In 1796, an exhausted George Washington did a truly remarkable thing — he announced that he would not seek a third term as president, a term he could have easily won.  

Washington enlisted Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to draft a farewell address which, among other things, focused on explaining to his countrymen the privileges and responsibilities of citizens, recognizing that in the country he hoped to build, there would be different pathways to citizenship.   

“Citizens by birth or choice,” he said, “the name of American … belongs to you.”  

Today, as the Trump administration rolls out its plan to make it harder to become a citizen and to change the meaning of citizenship, it is more important than ever to recall Washington’s vision.

More than two centuries ago, the so-called father of this country understood that in the U.S., we would — and should — have both citizens by birth and citizens by choice. This country, he knew, would be stronger if it were as welcoming a place for citizens by choice as for citizens by birth. Washington asked all of them to display what he called “brotherly affection” toward their fellow Americans.  

How far have we come from that vision in President Trump’s America? The New York Times offered a partial answer on Sept. 18 when it reported that the Trump administration is rolling out “a harder citizenship test that contains more complex questions than the current version.” The news about the revised test comes on the heels of the administration’s plan to “maximally” ramp up denaturalization proceedings in order to strip citizenship from some of the more than 25 million Americans who were born elsewhere and became citizens by choice. 

Of course, this is not the first time Washington’s vision has been tested in the years since 1796. But it is one of the most severe tests that it has ever faced.  

Washington understood that, whether born here or not, the citizenry could contribute to the wellbeing of the nation by being interested in and learning about the views of others, especially those with perspectives different from their own. Citizens by choice also could make America stronger by being curious about the lives and values of people outside of their families and immediate friendship groups.  

All of that has become both harder and more valuable in Trump’s America. In our time, affection among citizens is in short supply. Rushing to judgment has become the order of the day. Empathy across political groups is all too rare.  

In 1790, six years before he delivered his farewell address, Washington did another extraordinary thing. He wrote a letter to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, R.I., a distinct and unpopular minority religion in a very new nation. In that letter, he said that in the United States, everyone, including the members of that congregation, would possess what he called “liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.” This country would, he insisted, “give … to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” 

History, unfortunately, would prove him wrong — never more than now. 

Washington would not have been daunted by that fact. He knew full well the failings of the humans whom he was leading. That’s why in his letter, he implored the Almighty to ensure that “the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.” 

That line, taken from the Old Testament, imagines a land of peace and security where everyone can live in their own way, without fear. It reverberates through the ages and remains as good a statement of America’s promise as has ever been written. 

It is precisely that promise that the Trump administration wishes to undo. They would have us believe that there is only one way to be an American and that those born elsewhere have a heavy burden to bear in showing that they belong here.  

It now falls to each of us to give life to Washington’s hope and his vision. Both are as old as the republic itself, and if we support that vision, it will remain what animates America, long after the present era has ended.  

Austin Sarat is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College.