Mr. Blackton,

Perhaps people are being overly romantic about the Founders, but I think you are falling into the trap that many liberals fall into of being overly cynical.

Because the letter seeks something worldly, you presume that Washington's statement of tolerance is merely a pragmatic one.

But what about Washington's letter to the Jewish Community at Newport when he was President.

Here's a link to the history of that:

Washington's Letter to Newport

Some of the important quotes from it:

For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.

Could a modern liberal state it better?

May 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 under his own vine and figtree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.

Note that the history tells us this was a largely ceremonial visit. President Washington needed nothing from these people. Does that reflect a worldly pragmatism?

Umm, maybe we are looking at a matter of different interpretations here: When George Washington wrote of "a ship of Palatines" at Baltimore, he was most likely referring to immigrants from the Palatinate ; i.e. Germans. In which case "purchase for me" might mean "purchase their indentures" (labor contracts under which poorer immigrants often "sold" their future employment in return for passage - just like today) - which is not quite the same as the outright "purchase" of slaves. Not that Washington would probably have balked at the latter - but an (white) indentured worker could be simply let go after the term of his contract, or when the bricklaying project was finished; whereas a slave had to kept on and fed/clothed/housed, if not, then re-sold into whatever the market might be. Although without further research, we can't know exactly what it was Washington was contemplating.
Think of it as a leasing-vs-buying equipment situation (Eighteen-Century style).

Transhuman:

You are correct: Washington DID write "Christian of any Sect" - you can check the original text HERE . Fortunately for posterity, The Father Of His Country had atypically legible handwriting for the time.

And, I agree with you re the headline, as well: "buy[ing] workers" needs context to make sense (though as an illustration of Washington's broadmindedness, it works just fine.)

Or maybe he was hoping his investment would pay off for a long time as opposed to a shorter time. In this case, if the Masters friend sent him a female vassal with a very low testosterone count but assurances that she was an outstanding bricklayer, he would have likely, or at least possibly, pointed her towards a pile of bricks and told her to get yo work. True though, he may have then become interested in her hormone levels.