On August 18, 1790, President George Washington addressed an extraordinary letter "to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island." It was to become one of the most famous expressions of support for religious liberty in American history. It promised American Jews full rights of citizenship and safety at the very dawn of the American Republic. The United States, Washington emphasized, gives "to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance." 

Where did this eloquent endorsement of religious liberty come from? What was Washington's relationship with American Jews? What was the character of the Jewish community to whom Washington addressed these beautiful words, which even now have the power to move us? In this first of a series of lectures on American presidents and their relationships with American Jews, we will explore the famous letter in its historical context and begin to consider why the United States became a nation in which Jews had a better chance of being "everlastingly happy" than they did in any other corner of the Jewish Diaspora. 

TBE member Bruce Thompson is a popular, long-time lecturer in History, Literature, and Jewish Studies at UCSC.