A Collection of the Speeches of the President of the United States to Both Houses of Congress, at the Opening of Every Session, with their Answers. Also, the Addresses to the President, with his Answers, from the Time of his Election: with an Appendix containing the Circular Letter of General Washington to the Governors of the Several States, and his Farewell Orders, to the Armies of America, and the Answer.

WASHINGTON, George.

Item Number: 131308

Boston: Printed by Manning and Loring, for Solomon Cotton, 1796.

Rare first edition of this important compilation of addresses by the first President, including his celebrated exchange with the Jewish congregation at Newport. Octavo, bound in contemporary calf, contains ads, dedication page, and list of subscribers with His Excellency Samuel Adams being the first name. A rare piece of American Judaica, this collection contains the correspondence exchanged between President Washington and the Jewish communities of Newport, Philadelphia, Charleston, New York and Richmond, as well correspondence with Moses Seixas of a Rhode Island Jewish congregation, including a famous quotation from Washington: “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 on all occasions their effectual support… May the children of the stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants.” The letters continued to be cited by Jews and their advocates throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as a demonstration of Washington’s commitment to the rights and religious freedoms of American Jews. In very good condition. Exceptionally rare.

Upon Washington’s inauguration, Jewish congregations in Philadelphia, New York, Charleston, Richmond, and Savannah sent letters of congratulations; the community in Newport, however, declined to join any of those letters. On a visit to Newport in 1790, Washington and their warden, Moses Seixas, had a famous exchange which is recorded here. In response to an address from Seixas, Washington remarked that: "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." Singerman 102.