In a letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, non-partisan (nationalist) President Washington expresses his desire for a pluralistic society; one in qhich non-Protestants also be granted citizenship:
The [C]itizens of the [u]nited States of America have the right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike [sic]liberty of conscience and immunities of [C]itizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were by the indulgence of one class of citizens that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for happily the [g]overnment of the [u]nited States, which give 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.
[added 8/8/2026]
Subsequent Events:
4/5/1792 1/1/1802
References:
Thomas G. West, Vindicating the Founders: Race, Sex, Class, and Justice in the Origins of America, (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 1997), 149.
Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island (1790) | Constitution Center
constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/george-washington-letter-to-the-hebrew-congregation-in-newport-rhode-island-1790
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