# George Washington — "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance" > [!quote] "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." > — George Washington, Letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, August 18, 1790 ## Context Washington's reply, during his first term, to a welcome from Moses Seixas of Newport's Touro Synagogue. The new president went out of his way to assure a religious minority that toleration in America was not a favor extended by a Christian majority but a right inherent in the government itself — adding that the country gives "to bigotry no sanction." ## Why this matters The first president's clearest statement that the United States is not a confessional state. Religious liberty here is structural, not gracious: the government affirmatively withholds support from bigotry and persecution, asking only good citizenship in return. Washington's formulation — toleration as a right, not a grant — is the founding rebuttal to any claim that America was established as a Christian nation whose minorities are guests. It anchors the separation tradition that runs from the founders to [[John F. Kennedy - separation of church and state is absolute]]. ## Verification - **Primary source:** [Founders Online (National Archives), Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, 18 August 1790](https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135); [George Washington's Mount Vernon](https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/past-projects/quotes/article/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-s). - **Status:** Verbatim from the authenticated letter. Undisputed. ## Related quotes - [[John Adams - not founded on the Christian religion]] — the same principle stated as the law of a ratified treaty seven years later. - [[Thomas Jefferson - a wall of separation]] — the metaphor that gave the principle its enduring name. - Featured in [[Presidents on the Separation of Church and State]].