Shall we view it in context? Starting with to whom it was written? And factoring in:
I shall flatter myself that many of them will be able with the wrecks of their fortunes which may have escaped the extensive devastation, to settle themselves in comfort, freedom and ease in some corner of the vast regions of America ... Under a good government (which I have no doubt we shall establish) this Country certainly promises greater advantages, than almost any other, to persons of moderate property, who are determined to be sober, industrious and virtuous members of Society.
Whoever posted that up completely missed the key part of the quote: I had always hoped that this land might become a safe and agreeable asylum to the virtuous and persecuted part of mankind....
ReplyDelete"Virtuous and persecuted".
Those who come here illegally to live off government-provided benefits are not virtuous; they are thieves and law-breakers.
Those who come here to bring war, after condemning (or killing) the minorities in their homelands who are unlike themselves, are not persecuted; they are the persecutors.
Washington's quote does not apply to either group.