Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse was among the U.S. senators who read from important documents that helped shape our nation, as the Senate celebrated Independence Day yesterday.

While the Declaration of Independence was among the documents, Whitehouse read from a 1790 letter that President George Washington sent to the congregation of Touro Synagogue, in Newport.

The congregation chose Newport, according to the synagogue’s Web site, after hearing of Rhode Island founder Roger Williams’ dedication to religious acceptance.

The synagogue, established in 1763 by a group of 15 Jewish families, has served as a meeting place for the Rhode Island General Assembly and a hospital for British troops, sparing it from destruction during the American Revolution.

In Washington’s letter to the congregation, he wrote that the new sovereign nation would “… give to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance,” an example of the country’s commitment to religious freedom.