This bronze plaque is mounted on a stand in the courtyard of the small, historic Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island.
In the early spring of 2003, a few weeks after I arrived in the Northeast, I had to go to Newport to have a couple of contractual meetings and organize a project there. I had some free time one afternoon and began walking around the older section of this picturesque colonial town. I first encountered a small Jewish cemetery at the top of a hill and as I descended down I came to a plain, white building I didn’t initially realize was a synagogue. Entering the neatly kept grounds, I walked up this bronze plaque – the plaque you see above. It was a moving moment for me since I had somehow been unaware of this letter and the details surrounding it.
Every summer, the oldest synagogue in America—Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island—holds a public reading of a letter written by George Washington to the congregation early in his first term as the first President of the United States. The letter, dated August 18, 1790, ranks high among the documents affirming and defining the unprecedented American experiment in religious freedom.
and,
In August 1790, three months after Rhode Island had belatedly ratified the Constitution, President Washington honored the new member of the Union with a visit to Newport, accompanied by his Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and other dignitaries. As was customary on such occasions, representatives from local religious denominations and civic and business groups read letters of welcome to the President. Washington’s response to the letter from the local Jewish congregation became the historic document that is still read every year in Touro Synagogue.
plus,
Just a few years before, the Virginia General Assembly had passed into law the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, drafted by Thomas Jefferson and considered by him to be an accomplishment ranking with his authorship of the Declaration of Independence. A little more than a year after Washington wrote his letter, the first 10 amendments to the Constitution were ratified, becoming what we know as our Bill of Rights. The first amendment, of course, begins: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” In the decades after 1790, the idea of religious liberty continued to make its way into the minds of Americans and the laws and institutions of the states.
Do read the whole thing.
This is why Washington wanted the citizens of America—in every generation—to hear from him that they have a right to applaud themselves for setting an example “worthy of imitation” by all mankind. That example has been tarnished and diminished at every turn lately. For such a young Nation as The United States, we have accomplished wonders beyond measure, only by… Read more »
This is a great piece of history that I never knew about. Unfortunately it could be argued that the Deep State is the de facto religion of the establishment.
A wonderful opening with an example of the Founding Fathers’ belief in what they did. What a find, Texpat. Wonder how many gems like this are still hidden amongst the hurry and flurry of this nation today. Stop to smell the roses is probably quite a good idea, and you never know what awaits to be found. 🙂
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Funny how the last part of that clause is forgotten when one enters public service, ain’t it?
Is it Monday already? Looks like everyone has disappeared.
OK I RTWDT and it was very interesting. It’s amazing that you stumbled upon the plaque by accident, or was it?