The Complete Life – and Possible Exaggerations- of an American Patriot
“Financial Hero-Businessman and broker Haym Salomon was responsible for raising most of the money needed to finance the American Revolution and later to save the new nation from collapse.”
- ‘Contributors to the Cause’ series of commemorative stamps -March 25, 1975, for the American Bicentennial
Haym – or Chaim–Salomon was perhaps the most influential frum (observant) American patriot of colonial times. Some go further, arguing that he was among the most instrumental people of any race in all the Americas of that time!
Who was this man, and is his significance to the revolution over exaggerated or undervalued?
I. Nusach, Origins, & Mystery
I discovered many of Haym’s papers and records, preserved by the Smithsonian. Among these is the Salomon family’s siddurim, including one titled ‘Prayer book for the Fast Days, according to the custom of the Spanish and Portuguese Jews’ (published in 1810, it likely belonged to his wife, Rachel, niftara in 1818).
This siddur discovery quickly went from a mere tidbit to a pandoras box relating to the enigma of Haym Solomon. You see, Haym was born in Lissa, Poland. One may be tempted to explain that the Solomon family simply followed the minhag of their new shul, Mikveh Yisroel in Philadelphia. However, this shul was founded in 1740 by Nathan Levy, a German, only switching to this nusach sefard in the late 1770’s, right around when Haym joined!
I would soon discover how this nusach anomaly encapsulates the mythmaking surrounding Salomon and other early American Jews. Wikipedia and the World Encyclopedia claim that Haym derived from sefardi ancestors who had to flee the Inquisition. Some add further colorful ‘historical’ details, such as how, in 1588, his ancestors accepted the invite to Poland from Jan Zamoyski, the powerful Catholic nobleman who encouraged sefardi merchants/professionals to move to his newly founded ‘renaissance city’ of Zamosc (Poland). Motivated by Jews’ expertise, he granted them privileges and safety. This legend concludes that the Salomon family settled there, while preserving elements of their sefardic minhagim/nuschoas.
However, historians, such as Max Kohler (d. 1934, vice-president of the American Jewish Historical Society), reject this claim. Kohler writes that there is “not a particle of evidence” for such a history. While some of Salomon’s later descendants promoted the idea, Kohler explains that Salomon was simply following the nusach of his shul in America (‘Haym Salomon, the Patriot Broker of the Revolution-His Real Achievements and Their Exaggeration’ 1931).
Indeed, on the day of his death, the Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia) only mentioned his Polish background: “Thursday last, expired after a lingering illness, Mr. Haym Salomon, an eminent broker of this city; he was a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation.”
II. They Don’t Make Socialist Like They Used To!
As we will soon learn, Haym’s legacy was hotly debated. Among those who supported the full account of his legend was Charles Edward Russell (d. 1941).
Russel was a fascinating American. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1928, was the editor of several newspapers, journalist, one of the founders of the NAACP, and was aligned with the early Democratic Socialists – the Social Democratic League of America.
In fact, he famoulsy ran for Mayor of New York City, governor, and senator on the SDLA ticket (while losing by large margins, his running elicited fear among the establishment that he could legitimize socialism). His SDLA differed from today’s social democratic organizations. While they would agree on the evils of capitalism, his SDLA prioritized robust American patriotism and, amazingly, pushed for global military intervention.
Russel was also different than today’s Democratic Socialists in that he was an admirer of Jews. As we will see in the upcoming weeks, he would play a large role in revivifying the contributions of Haym Solomon, writing the 1930 blockbuster bestseller ‘Haym Solomon & The Revolution’.
I recently stumbled upon his daring 1931 op-ed titled ‘Wanted: Jews In Politics’.
“…Historically, Jews have always been closely interwoven with America, from the first movement to finance Columbus down to the present moment…As a rule, Jews in America have been exceedingly capable, diligent and useful public servants. What I am plugging for is to have more of them there…Certainly, there is no higher code of public affairs than the Decalogue of Moses and the methods of governmental uprightness revealed in the Book of Judges…the principles of honesty and ethics laid down by Moses and cherished by all the generations of Jews ever since…I don’t mean that the Jews should come forth and announce that they know how to run the machine better than anybody, in accordance with the fictitious Jew that prejudice and malice have imagined, but that is not in accordance with the real Jew as I have known him…”
He then shares the following anecdote:
“They need never fear that to do so can be in any way derogatory to their religion or inconsistent with its exercises. The story of Haym Salomon shows that a man can be an ardent patriot and a devout Jew, careful to perform every religious duty.”
