Moses G Washington: Fill & Download for Free

I'm sure that GW would not comprehend the complexity of The Donald and the mystery of his popularity and staying power.However, he did not suffer fools lightly, and he knew his share of big talkers, bullies, and backstabbers. He was in a constant struggle with the Continental Congress to get funds and supplies for the war, i.e., the disastrous hardship and loss of life at Valley Forge, among many others. He had traitors like Benedict Arnold and General Charles Lee (general) (who first trash talked about GW to Congress, then was taken prisoner by the British and spilled his guts with useful intelligence before he was returned in a prisoner exchange.George Washington, while a man of his time and therefore a racist slave owner, was also a well bred, well mannered, well educated man. He was also remarkably tolerant of religious, economic, and ethnic background, as all manner of men served notably under him during the war. Specifically, I just read a passage in Sarah Vowell's book, The Wordy Shipmates, about the Puritan settlers in New England, that referred to GW's letter to the rabbi at the oldest synagogue in the New World. Rhode Island, due to unique circumstances, had a charter from King Charles II guaranteeing religious freedom, which attracted many faiths to settle there and to form a coalition. Rhode Island held out on signing the Constitution until the Bill of Rights with freedom of religion was guaranteed. The rabbi wrote to GW for assurance. Touro SynagogueIn 1790, the synagogue's warden, Moses Seixas, wrote to George Washington, expressing his support for Washington's administration and good wishes for him. Washington sent a letter in response, which read:Gentlemen:While I received with much satisfaction your address replete with expressions of esteem, I rejoice in the opportunity of assuring you that I shall always retain grateful remembrance of the cordial welcome I experienced on my visit to Newport from all classes of citizens.The reflection on the days of difficulty and danger which are past is rendered the more sweet from a consciousness that they are succeeded by days of uncommon prosperity and security.If we have wisdom to make the best use of the advantages with which we are now favored, we cannot fail, under the just administration of a good government, to become a great and happy people.The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy—a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.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, 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.It would be inconsistent with the frankness of my character not to avow that I am pleased with your favorable opinion of my administration and fervent wishes for my felicity.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—while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.May the father of all mercies scatter light, and not darkness, upon our paths, and make us all in our several vocations useful here, and in His own due time and way everlastingly happy.G. WashingtonGeorge Washington LetterTouro Synagogue HistoryI don't think this is the kind of presidential response we would expect from Donald Trump.

EDIT: Dear other Quora writers, I appreciate your viewpoints and I’d like to be sure the original asker gets to see them. So, please kindly use the “comment” button below my response only if you mean to respond to me—not if you’re trying to reply to the original question.I’m not an atheist, I’m a Jew. But I only ever seem to see this question coming from Christians, so here’s a Jewish perspective that might be more relevant than you think.In Judaism, we have a great teacher named Hillel who lived about the same time as Jesus. Probably as many quotes get misattributed to Hillel as they do to George Washington, which should tell you something about Hillel and the high regard we hold him in. Although rabbis (by that title) didn’t exist in Hillel’s time, we call him a rabbi, meaning “teacher,” because it’s clear from his writings and teachings that, yes, he was indeed a teacher, and a great one at that.So this one day a student comes to Hillel, and says “Master, I don’t understand. The Torah says that every life is important, but what about the drunkard? He neither reaps nor sows, does no hard work, and dies in poverty with wine on his lips and rags on his body. What good can possibly be in such a man?”Hillel replies, “my son, the drunkard teaches us the precepts of Torah: that when we partake of the pleasures of the earth, we must do so in moderation. Too much is never good.”“I see,” the student says. “But what of the man who beats his family? He terrorizes his servants and his wife and children tremble before him. There is no good word for him in the marketplace and when he dies, who will mourn him? Surely there are no lessons to be learned there.”“On the contrary,” Hillel tells him, “this man is a tragedy to all who know him. His presence reminds us that we should conduct ourselves privately as we would like to be seen publicly: pious, patient, and upright.”“That’s a good point,” the student says, “but Master, what about the atheist? He doesn’t pray or offer sacrifices at the Temple. He doesn’t keep Sabbath or study Torah or follow the mitzvot. His house isn’t kosher and he marries women who aren’t Jews. You must be joking, to say a man like that is as important as Torah claims!”“No, my son, in fact the atheist is one of G-d’s most important creations,” Hillel tells him. “You see, Jews believe G-d is everywhere, in everything, and so it becomes easy to say ‘I will pray for you, I will sacrifice at the Temple for you’ to the one in need. But the atheist believes prayer and sacrifice do no good, and so when he sees a need, he does his best to fill it. The purpose of the atheist is to show us that when we see the widow, the orphan, or the sick man, we should pray later, but in that moment we should be as atheists and say ‘I will help you’ as though there were no G-d to help.”This is what a first-century rabbi born before the switch from B.C.E. had to say about atheists. Yes, the story is a little fable-ized here (we call it a midrash, and there are literally thousands of them), but its main point is Hillel’s teaching about the atheist. Note that his student checks off a list of rituals, things you do as a Jew because you’re “supposed to.” Hillel immediately rebuts that what you’re “supposed to” do is worthless if not backed up with action, and suggests we look not to the priests, not to the patriarchs and matriarchs, not even to Moses and Miriam, but to the atheists because they are the ones who will make the most moral choice for those in need.So speaking as a Jew with this midrash behind me, I suspect most atheists would say “What is wrong with you?! You treat others the way you want to be treated because you know it’s not pleasant to be treated otherwise, you crazy person!”Of course, that’s only what I suspect.

To reply to your question in a personal way and in today’s context, Marc, I think I understand where George Washington might be coming from.His inspiration is in the Bible, and in the Living God, Who gave us His Word that we might live. That we might choose life and not death, that we choose blessing and not curse (Deuteronomy, Fifth Book of Moses).In a similar fashion, I assure my colleagues in the christian trade union movement (I am just a volunteer and ‘militant,’ as in militis, basing myself in the Gospel and a certain tradition of social and political activism in my own and surrounding countries), that a, particularly, ‘christian’ trade union activism ‘without’ basing itself soundly in the Gospel, and the whole counsel of God, “ c’est de la foutaise,” i.e., another delusion and ideology.My suspicion G. Washington was thinking along similar lines. Or, how shall we construct a house, without first building its foundations. And how can the work be continued or finished as it should, but in Him, Yeshua the Righteous Innocent, ‘Leidsman ten Leven’ Boher.These things are not entirely disconnected, neither historically, nor in the present, nor future. As to the separation of Church and state, I have at the present no particular view, but that both entities, or organisations need to re-examine in each age what the portent is of their mission and purpose. Each one in his/her/ _its own right. It is for each generation to review its priorities and options. That is a God given right, and it has to to do with true freedom.