George Washington’s Moral Awakening: Religion, Revival, and the Question of Slavery

A Nation’s First Conscience 

When George Washington took the oath of office in 1789, he placed his hand upon an open Bible and whispered a prayer. To those who knew him, this gesture was no mere formality—it symbolized the fusion of faith, morality, and leadership that had guided his life. Though never a zealot, Washington’s sense of divine Providence shaped both his character and his presidency. His life traced the quiet path of a man molded by the Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and a deepening conviction that liberty without virtue was fragile.

The Great Awakening and the Young Virginian

Born in 1732 into Virginia’s Anglican gentry, Washington was raised in a world where religion was dignified but restrained. Faith was expressed through decorum, not emotion. Yet, during his youth, a storm was sweeping across the colonies—the First Great Awakening (1730s–1760s).

Led by preachers like Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield, the revival thundered with the idea that salvation was not inherited but experienced—that all souls were equal before God. This radical egalitarian message reverberated through the colonies, unsettling hierarchies and stirring the conscience of a generation.

While Washington never joined the revival’s emotional fervor, its influence lingered. The Great Awakening made religion personal, morality urgent, and equality divinely ordained—ideas that would echo through the Revolution and into the founding of the Republic.

“Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
— Farewell Address, 1796

Faith of the Gentleman Soldier

Washington’s spirituality was rooted in discipline and duty rather than passion. He attended services faithfully when able, served as churchwarden in his parish, and was known to kneel in private prayer at dawn and dusk. His writings, dense with references to Providence and the Almighty Being, suggest a man who saw divine order in the affairs of nations.

During the Revolutionary War, he appointed chaplains for every regiment and encouraged days of fasting and thanksgiving, convinced that the army’s success depended as much on moral virtue as on muskets. His circular orders often linked victory with faith:

“The blessing and protection of Heaven are necessary at all times, but especially in times of public distress and danger.” — General Orders, July 9, 1776

A Presidency Framed by Providence

As President (1789–1797), Washington governed in the same spirit of moral seriousness that had defined his private life. He viewed the presidency not as personal power but as sacred trust.

• He proclaimed national days of thanksgiving and prayer, reflecting his conviction that America’s survival depended on divine favor.

• His Inaugural Address invoked “the benign Parent of the human race,” calling upon citizens to live by “virtue and religion.”

• He used Providence as a unifying moral language—broad enough to include all denominations yet firm enough to anchor the new Republic in faith.

Washington also set a precedent for religious liberty. In 1790, his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, Rhode Island, affirmed that the new government “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” This statement, born of Enlightenment tolerance and Great Awakening empathy, remains one of the most eloquent defenses of religious freedom in American history.

The Great Contradiction: Slavery

Even as he embodied the new nation’s virtues, Washington wrestled with its oldest sin. He was a slaveholder—by inheritance, by law, and by the customs of Virginia’s planter class. Yet as he aged, he grew increasingly uncomfortable with the institution.

The Great Awakening’s moral message—all souls are equal before God—and the Revolution’s creed—all men are created equal—began to collide in his conscience.
By the 1770s, he wrote of slavery as a “lamentable evil.” In 1778 he ceased buying enslaved people and quietly explored emancipation plans. His friendship with Marquis de Lafayette, an outspoken abolitionist, further deepened his unease.

“There is not a man living who wishes more sincerely than I do to see a plan adopted for the abolition of it.”
— Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786

Though political caution kept him silent in public, his personal transformation was profound. He refused to sell enslaved families apart, ensured they were fed and clothed well, and hoped the nation would one day act “by slow, sure, and imperceptible degrees” to end slavery.

The Final Testament

Washington’s Last Will and Testament (1799) was his ultimate moral declaration. In it, he ordered that all 123 enslaved individuals he personally owned be freed upon Martha’s death—the only major Founding Father to do so. He also directed that the young and elderly be educated, clothed, and supported at the estate’s expense.

This act was more than philanthropy; it was repentance—a private reckoning with the divine justice he so often invoked. The Great Awakening had taught his generation that salvation required moral courage. Washington, in his quiet way, answered that call.

“I hope to see slavery abolished by legislative authority, and the humanity of mankind vindicated.”
— Washington, private correspondence, 1790s

Legacy: A Faith for a Republic

The Great Awakening never made George Washington a revivalist, but it shaped the moral climate in which he led. It taught Americans that virtue and liberty were bound together, that nations—as much as men—were accountable to God. Washington embodied that belief.

His presidency became the model for moral leadership grounded in faith yet free of sectarianism. His conscience, shaped by the revival’s spiritual equality and Enlightenment’s rational ethics, pointed toward a new moral vision—one where freedom and faith could coexist.

When he left the presidency, he warned that the Republic could not survive without “religion and morality.” And when he left this world, he freed those he had once owned.
In both acts, he offered his country—and his Creator—a final confession: that the pursuit of liberty is incomplete without the pursuit of righteousness.

Notes & References

1. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association. “George Washington and Religion.” mountvernon.org

2. Washington, George. Last Will and Testament, July 9, 1799. The Writings of George Washington, ed. John C. Fitzpatrick, vol. 37 (U.S. GPO, 1939).

3. Wiencek, Henry. An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2003.

4. Kidd, Thomas S. The Great Awakening: The Roots of Evangelical Christianity in Colonial America. Yale University Press, 2007.

5. Novak, Michael & Jana. Washington’s God: Religion, Liberty, and the Father of Our Country. Basic Books, 2006.

6. Isaac, Rhys. The Transformation of Virginia, 1740–1790. University of North Carolina Press, 1982.

7. Fea, John. Was America Founded as a Christian Nation? Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.

8. Hutson, James H. Religion and the Founding of the American Republic. Library of Congress, 1998.

9. The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 24 (Letter to Robert Morris, April 12, 1786).

10. U.S. National Archives. “First Inaugural Address of George Washington, April 30, 1789.” archives.gov