He concluded with the importance of yiddeshkeit in America’s founding and continuance:
“We need in public affairs the strong asset of Jewish ethics…the spirit of democracy that breathes through the Jewish sacred writings and is apparent in the Jewish history and traditions… wherever there has been a struggle against oppression, Jews have been on the side of liberty. They were so conspicuously in the immortal conflict that founded this nation…the addition to American politics of people that have this background and tradition would be an asset of inestimable value. I hope to see it realized.”
-Published in multiple papers, our version is from The Detroit Jewish Chronicle, January 2nd 1931).
Russel is one of the few historians from whom Haym’s story is known, with many details below and in the coming chapters derived from his – and Max Kohler’s – research. In addition I have found some Haym’s own writing and dairies (see image of his kesuba in the last chapter) that will be shared as we continue with Haym’s story.
III. The Birth of ‘Galicia’…and Haym
From the mid-13th century until the late 18th century, Poland was a uniquely (and mostly) safe harbor for Jews. During those years, in 1569, friendly Poland and Lithuania had united into what became known as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
All this changed almost overnight.
In 1772 Poland was vulnerable. With its king weak and its army depleted, her three powerful neighbors -Russia, Prussia, and Austria- swiftly and easily took control of almost one-third of the Poland-Lithuania Commonwealth. Austria took parts of the south, renaming the region ‘Galicia’; Prussia took parts of the north, calling it ‘West Prussia’; and Russia took parts of the east, territories already known as ‘Belaya Rus’/Belarus, and now officially so (interestingly, Brisk [Brest-Litovsk] would remain part of Poland until 1795, when it was partitioned as part of Russian Belarus).
What is now known as the ‘First Partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth’, took place on August 5th, 1772, during the Nine Days and corresponding to 6th of av.
- Haym’s First Escape
This was the backdrop of Haym Salomon leaving Poland for America. Historians debate if he arrived at New York that same year or, three years later, in 1775, but agree that his motive for leaving Poland was this treacherous takeover, writing, “In 1772, when Haym Salomon, insubmissive to the destruction of Poland, was looking for a freer world…” (Russel).
He was either thirty-two or thirty-five years old and multilingual from years of travel across Europe. Most saliently, he was skilled in the quiet art of moving money between merchants of different lands. His knowledge of French, Polish, Russian, Italian, English, German, Yiddish (and, likely, lashon hakodesh) allowed his reputation as a polymath to qukckly spread.
Haym quickly went to work as a broker. In those days there were almost no real banks. Trade and government business ran on what was called ‘bills of exchange’; written promises (often by governments, like France) to pay money. Writing such promises was easy; the hard part was finding people willing to trust its value and buy it for actual cash or goods, especially when times were uncertain. This was Haym Salomon’s expertise. To understand the challenge, we should point out that chazal discuss the sale of similar promissory notes (see bava metzia 20ff), and the mishneh (56b) even teaches that onah (over/undercharging) does not apply to such sales. Becaouse buying such notes comes with inherent risk -the debter may not pay, he may claim it was already paid, the debt could be forgiven, etc., these debts -both in the time of chazal, today, and during the American Revolution -were sold below market value.
- Haym’s Second Escape
Haym quickly joined the Spanish-Portuguese synagogue and settled into the merchant world. As the conflict with Britain deepened, he sided with the Sons of Liberty (a secretive patriot resistance network of the likeminded) and others who desried independence from Britain. I could not find a proven reason for his choosing any side in his new home, let alone this perilous one (in British New Yorke). Indeed, many Jews did not take the side of the patriots. While some historians offer guesses, it seems to me that Haym was influenced by his rav, Rev Gershom Seixes, one of the most vocal patriots in New York.
In the summer of 1776, the British were reinforced with hired German troops known as Hessians, and soon captured New York, becoming the main British base in North America. Even after the Declaration of Independence, the British held the city, as it was too valuable to surrender. It would not be until the treaty of November 25th 1783 that the last of the British troops left, known as ‘Evacuation Day’.
Even after 1776, Salomon stayed in occupied New York. But soon the British round up all those suspected of patriot sympathies, and Haym was arrested as a suspected spy. According to Haym’s own account, he was taken up by General James Robertson, the British military commander of New York, and locked in the Provost, their dreaded, dirty, and dangerous army prison.
