. Moses Seixas, Warden of Kahal Kadosh Yeshuat
Israel, the Hebrew congregation of Newport, presented to Washington a
letter which opens with words of affection, esteem, and welcome. Seixas
reminds him of the Jews' experience of liberation from foreign bondage
and new nationhood in biblical days, and he states that no people has
greater cause for loyalty to the new nation than the Jews. Seixas adds
some of his own perceptions of what makes this government unique and
distinguished, meriting God's approval and his people's blessing, when
he writes to Washington:
Sir:
Permit the children of the stock of Abraham to
approach you with the most cordial affection and esteem for your
person and merit, and to join with our fellow-citizens in welcoming
you to Newport.
... Deprived as we hitherto 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
base is philanthropy, mutual confidence and public virtue, we cannot
but acknowledge to be the work of the great God, who rules in the
armies of the heavens and among the inhabitants of the earth, doing
whatever seemeth to Him good.
For all the blessings of civil and religious
liberty which we enjoy under an equal and benign administration, we
desire to send up our thanks to the Ancient of days, the great
Preserver of men, beseeching Him that the angels 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
honors, 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 17, 1790.
Moses Seixas, Warden
Presented by the Hebrew
Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, August 17, 1790, on behalf
of "the children of the seed of Abraham" to the President
of the United States of America and written by Moses Seixas, Warden
of the Congregation, this address is the actual one received by
America's first president. Note that the felicitous
characterization of the government of the United States "which
to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance"
that is found (two words transposed) in Washington's response was
first used by Moses Seixas.
Manuscript Division, Papers of George Washington.
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Washington's
reply is characteristically large-minded and generous:
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
President Washington sent
gracious replies in 1790 to the Newport Hebrew Congregation and to
the Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, and Richmond consortium, a
portion of which we can read in this copy of his celebrated reply
to Newport.
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.
Manuscript Division, Papers of George Washington.
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To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no
assistance became, through its use by the country's first
president, a revered phrase in America's national vocabulary.
The publication of the Hebrew Congregations/George
Washington correspondence in a number of American newspapers in 1790
constituted a public declaration by the Father of his Country of the
free and equal status of Jews in America, furthered by its inclusion in A Collection of Speeches of the President of the United States (Boston, 1796). The usefulness of the Washington pronouncements is
illustrated by Governor Worthington employing them in 1824 in support
of the "Jew Bill," which conferred upon Maryland Jews the
full political rights heretofore denied them.
Sources: Abraham J. Karp, From
the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress,
(DC: Library of Congress,
1991).
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