America At 250:What George Washington Wrote To The Jews In 1790: The Promise America Made

 

 "Then He will judge between many peoples and arbitrate for strong nations
far and wide. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears
into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer take up the sword against nation,
nor will they train anymore for war.  And each man will sit under his own
vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten hum. 
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
(Micah 4:3-4)

 

Touro Synagogue
Built in 1763
Newport, Rhode Island
Oldest standing synagogue in the United States
and in North America
Image courtesy/National Park Service

 

 

 In August, 1790 President George Washington sailed into Newport, Rhode Island.
Waiting in the exciting crowd of onlookers was Moses Seixas, a Jewish merchant
with a letter in his pocket. Washington's reply to this man's letter became one
 of the most important promises ever made to the Jewish people in America:
"a government that gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution, no assistance."

 

 What George Washington Wrote To The Jews In 1790
The Promise America Made
The Diaspora Files
(November 5, 2026)