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Washington’s response to an address from the members of a prominent Philadelphia Lutheran congregation, likely written from New York City in the first two weeks of his presidency. This exceptional letter illuminates Washington’s trust in a benevolent, guiding Providence, and his hopes for America: “a wise and efficient government…the domestic and public virtues of Industry, Oeconomy, Patriotism, Philanthropy, and that Righteousness which exalteth a Nation…” As he ascends to the seat of power, Washington humbly requests the ministers’ continued intercessions on his behalf at a higher level – the “Throne of Grace.”
GEORGE WASHINGTON. Letter Signed, as president, to Justus Henry Helmuth and “the Ministers, Church-Wardens and Vestrymen of the German Lutheran Congregation in and near Philadelphia.” [New York, N.Y.], [ca. May 9 – May 12, 1789]. 2 pp. With address leaf.
Inventory# 21881 $295,000
Transcript
To the Ministers, Church Wardens and Vestrymen
of the German Lutheran Congregation in and near Philadelphia
Gentlemen,
While I request you to accept my thanks for your kind address, I must profess myself highly gratified by the sentiments of esteem and consideration contained in it. The approbation my past conduct has received from so worthy a body of citizens as that whose joy for my appointmt you announce, is a proof of the indulgence with which my future transactions will be judged by them.
I could not however avoid apprehending that the partiality of my Countrymen in favor of the measures now pursued has led them to expect too much from the present Government; did not the same Providence which has been visible in every stage of our progress to this interesting crisis, from a combination of circumstances, give us cause to hope for the accomplishment of all our reasonable desires.
Thus, partaking with you in the pleasing anticipation of the blessings of a wise and efficient government; I flatter myself that opportunities will not be wanting for me to show my disposition to encourage the domestic and public virtues of Industry, Oeconomy, Patriotism, Philanthropy, and that Righteousness which exalteth a Nation. <page 2>
I rejoice in having so suitable an occasion to testify [to] the reciprocity of my esteem for the numerous People whom you represent. From the excellent character for diligence, sobriety and virtue, which the Germans in general, who are settled in America, have ever maintained; I cannot forbear felicitating myself on receiving from so respectable a member of them such strong assurances of their affection, for my person, confidence in my integrity, and zeal to support me in my endeavours for promoting the welfare of our common Country.
So long as my Conduct shall merit the approbation of the Wise and the Good, I hope to hold the same place in your affections, which your friendly declarations induce me to believe I possess at present: and, amidst all the vicissitudes that may await me in this mutable existence, I shall earnestly desire the continuation of an interest in your intercessions at the Throne of Grace.”
Go: Washington
[address leaf:] The Ministers, Church wardens & Vestrymen / of the German Lutheran Congregation / in & near Philadelphia
Historical Background
Three days before Washington’s first inauguration, ministers Justus Helmuth and J. F. Schmidt had written to the president-elect on behalf of their congregation, St. Michael’s and Zion Lutheran church, saluting him and complimenting his character. With Washington again at the helm of the nation, they anticipated “the blessings of a wise and efficient government—equal freedom, perfect safety—a sweet contentment spreading through the whole land ... and that righteousness which exalteth a Nation.” They promised that their congregation would continue to pray to “the Throne of Grace” on Washington’s behalf. This letter is Washington’s reply.
The Journey to New York City
On April 6, 1789, Congress announced the official results of the first U.S. presidential election: George Washington had won the unanimous vote of the electors. Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789, was commissioned to travel to Mount Vernon to officially inform Washington of his election to the seat of power.
Washington’s week-long journey from Mount Vernon to New York[1] was “one prolonged coronation ceremony. It began with crowds of more than ten thousand celebrants cheering him amidst cannon salutes and poetic tributes at Baltimore and Wilmington. Outside Philadelphia he was obliged to mount a white horse so that the twenty thousand spectators could see him as he crossed the Schuylkill.”[2]
Washington reached Philadelphia at 1 p.m. on April 20th. He stayed with Robert Morris, departing the following morning around 10 a.m. Civic and religious organizations from the major cities along his route delivered messages of welcome and thanks. In Philadelphia, he received letters from the state chapter of the Society of the Cincinnati, the Executive Council of the state, the mayor, aldermen, and common council of the city, and the president and faculty of the University of Pennsylvania.[3] In his replies, Washington sounded themes of gratitude, humility, and submission to providential will.
On April 21st, in Trenton, historian Joseph Ellis writes, “a chorus of white-robed girls tossed flowers from their baskets in his path.” On April 23rd, “A congressional committee greeted him at Elizabethtown, where a fifty-foot barge manned by thirteen white-smocked sailors rowed him across the Hudson.”
