Religious Liberty and Rhode Island

The State of Rhode Island (known officially—still—as “The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations”) was founded by our namesake Roger Williams, and was organized around the revolutionary idea that the church should be separate from the state (for which he, and fellow rebel Anne Hutchinson, was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony).  One of the manifestations of this principle was the tolerant religious climate in Newport, a major colonial seaport and trading center, and exemplified by the building of the stately Touro Synagogue, on a hill overlooking the harbor and the Trinity Church.

Besides today being known as the oldest synagogue in the United States, Touro also plays an important role in American history.  In 1790, an official from the congregation, Moses Seixas, wrote to President George Washington, seeking assurances that Jews would be able to worship freely in the new republic.  Washington’s response, written a year before the ratification of the Bill of Rights, is considered the first formal recognition that religious liberty, and not merely religious tolerance, would be a cornerstone of the United States of America.

Each summer, a dignitary visits Touro to read the “Washington Letter” and to reflect on its deep meaning.  In recent years Touro has welcomed Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Brown University President Ruth Simmons.  (Click here for a link to press coverage of last year’s ceremony.)

Earlier this month, a close friend of RWU Law, U. S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D.-R.I) (click here for a story of his meeting with our Honors Students during the tour of “Legal Washington”) took to the floor of the Senate to read the letter.  Click here for a video of this moving reading of a foundational document in American history.