George Washington

In 1774, Congress selected Washington as commander-in-chief, and subsequently as the first President of the United States, and the rest is history. Our knowledge of his religious practices remain scant due to his public reluctance on the matter. We do know that instead of employing terms such as God or Jesus, he often invoked the term "Providence", possibly reflecting the influence of the Deists of his era as with Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd U.S. President. Given the limits of our knowledge, we do know that as a general and politician, he respected all beliefs. We also can ascertain some aspects of George Washington's faith as documented by John Marshall (1st Secretary of State) statement, "Without making ostentatious professions of religion, he (Washington) was a sincere believer in the Christian faith."