JULY 4TH INSIGHT: Lessons from first Jews of America
This Fourth of July marks an unprecedented time for American Jewry. For most of us, this day has always stood as the one golden date in the year when neighbors and communities come together to celebrate the common American ideal. It’s a time when we suspend our differences with neighbors and strangers, and lean on a mutual understanding.
But this year, Independence Day arrives in the shadow of one of the most consequential battles in recent Jewish history — US airstrikes that have taken out much of Iran’s nuclear facilities, following 21 months of a proxy war with Israel that started on Oct. 7, 2023, with the Hamas-led terrorist attacks. That assault became a catalyst for uncontrolled antisemitism in North America and around the world.
While many of us naturally worry about what it will take for Israel to rebuild its cities, kibbutzim and fractured economy, I also worry about what it will take for us to heal the divisions that exist in the United States. What will it take for Jews to feel comfortable and safe again within our own communities? Is that even possible? And where can we turn for historical insight?
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As we celebrate our nation’s 249th year, I can’t help but wonder what America’s early Jews could teach us about resilience and healing. Like many American children growing up in the late 20th century, I was taught to appreciate the heroism of a relatively select number of American revolutionaries, like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and a few more colorful characters, including Paul Revere and “Light-Horse Harry” (Henry Lee III), who both served in the Continental Army against the British.
Absent from that list of heroes were America’s Jewish patriots, who risked their lives and their livelihoods to support the war. Francis Salvador, the son of a wealthy Portuguese financier, was the first Jew to be elected to South Carolina’s public assembly. It was a notable accomplishment, since Jews were banned in South Carolina from voting or running for office. He died in battle less than a month after the Declaration of Independence was signed into law.
Others, like the Polish financier Haym Salomon, used their business acumen, wealth and international connections to provide funding to support the revolution. He is widely credited as the financial brains behind the revolution, often positioning himself as a trustworthy guarantor for the government’s transactions. Like Salvador and other Jewish patriots, he was dedicated to seeing the new country succeed.
For many of America’s first Jewish citizens, however, it would take years — generations — to truly attain the right of equal representation. Just because the Constitution guaranteed Jews the right to hold office at the federal level didn’t mean they would enjoy the same freedoms at the state level. Nor did it mean that Jews unilaterally had the right to vote. Voting laws, after all, were decided at the state level.
Jonas Phillips, who escaped the pogroms in Europe to search for a better life in the British colonies, exemplified the kind of fortitude and spunk it would ultimately take to change attitudes toward Jews. In 1787 — 10 days before the Constitution was to be ratified — Phillips wrote to George Washington and appealed to the new government to endorse the right of religious freedom for all citizens. “To Swear and belive [sic] that the new testement was given by devine inspiration is absolutly against the Religious principle of a Jew and is against his conscience to take any such oath. By the above law a Jew is deprived of holding any public office or place of Government which is a Contradectory to the bill of Right Sect. 2 … .”
But his fight on this topic wasn’t over. In 1789, he petitioned the Pennsylvania state convention, asking the state to remove restrictive wording in its constitution that favored Christian citizens. The following year, the constitution was changed, granting new rights to non-Christians to hold public office. His efforts also helped to inspire other states to follow suit.
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In 1826, more than half a century after the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Maryland became the last state to pass a law permitting Jews to hold public office. Maryland’s “Jew Bill” also formally codified the right of Jews to vote in public elections.
“Hatred of Jews and imported anti-Semitism from Europe did exist, but it did not flourish during the common struggle to separate from the power of England,” wrote Cantor Sheldon Foster Merel in a 2019 article. But “Jewish participation in the war did not assure the Jewish population [of] full, equal rights or erasure of anti-Semitism.”
Phillips, like many patriots who served in the war, became role models, both in service and values, for future generations. His grandson, Uriah Levy, became the first U.S. Naval commandant, a promotion he earned following his service in the War of 1812. He, too, was a vocal advocate for religious pluralism.
Perhaps the greatest legacy of America’s first Jews, however, was their faith in their power to effect change. The Jewish population amounted to barely 0.1 % of the colonies’ 2 million citizens, yet played a significant role in transforming their futures, and strengthening the rights and opportunities for generations that followed — rights we still enjoy today.
Jan Lee is an award-winning editorial writer and former news editor.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
