Friday, January 12, 2018

President George Washington's Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island.

An excerpt from a letter from a great and wise leader, our nations' first President, wrote to the Jewish Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790. 

"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...
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...
G. Washington"

 I had the privilege to photograph the original letter some years ago, for a museum that needed a quality reproduction for exhibition. 

It was an honor and a privilege to have this opportunity.

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