George Washington and Religious Liberty
In his Farewell Address, George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism
who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and
citizens.”
Washington and the other Founders knew that religion and morality are necessary for the happiness of individuals
and the nation. The Founders agreed with the older or classical view that true happiness is living a virtuous and
decent life. They also knew that from a political standpoint, moral virtue and responsibility are necessary if citizens
are to live freely under a government of limited power, and that religion is necessary for the cultivation of virtue.
The views of Washington and the other Founders concerning religion and religious liberty will be examined by the
following topics:
1.
2.
3.
4.
God and Political Liberty
God and Religious Liberty
Religion and the Moral Conditions of Freedom
Religion and the First Amendment
1. God and Political Liberty
Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are
Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” The idea that rights are gifts from God -- that humans are “endowed by
their Creator” with certain natural rights -- was central to the Founders’ view of political liberty. It is difficult for
Americans today, however, to understand how radical this idea was in 1776 (and still is today).
Throughout all human history prior to the American Founding, rights had always been understood as a gift granted
to some men by other men, such as a king, pharaoh, or emperor. But if a man, or a government, possessed the
power and authority to grant rights, they could restrict them or take them away as well. With such an
understanding, there is no argument against a man being governed without his consent, because a man’s rights do
not really belong to him, they belong to those in positions of political power.
The American Founders, on the other hand, said that human beings were born with certain natural rights. These
rights are not gifts from other men or government, but rather they belong to us according to “the Laws of Nature
and of Nature’s God,” as Jefferson notes in the Declaration of Independence. Under the natural law, all men and
women are free and equal by nature because all are born equally human beings. Our natural freedom and human
equality is a gift from God given to us at birth and cannot be rightly denied or taken away by anyone. In his
Summary View of the Rights of British America, written two years before the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson
put it this way: “The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time. The hand of force may destroy, but it
cannot disjoin them. ”
The reason all men possess the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and the reason why it is
unjust by nature for one man to rule another with his consent, is because God has created all men equal, and
endowed them with equal rights.
2. God and Religious Liberty
If our liberty is an “endowment,” or gift, from God, then our highest duty in one sense becomes a religious and not
a political one. The question that immediately presents itself, however, is the manner of discharging one’s religious
duties: Which religion offers the best, or truest way to thank God? In the past, when rights were understood to
come from government, the government decided how citizens would worship. When conscientious believers would
refuse to participate in the religion sanctioned by government -- because they believed it to be in error on some
question of church doctrine or theology -- religious wars were often the result. In Europe, for example, during the
two centuries prior to the American Founding, Protestants and Catholics had been mercilessly slaughtered because
either they did or did not believe in religious doctrines such as transubstantiation.
The Americans Founders understood that while the basis of equal rights is something we can know by human reason
-- human equality and natural rights are rational, self evident truths -- questions of religious faith cannot. There is
no rational principle by which government can declare one religion to be the official or true religion and prohibit
others. As the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776 stated, “That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator,
and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and,
therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.” In
the Founders’ view, government must guarantee religious liberty because citizens have a right and duty to give that
which they “owe their Creator,” but they cannot force citizens to engage in any particular religion. Rather it is
through the free exercise of religion, according to the conscience of each citizen, that we are able to fulfill our duty
to God as we understand it, and live peacefully as neighbors with those of other religious faiths.
3. Religion and the Moral Conditions of Freedom
Today, many people think of liberty in terms of licentiousness, that is, the freedom to do whatever one wants.
Washington and the other Founders, however, knew that for citizens to live in a free society with limited
government, each citizen must be able to control himself; otherwise, we would need a police state -- that is, a
large, unlimited government -- to maintain safety and order. According to the Founders (and Abraham Lincoln),
there is no right to do wrong. Liberty means being free from external restraints – such as an overpowering and
abusive government -- to pursue a decent life for oneself and one’s family. Liberty and happiness are found in doing
what is right. As George Washington said in his First Inaugural Address, “there is no truth more thoroughly
established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and
happiness.” Liberty does not mean being free to squander one’s energies on reckless self-indulgence. Understanding
this distinction is what the Founders understood as the moral conditions of freedom.
Of course, if citizens are to pursue what is good, and avoid what is bad or evil, they must know right from wrong.
This requires a certain kind of education. In particular it requires moral education, which for the Founders is the core
of civic education. In part citizens will learn these things from the laws of the country. As Washington said, again in
his First Inaugural address, “the foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of
private morality.” Laws will discourage certain kinds of actions -- such as criminal behavior, or failing to care for
one’s children, for example -- because they are morally wrong. At the same time, the laws will encourage other kind
of behavior -- such as encouraging men and women to marry and care for their children -- because they are morally
right, and because they have a salutary effect on society.