That day, Washington was welcomed in New York City by Mayor James Duane and Governor George Clinton. Pierre L’Enfant, future planner of Washington, D.C., transformed New York’s City Hall into Federal Hall, a gleaming, neoclassical edifice with a glass cupola. Washington was sworn in by Chancellor Robert R. Livingston on April 30th.
Preparing for the Inaugural Address
As the day of his inauguration neared, Washington had struggled to craft his first presidential address. He scrapped his lengthy first draft after showing it to James Madison. The final version, drafted by Madison, was less specific in policy goals but more inspired. It was similar in tone and content to Washington’s missive, here, to the German Lutherans. Washington grandly stated that “it would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official Act, my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the Universe … and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that his benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the People of the United States, a Government instituted by themselves.” This perspective, often coupled with the belief that America is the “city upon a hill,” the last best hope for liberty, descended from the Puritans and still resonates today.
Washington’s faith
Washington’s private religious convictions were carefully guarded, and historians continue to debate the nature of his belief, placing it on a spectrum appropriate to his time, drawing elements from both religion and philosophy. Paul F. Boller, Jr. wrote, Washington “had an unquestioning faith in Providence…. [His] reliance upon a Grand Designer along Deist lines was… deep-seated and meaningful for his life…” Dr. Peter Lillback argues that Washington was an orthodox Christian, not a Deist, within the framework of his time. David L. Holmes describes him as a “Christian deist,” “referring to God with a Christian dimension of mercy and divine nature.” Similarly, Michael Novak maintains that the actions that Washington attributed to God or expected God to perform “are the sorts of actions only the God of the Bible performs: interposing his actions in human events, forgiving sins, enlightening minds, bringing good harvests, intervening on behalf of one party in a struggle between good and evil….”
Here are some of Washington’s other noteworthy statements on his faith:
In a 1755 letter to his brother, Washington wrote that he survived a fierce French and Indian War battle, “by the miraculous care of Providence, that protected me beyond all human expectation; I had 4 bullets through my Coat, and two Horses shot under me, and yet escaped unhurt.”[4]
During the Revolutionary War, Washington often gave and recommended giving heartfelt thanks to God: “While we are zealously performing the duties of good citizens and soldiers we certainly ought not to be inattentive to the higher duties of Religion. To the distinguished Character of Patriot, it should be our highest Glory to add the more distinguished Character of Christian. The signal Instances of providential Goodness which we have experienced and which have now almost crowned our labours with complete Success, demand from us in a peculiar manner the warmest returns of Gratitude and Piety to the Supreme Author of all Good.”[5]
Washington believed that God looked with special favor on America’s efforts to establish independence and to provide a framework for effective governance. In his First Inaugural, the president reflected, “we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained…”[6]
Throughout his life, Washington also supported religious freedom and tolerance, seeking a government which “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.”[7] Like many of the Founders, Washington believed that religion, no matter the denomination, was good for inculcating morals and developing better citizens. As he wrote to the Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church in North America, shortly after October 9, 1789, “true religion affords to government its surest support.”[8]
Though scholars will continue to argue, letters like ours provide the best evidence of Washington’s beliefs. His faith has been eloquently summed up by Frank E. Grizzard, former editor of the Papers of George Washington: “[W]hatever his faults and failings were, in private life or public service, amid many temptations in trials and successes, [Washington] strove always ‘to love mercy, and walk humbly’ with his God.” (Grizzard, 81).
Date and Provenance
George Washington’s own letterbook, kept for him by William Jackson, dates the Lutheran letter to Washington as April 27th.[9] Given the delivery time needed to get the letter from Philadelphia, it was likely one of the first pieces of correspondence that Washington received after his inauguration as President on April 30th. Jackson copied it into the letterbook right after a May 9th address from the Mayor and leaders of New York (which would have arrived and likely been responded to on the same day). The next letter in this letterbook was written to Washington on May 29th. The next one after is dated May 26th; with mail service being what it was, delivery times varied widely). Our letter was published in Philadelphia on May 14, 1789, and could not possibly have taken less than two days to get from New York to Philadelphia, be given to a newspaper, and be typeset and published. Thus, our letter was almost certainly penned between May 9 and May 12, 1789[10]. We are conducting further research with the hope that we will be able to pin the date down exactly.
This dating shows our letter to be one of Washington’s first 25 letters written as president—and one of the earliest and best known to survive.
