There is no god in which we all trust

The bosom of America is open to receive not only the Opulent and respectable Stranger, but the oppressed and persecuted of all Nations and Religions; whom we shall welcome to a participation of all our rights and privileges, if by decency and propriety of conduct they appear to merit the enjoyment.

Washington wrote the Newport, Rhode Island Hebrew Congregation, August 17, 1790:

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.

Jews in the United States unlike in any other country in the world at that time could attain high rank in the military. Uriah Levy (1792-1862) was a Commodore of the United States Navy and a veteran of the War of 1812. Commodore was roughly equivalent to the current rank of Admiral.

Washington was a Virginia slaveholder but, unlike other slaveholders, he freed all his slaves and replaced them with paid servants. Virginia law at that time required those who freed slaves to provide them with sufficient resources so they would never be a burden on the public purse. Washington not only did that but also saw that the slaves were taught trades so they could be self-supporting. After that Virginia made it more difficult to free slaves.

Washington could have been re-elected president for life but chose to step down after two terms thereby establishing a precedent.

Under the second president of the United States, John Adams, the Treaty of Tripoli signed at Tripoli on November 4, 1796, ratified by the US Senate on June 7, 1797 and signed by President John Adams on June 10, 1797 declared that the United States was not a Christian nation.

Article 11 of that treaty:

As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion, - as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion, or tranquility, of Mussulmen, - and as the said States never entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mahometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries.

The Senate's ratification was only the third recorded unanimous vote of 339 votes taken. The treaty was printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and two New York papers, with no evidence of any public dissent.

The third president, Thomas Jefferson, was also a Deist. However, he did not expect others to share his belief. He wrote in “Notes on the State of Virginia, Query 17, 1782”:

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods, or no god. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.