Moses Seixas

Moses Seixas (March 28, 1744 – November 29, 1809) was a first-generation Jewish American Freemason, banker, and Gabbai; best remembered for the congratulatory letter he penned on behalf of his congregation to then recently inaugurated president George Washington in 1790.

Early life

Moses Seixas was born in New York City on March 28, 1744; the eldest son of Isaac Mendez Seixas. His parents had immigrated from Lisbon to Newport, Rhode Island.^[1] Seixas rose to prominence as Gabbai of Newport's Touro Synagogue. Moses also co-founded the Newport Bank of Rhode Island, helping to build up Newport's merchant quarter.^[2]

He continued to be an influential leader in the state of Rhode Island actively supporting religious freedom in the state. Seixas was a key figure in establishing Freemasonry in the state, helping found the King David's Lodge of Freemasons.

Letter to Washington

Just months after Rhode Island became the last state to ratify the Constitution, Seixas decided to write a letter to President Washington on behalf of his congregation. Seixas sought assurances that the enumerated rights of freedom of religions and suffrage would apply to American Jews in the new republic. In July 1790, Seixas explained to the Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalome congregation in Richmond, Virginia that he preferred to address Washington individually, as opposed to in a joint letter, as the synagogues in New York, Richmond, Charleston, and Philadelphia would do later that year.^[3]

Seixas' letter stated—rather than requested—that Jews would be entitled to the same privileges as an American of any other religious denomination. Having been previously "deprived . . . of the invaluable rights of free Citizens," Seixas endeavored to elevate the status of American Jews. Using the Revolutionary principle of liberty to buttress his message, Seixas asserted that the American republic was "a Government, which to bigotry gives no sanction, to persecution no assistance – but generously affording to All liberty of conscience, and immunities of Citizenship: deeming every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental Machine."^[4]

On August 18, 1790 President Washington replied to Seixas. The president’s response differentiated between religious toleration and religious liberty, as it specifically applied to the American Jewry. Washington wrote that Americans "have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy – a policy worthy of imitation . . . 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." Washington's reply set a significant precedent that separated a more passive practice of tolerance, from the more potent one of liberty. Even the most liberal European states such as the Dutch Republic had policies that merely tolerated non-Protestants. In alluding to the Bible's Old Testament, Washington unequivocally called for religious equality for Jews stating that "the Children of the Stock of Abraham . . . shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree."^[5]

Death

Seixas died on November 29, 1809 in New York City and was buried in Newport, where his gravestone is still standing in the colonial Jewish cemetery on Touro Street.

References