This letter was recently discovered by a descendant of Justus Henry Christian Helmuth (1745-1825), and acquired by us at Christie’s in June, 2008. Helmuth was the senior minister to the congregation and pastor of St. Michael’s and Zion Parish, the largest Lutheran Parish in the country, from 1779 to 1820. Born in Brunswick, Germany, he attended an orphan school in Halle and studied theology, Latin and Hebrew. Ordained at Wernigerode, he was sent to America, arriving in April 1769 at Philadelphia. He was minister to the German Evangelical Congregation of Lancaster until 1779, then became minister of the Philadelphia congregation. Helmuth was also a trustee and professor of German and Oriental languages at the University of Pennsylvania. The Zion Church:
“was begun in 1766 and consecrated in 1769. It was for many years the largest church in Philadelphia, and because of its spacious interior (108 feet long and 70 feet broad) frequently served as a gathering place for large assemblages, some of them noted in American history. Thus the memorial meeting in honor of Benjamin Franklin, who died the year before, was held in Zion Church in 1791 under the auspices of the Philosophical Society. On December 26, 1799, in the same church, Congress held the funeral services of George Washington, and on that occasion, those ringing words, “First in war first in peace first in the hearts of his countrymen,” pronounced in the eulogy of Henry Lee, were heard for the first time.” (Faust)
Contemporary newspaper printings (printing the letters to and from Washington in full)
The Federal Gazette, and Philadelphia Evening Post, May 14, 1789, Issue “38, of Vol. II. – Total No. 194,” p. [2]. Philadelphia, Pa.:
Andrew Brown. (Also, the May 23, 1789 issue discusses the letters, [p. 3]: “The address of the German Lutheran Congregation of this city to the President of the United States, affords a striking trait of that Universal Sentiment of affection towards the father of his country, which pervades the bosoms of the various inhabitants who compose the great volume of American citizens.”)
The Pennsylvania Packet, and Daily Advertiser, May 15, 1789, Issue 3210, p. [2-3]. Philadelphia, Pa.: John Dunlap &
David C. Claypoole.
The New-York Daily Gazette, May 18, 1789, Issue 121, p. 482 [Our letter is published on p. 2 of the issue]. New York, N.Y.: John &
Archibald M’Lean.
The New-York Packet, May 19, 1789, Issue 909, p. [3] New York, N.Y.: Samuel & John Loudon.
The Gazette of the United States, May 16-May 20, 1789, Issue XI, p. 44 [Our letter is published on p. 4 of the issue]. New York, N.Y.:
John Fenno.
The Freeman’s Journal; or, The North-American Intelligencer, May 27, 1789, Vol. IX, Issue CCCCXXIII (423), p. [2].
Philadelphia, Pa.: Francis Bailey.
References
Ellis, Joseph. His Excellency, George Washington (New York, 2004).
Fitzpatrick, John, ed. Writings of Washington, Vol. 30, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/WasFi30.html.
Faust, Albert Bernhardt. The German element in the United States with special reference to its political, moral,
social, and educational influence (Boston, 1909) p. 121.
http://www.oldzionlutheran.org/Old_Zion_History.html. [St. Michael’s and Zion Church still exists, and is located at N. Broad and Mt. Vernon
Streets, but under a different name, Old Zion. The church “did and does retain German as one of its official service languages, which in a pre-Revolutionary church is unique in American Lutheranism. Not even the two World Wars were able to muzzle our preachers.”]
Kuenning, Paul K. The Rise and Fall of American Lutheran Pietism, pp.46-47
Mapp, Alf J. The Faiths of our Fathers: What America’s Founders Really Believed. New York: Fall Rivers Press, 2003.
NewsBank/Readex, Database: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Novak, Michael and Jana. Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country. New York: Basic Books, 2006.
Sparks, Jared. The Writings of George Washington: Being His Correspondence, Addresses, Messages And Other Papers, Official And
Private…1834-1837. [Volume XII, Part V, pp. 142-161 (Our letter is printed on pp. 147-148)].
[1] Following the ratification of the Constitution in 1788, Congress – after heated debate – confirmed that New York City would be the first capital of the United States under the new federal government. At Federal Hall, at Wall and Nassau streets, Washington took the oath of office, the three branches of government convened, and the Bill of Rights was born. In 1790, New York lost its bid to become the nation’s permanent capital, and the government moved back to Philadelphia, pending construction of the new federal city in Washington.
[2] Ellis, Joseph. His Excellency, George Washington (New York, 2004), pp. 183-185.
[3] According to the papers of George Washington, the original of only the letter to the Society of the Cincinnati (now held by the New York Public Library) is known to survive.
[4] Letter to John Augustine Washington, July 18, 1755
[5] General Orders, May 2, 1778
[6] First Inaugural Address, New York City, April 30, 1789. The speech was largely drafted by Hamilton and Madison, but scholars agree that Washington would not have accepted any ideas that did not accurately reflect his own views.
[7] Letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, answering letter of August 17, 1790.
[8] His response to their address of that date, like our letter, was undated.
[9] In 1838, Jared Sparks’s Writings of George Washington dated the German Lutheran Address and response as April 20, 1789, consistent with the other Philadelphia addresses. However, Washington’s letterbook is a much more reliable source.
[10] We hedge this because of a slight possibility that our letter was written a few days before it was entered in the letterbook (which would make it even closer to the inauguration).
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