The President's Corner

“For happily the Government of the United States, which gives bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. . .”

Recently, I was one of sixteen teachers from around the country to be invited to Mount Vernon, Virginia – the estate of George Washington – to take part in a weekend academic conference about the Father of our Country. In preparation for the colloquium, my colleagues and I read hundreds of his letters to friends, acquaintances and family members. As a result of this academic pursuit, I now hold a much deeper appreciation of the man I refer to as The First American

Throughout the weekend, I found myself seeking Mr. Washington’s guidance and advice regarding the rhetoric of the current presidential contest. I was especially moved by his words about religion and was moved to share them with you, faithful reader of my series on Parma’s places of worship. In fact, I cannot help thinking, as I type this article on the back porch of the mansion overlooking the beautiful Potomac River, how proud President Washington would be of Parma’s rich religious diversity.  Below I share with you his words about his vision for religious toleration in the United States of America.

General Orders to the Continental Army Command (April, 1783)

Here, as the American Revolution comes to a close, General Washington commends the troops “who have assisted in protecting the rights of humane [sic] nature and establishing an Asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.”

To the Reformed German Congregation of New York (November, 1783)

“The establishment of Civil and Religious Liberty was the Motive which induced me to the Field.”

To Tench Tilghman (March, 1789)

Speaking of his employees and slaves: “If they are good workmen, they may be of Asia, Africa, or Europe. They may be Mahometans [Muslims], Jews, or Christians of any Sect, or they may be Atheists.” 

To the United Baptist Churches in Virginia (May, 1789)

“If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed in the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.”

To the Annual Meeting of Quakers (September, 1789)

“The liberty enjoyed by the people of these states of worshiping Almighty God agreeable to their consciences, is not only among the choicest of their blessings, but also of their rights.”

To the Hebrew Congregations (January, 1790)

“The liberal sentiment towards each other which marks every political and religious denomination of men in this country stands unrivalled in the history of nations.”

To the Roman Catholics in the United States of America (March, 1789)

The Roman Catholic community in the new United States was very small and faced persecution in most regions.  A true leader, Washington stated “I presume that your fellow-citizens will not forget the patriotic part which you took in the accomplishment of their Revolution, and the establishment of their government; or the important assistance which they received from a nation in which the Roman Catholic faith is professed. . . And may the members of your society in America,. . .enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity.”

To the Hebrew Congregation in Newport (August, 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 worth imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that tolerance 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…”

To the Hebrew Congregations of the City of Savannah (1790)

“I rejoice that a spirit of liberality and philanthropy is much more prevalent than it formerly was among the enlightened nations of the earth, and that your brethren will benefit thereby in proportion as it shall become more extensive. May the same wonder-working Deity. . .make the inhabitants of every denomination participate in the temporal and spiritual blessings of that people whose God is Jehovah.”

As you can see, George Washington’s religious vision for American was initiated years before the First Amendment was conceived in 1791. As fellow Americans, our responsibility is to carry on his legacy and vision of toleration.

Sean Brennan, Mount Vernon, Virginia, April 24, 2016

Sean Brennan

Parma City Council President Sean Brennan

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Volume 8, Issue 5, Posted 8:45 AM, 05.03.2016