Moses Michael Hays Day

For those of you who enjoyed this past weekend's festivities in Washington Square, please join the George Washington Institute of Religious Freedom as they celebrate Moses Michael Hays Day.

THE EVENT:

Sunday, July 11, 2010 MOSES MICHAEL HAYS DAY

A commemoration of an event that took place on July 11, 1776, one week after America declared it's independence from Britain.

2:00 p.m.: A public procession led by Masons from around New England will leave the grounds of Redwood Library on Bellevue Avenue and proceed to the Colony House on Washington Square through Historic Hill and Patriots Park (at Touro Synagogue).
3:00 p.m.: Public reading in the Colony House of charges made against Moses Michael Hays, a Jew falsely accused of not supporting Independence, and Hays' response.

Moses Michael Hays was a Jewish patriot in colonial Newport who was called to appear in the Colony House before members of the Rhode Island General Assembly to affirm his commitment to the Patriot cause after he refused to sign an oath of allegiance. He had refused to sign the oath on religious grounds, as the oath required him to sign on his "faith as a Christian." Hays argued that the movement for American independence needed continue the religious freedom and tolerance that been a part of life in Rhode Island. His remarks foreshadowed values that would later be embodied in the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution.

Hays was also a leading Mason. Freemasonry was an important part of Newport’s colonial community, and in Hays‘ honor members of Masonic Lodges from around New England will lead the public procession from Redwood Library to the Colony House, where the statements made on that day in 1776 will be read aloud in a public event.

The event is sponsored by the George Washington Institute of Religious Freedom, which operates the Loeb Visitors Center at Touro Synagogue, with support form the Newport Historical Society and Redwood Library.