Another way that citizens will learn about the moral qualities of citizenship is through schooling. The Northwest
Ordinance (passed by the same Congress that drafted and passed the First Amendment), the first federal law
governing the western territories, provided that “Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good
government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” In
other words, one of the purposes of schools, including public schools, is to promote morality. And one of the most
important ways it would do that was to promote religion.
Washington understood the connection between religion and morality perhaps as well as any of the Founders. For
example, he speaks of the importance of religion and morality in a passage from his Farewell Address:
"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable
supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of
human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and citizens. The mere Politician, equally with the pious
man ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public
felicity."
4. Religion and the First Amendment
Given the importance of religion to Washington and the other Founders, it is difficult to understand the common
view today. That view suggests that government should merely tolerate but never support or promote religion.
Nothing could be further from the intentions of the Founders, as can be seen by simply looking at the First
Amendment.
The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the
free exercise thereof….” In writing the First Amendment, the Founders had two concerns. The first was that in
America there would be no established church like in 18th century Britain, France, and other European countries
where one’s political rights were protected only if one belonged to the official religion of the government. But the
Founders never for a moment suggested that government ought not promote religion and morality generally.
Many people today think the First Amendment is built upon the idea that there is or should be a “wall of separation
between church and state.” That phrase is found not in the First Amendment, but in a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote
while he was President of the United States to a group of Baptists (who were often persecuted in colonial time for
their religious beliefs and practices). Jefferson wrote to assure them that their religious liberty would be protected.
But when Jefferson wrote of the “wall of separation between church and state,” he did not mean that religion must
be kept entirely out of politics, or law. If he had meant that, he would have violated the “wall of separation” at the
very time he declared it. For, at the end of the letter to the Baptists, Jefferson, acting in his official capacity as
President, concluded with a prayer: “I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common
Father and Creator of man.”
For the Founders, government support of religion is not the same as an “establishment” of religion. How could it be,
when the Founders themselves believed our natural rights to be gifts of God? In September 1789, the House of
Representatives authorized the first official Thanksgiving. The resolution they passed called for “a day of public
thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty
God.” Moreover, they passed this on the very same day they passed the First Amendment, which said “Congress
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Clearly those in the first Congress did not see any
conflict between the First Amendment’s prohibition on an established religion, and government sanctioning an
official day of thanksgiving to God.
On October 3, 1789, George Washington issued the Proclamation of National Thanksgiving, which reads in part:
"Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of
these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was,
that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind
care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold
mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of
the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable
and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and
happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we are
blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and
various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us."
The second concern for the Founders in drafting the First Amendment was that all citizens should be free to practice
their religion freely, without interference from government, so long as that practice does not violate the rights of
others or threaten the common good.
Perhaps the clearest example of the Founders’ understanding of religious liberty is their treatment of various Jewish
congregations in America. Throughout most of human history, Jews were treated as second-class citizens – if they
were granted citizenship at all – in most countries. But the American Founders understood that Jews possess the
same natural rights as all other men. So long as their Jewish religion does not violate the rights of others, which it
does not, they should be as free to practice their faith as members of any other religion. In August of 1790,
President George Washington wrote a letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, explaining that
“good citizens” (regardless of religious beliefs) will be guaranteed their “inherent natural right” to the free exercise
of their religion: “It is now no more that toleration 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, requires only that they who live under its
protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
Discussion Questions:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
What did George Washington say in his Farewell Address contributed to human happiness and political
prosperity?
How was the Founders’ view of human rights different from the view held throughout most of history?
Why are religion and morality important to citizens living in a free society with limited government?
What did George Washington say in his Farewell Address about the relationship between religion and
morality?
What two concerns did the Founders address in the First Amendment?
How did Thomas Jefferson end his famous letter that includes the phrase “wall of separation between church
and state”?
What did the House of Representatives do on the same day it passed the First Amendment?
What phrases that express toleration does Washington use in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation?
First Thanksgiving - Proclamation of National Thanksgiving
George Washington
City of New York, October 3, 1789
Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful
for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their
joint Committee requested me "to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and
prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by
affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness."
Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of
these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was,
that is, or that will be. That we may then all unite in rendering unto him our sincere and humble thanks, for his kind
care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation, for the signal and manifold
mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his providence, which we experienced in the course and conclusion of
the late war, for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed, for the peaceable
and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and
happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted, for the civil and religious liberty with which we
are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great
and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.
And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler
of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or
private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually, to render our national
government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws,
discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed, to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as
have shown kindness unto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord. To promote the
knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease of science among them and Us, and generally
to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best.
Given under my hand at the City of New York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.
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