The Letter from Moses Seixas

On August 17, 1790, Moses Seixas, warden of the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, addressed President George Washington with a welcome rooted in affection, esteem, and gratitude. Joining fellow citizens in greeting him to Newport, Seixas reflected on earlier days of difficulty and danger and praised the divine protection that had preserved Washington in battle and now enabled him to fulfill the demanding duties of chief magistrate. Speaking as one of a people formerly deprived of the invaluable rights of free citizens, he gave thanks for a government founded by the people that gave no sanction to bigotry and no assistance to persecution, while generously granting liberty of conscience and the immunities of citizenship to all, regardless of nation, tongue, or language. He hailed the Federal Union as resting on philanthropy, mutual confidence, and public virtue, and as a work of God. For the blessings of civil and religious liberty enjoyed under an equal and benign administration, he offered thanks and prayed that divine guidance would sustain Washington through the difficulties and dangers of mortal life and, in the end, admit him to heavenly paradise.

Newport, Rhode Island · United States