Liberty of Conscience

Separation of Church and State

Toleration

Immunities of Citizenship

Inherent Natural Rights

To Bigotry No Sanction

Demean Themselves as Good Citizens

Understanding the Letter:
Content, History & Relevance

First Amendment of
the U.S. Constitution

Toleration vs. Religious Freedom

Immunities of Citizenship

Article VI of the United States Constitution, adopted a year before Washington’s Letter to the Hebrew Congregation, stipulates that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.”

While the Constitution requires that every elected and appointed high official swear an oath to uphold the national Constitution, on the federal level at least no religious qualification could bar a person from taking such an oath. In 1790, a majority of states still required an oath that included affirmation of the divinity of Christ or a similar formulation. Over the next several decades, the influence of the federal standard led to the abolition of religious tests for oath taking in the states. Washington wrote, “In this Land of equal liberty it is our boast, that a man’s religious tenets will not forfeit the protections of the Laws, nor deprive him of the right of attaining and holding the highest Offices that are known in the United States.“