|
Washington’s response to an address from the members of a prominent Philadelphia Lutheran congregation, written as he passed through Philadelphia to New York City to take the oath of office as our first President. This exceptional letter sheds light on his personal faith and his vision for America. “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…”
GEORGE WASHINGTON. Letter Signed, as President-Elect, 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. April 27 - May 12, 1789]. 2 pp. With address leaf.
Inventory# 21881 Price on Request
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. [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 the inauguration, ministers Justus Helmuth and J. F. Schmidt wrote to Washington on behalf of their congregation, St. Michael’s and Zion Lutheran church, saluting the President-elect 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.
Date and Provenance of “Throne of Grace” Letter:
George Washington’s own letterbook kept for him by William Jackson, dates the Lutheran letter to Washington as April 27th.* Given the delivery time needed to get the letter from Philadelphia, it was likely one of the first pieces of correspondence that Washington received as President. It is placed in the letterbook right after the May 9th letter from the Mayor and leaders of New York (which would have arrived and perhaps have been responded to on the same day). The next letter in this letterbook was written to Washington on May 29th, and the next one on May 26th (the order of receipt and response, of course, would not always match the order of the date of the letters being written to the President). Given the fact that Jackson entered this after a letter of May 9th, our letter was likely penned on or after the 9th. Our letter was published in Philadelphia on May 14, 1789, and could not possibly have taken less than three days to get from New York to Philadelphia, be given to a newspaper, and be typeset and published. Thus, the date of our letter can be narrowed to between May 9 and May 11, 1789.
We are conducting further research with the hope that we will be able to pin the date down exactly. This is one of Washington’s first 25 letters written as president—and one of the earliest and best known to survive.
* 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 first hand source, showing that this address was sent after the stop in Philadelphia. In our prior description, we were wrong to use the April 20th date.
This letter was recently discovered by a descendant of Justus Henry Christian Helmuth (1745-1825), 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 Journey to New York City:
George Washington won the unanimous vote of the electoral college. The official results were tabulated in Congress on April 5, 1789. Congress then commissioned Charles Thomson, who had been secretary of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1789, to travel to Mount Vernon to announce the results.
Washington’s week-long journey from Mount Vernon to New York 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.” (Joseph Ellis)
Washington reached Philadelphia at 1 pm on April 20th. He stayed with Robert Morris, departing the following morning around 10 am. 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. [These addresses and Washington’s responses were recorded at the time by William Jackson, in Washington’s ‘Letter Book’ at the Library of Congress*. While the text of these messages was preserved, most of the originals have been lost. The editors of the Washington papers know of the existence of only one other original of Washington’s April 20-21 letters from Philadelphia: the letter to the Society of the Cincinnati, which is owned by the New York Public Library.] In these letters, Washington sounded themes of gratitude, humility, and submission to providential will. In the University of Pennsylvania letter (known from the secretarial text), Washington repeated the “throne of grace” phrase originally found in the letter from the German Lutherans, and taken up in his response.
On April 21st, in Trenton, historian Joseph Ellis continued, “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 Philadelphia 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:
Some still argue that Washington’s private religious convictions, though carefully guarded, suggest a deeply personal belief in a traditional Judeo-Christian God, capable of active intervention in the affairs of man, a God who looked with special favor upon the recent efforts of the new nation to establish independence, and to provide a framework for effective governance. Early biographers, including Parson Weems (father of the cherry tree legend) and Jared Sparks, collected or invented anecdotal evidence testifying to Washington’s conventional Christian piety and frequent resort to prayer. In fact, though born into the Anglican faith, Washington was never confirmed and did not take communion. He occasionally attended services but showed little interest in theology, and referred to God in public and private letters as “the Almighty,” or “Providence.” According to historian D. E. Holmes, Washington’s manuscripts display the outlook of a Deist, one who believes in an abstract, impersonal creator. (The Religion of the Founding Fathers, 2003, p. 84)
Like many of our 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 [his response to their address of that date was also undated], “true religion affords to government its surest support.” Even deists like Franklin and Jefferson, agreed on the important place for religion in America. In his First Inaugural, Washington 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…”
New York as the Capital of the United States:
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.
References:
Ellis, Joseph. His Excellency, George Washington (New York, 2004), pp. 183-185.
Fitzpatrick, John, ed. Writings of Washington, Vol. 30, http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/WasFi30.html.
Ketcham, Ralph. James Madison: A Biography (Charlottesville, 1990), pp. 276-282.
http://www.oldzionlutheran.org/history.htm. [St. Michael’s and Zion Church still exists, and is located at N. Broad and Mr. 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
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. NewsBank/Readex, Database: America’s Historical Newspapers.
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)].
|
