{Flashback} August 17, 1790: Letter from (Jewish) Moses Seixas to first American President George Washington (1789–1797) - Reply Letter from George Washington to Moses Seixas (PDF - pages 5 & 6)

To the President of the United States of America ... Done and Signed by order of the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island August 17th 1790. Moses Seixas, Warden ... To the Hebrew Congregation in NewPort, Rhode Island. Gentlemen ... 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. G. Washington.

{Flashback} George Washington - 1790 goodwill visit he paid to Newport, Rhode Island, during his first term as President - May the Children of the Stock of Abraham (Jews), who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid

George Washington's private life and writings reveal no evidence of anti-Semitism, and his public attitude towards religious tolerance was well expressed on a 1790 goodwill visit he paid to Newport, Rhode Island, during his first term as President. When a goodwill address was presented to him by the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Washington responded by penning "the first presidential declaration of the free and equal status of Jewish-American citizens" ... The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for giving 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.
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