"In the Hands of a Good Providence": Religion in the Life of George Washington

7: Evidence of Belief: Contemporary Statements

t is possible to learn something about the religious beliefs behind the practices previously discussed, although it is clear from his statements on the subject that the reticent George Washington was a military man, not a theologian or philosopher. There was an assurance and a practical bent to his faith, rather than continued questioning or a need to search deeper for answers. While some of this might be the reflection of a mind satisfied with the religious answers it got from the established church at a fairly young age, it might also be a result of Washington’s early frontier experiences, in which he faced death a number of times while in his early twenties. Like frontline soldiers throughout history, he had to come to grips with the possibility of his own imminent mortality and make his peace with his God. Then, having settled these weighty questions to his own satisfaction and in accordance with his own practical personality, there was no need for continued searching and questioning. Washington’s writings indicate certain basic elements of his faith, which fall well within the bounds of Christian orthodoxy. Many of those who question Washington’s adherence to Christianity point to the paucity of his references to Jesus as one of their prime arguments.1 In the thousands of pages of Washington’s surviving papers, there appear to be two references to Jesus. The first, from a speech to the Delaware nation during the Revolution, tells them that, “You do well to wish to learn our arts and ways of life, and above all, the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make  evidence of belief Contemporary Statements “In the Hands of a Good Providence” 102 you a greater and happier people than you are.”2 The second reference is from Washington’s Circular to the States, written in the last months of the Revolution, in which he asks that God “would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all, to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility and pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristicks of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.”3 Both of these would fall into the category of public statements rather than personal correspondence, a classification about which one of Washington’s premier biographers has written: The tone of Washington’s addresses and circulars was distinctly more fervent, to be sure, [at the end of the Revolution] than in 1775, if the theme touched religion, but this change had not become marked until Jonathan Trumbull, Jr., had joined the staff and had begun to write Washington’s public papers of this type. Trumbull’s alternate and successor in this capacity was David Humphreys, who, like the Connecticut Governor’s son, was of theologically minded New England believers. The part these two men played in accentuating and enlarging with their pens the place that Providence had in the mind of Washington probably was among the most extraordinary and least considered influences of Puritanism on the thought of the young nation.4 During both the Revolution and the presidency, Washington’s public statements concerning religion were often drafted by a variety of other people, who, in addition to the two men mentioned above, included Joseph Reed, Tench Tilghman, David Cobb, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton. It has been noted that all of these statements were written under Washington’s direction and approved by him and that, while some of these documents might have been “expressed with more positive religious feeling than Washington himself habitually displayed . . . none of them was inconsonant with his conviction that religion was one of the ‘firmest props of the duties of Men & citizens’ and important for the wellbeing of his soldiers.”5 Several historians who have delved into the issue of the influence of his aides and secretaries on Washington’s correspondence have concluded that he kept a close eye on the words that went out over his signature. According to one, the changes found in drafts of correspondence prepared by the aides were often the result of trying to “clearly express Washington’s thought, and that distinct changes of that thought evidence of belief 103 usually emanated from Washington himself.”6 In other words, it is not likely that aides were slipping comments about Jesus...