Newspaper). Gazette of the United States. Vol. II, No. 44

(AMERICAN JUDAICA)

September 11th

New York

1790

Contains exchange of letters between Moses Seixas and President George Washington

MOSES SEIXAS' LETTER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE WASHINGTON Reported on page 4 is an: "Address of the Master, Wardens, and Brethren of King David's Lodge to George Washington, President of the United States of America." Moses Seixas (1744-1809), Master of the Newport Masonic Lodge was also president of the Newport Hebrew Congregation. His address was designed to welcome President Washington as a fellow Masonic-Brother to Rhode Island. The newspaper also records Washington's acknowledgment of the welcome, as well as his solemn pledge to uphold the principles upon which the Fraternity is founded. Particularly celebrated is the letter Moses Seixas penned to Washington on August 17th, 1790 in his capacity as Warden of Newport's Kahal Kadosh Jeshuath Israel (known today as the Touro Synagogue). One of the phrases in Seixas' letter welcoming Washington's visit to Newport - "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance" - was subsequently immortalized when Washington echoed the exact sentiment in his reply to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island. See JE, Vol. IX, pp. 294-295; EJ, Vol. XIV, p. 1117; J.L. Blau and S.W. Baron, The Jews of the United States 1790-1840, A Documentary History, Vol. I (1963), pp. 8-10