Luckily, Lieutenant General Heister, the senior Hessian commander, needed someone who spoke French and other languages, and who understood business. He requested the British to release Haym to his watch and he put to Haym work in the Hessian commissary.
Haym began using his relative freedom to aid American and French prisoners with money, information and, sometimes, escape. He also convinced some exhausted Hessian officers to desert!
- Haym’s Third Escape
By the summer of 1778 the authorities were on to Haym’s clandestine activities and arrested him again. Then, on August 11th, 1778 (the 18th of av, the week of this publication!) he escaped, but not before the British seized all of his money and property. Haym arrived in Philadelphia with almost nothing.
In a 1840 manuscript from Haym’s son, there’s a more dramtic telling of these events (A Sketch of Haym Salomon –from an unpublished manuscript in the papers of Jared Sparks, 1894):
In 1778 Haym received secret orders from General Washington to burn the British fleet and destroy their storehouses! He did attempt to carry out the plan, causing significant damage, leading to his second arrest, which was made by General Sir Henry Clinton, the British Commander In Chief! Haym was then formally sentenced to death. Awaiting his execution, Haym used smuggled gold to bribe a guard, escape under cover of darkness, and flee to Philadelphia, later bringing his family out as well.
In the next chapter we will share Haym’s own letter to congress recounting these episodes, his settling in Philadelphia, and how he continued to aid the patriots.
IV. Penniless in Philadelphia
On Tuesday the 11th of August 1778, Haym Salomon slipped out of British-occupied New York and arrived in Philadelphia, nearly destitute, two weeks later.
He immediately composed a latter to congress detailing his experiances, submitted on August 25th, 1778. This memorial remains the single most important primary document for this stretch of his life. It is noticbaly free of the perhaps exxagertaed stopried later generations would add, although it may be argued that he was merely getting to his central points. However, since he wrote in the third person, it is clear he wished this to be seen as the authoritative telling. Please not that the rounded brackets are his:
To the Honorable the Continental Congress,
The Memorial of Haym Salomon late of the City of New York Merchant humbly sheweth [shows]:
That your Memorialist [Haym] was some time before the Entry of the British Troops at the said City of New York, and soon after taken up as a spy by General Robertson committed to the Provost. That by the interposition of Lieut. General Heister (who wanted him on account of his knowledge in the French, Polish, Russian, Italian etc. languages) he was given over to the Hessian Commander who appointed him in the Commissary Way as Purveyor chiefly for the Officers. That being at New York he has been of great Service to the French & American prisoners and has assisted them with money and helped them off to make their escape. That this and his close Connexion [sic] with such of the Hessian Officers as were inclined to resign and with Monsieur Samuel Demeres has rendered him at last so obnoxious to the British Head Quarters that he was already pursued by the Guards and on Tuesday the 11th inst. he made his happy Escape from thence. This Monsieur Demeres is now most barbarously treated at the Provost’s and is seemingly in danger of his life and the Memorialist begs leave to cause him to be remembered to Congress for an Exchange. Your Memorialist has upon this event most irrecoverably lost all his effects and credits to the amount of five or six thousand Pounds Sterling and left his distressed wife and a child of a month old at New York waiting that they may soon have an opportunity to come out from thence with empty hands. In these circumstances he most humbly prayeth to grant him any Employ in the way of his business where he may be enabled to support himself and family. And your Memorialist as in duty bound to be etc.
Haym Salomon Philadelphia August 25, 1778
I was unable to discover anything about this Demeres (sometimes spelled Demezes), even in any contemporaneous synagogue files. He likely was not Jewish. It is testament to his passion for justice that the penniless Haym – still worried for his family back in New York – pushed congress to aid this poor Frenchman who was suffering greatly.
The reader should also note that absent from this letter is any claim of a secret commission from Washington, a dramatic prison break, and even his death sentence. More saliently, he makes no demand for compensation for past services -as others would later do. He states the facts of his arrest, the help he gave prisoners, the pursuit that forced his flight, the total loss of property, and speaks of his family still trapped behind enemy lines. His only request is for honest work “in the way of his business.”
Congress however gave him no formal post or job that I can see.
From late 1778 through early 1781 Haym sought to rebuild his brokerage business from almost nothing in a city already crowded with refugees and merchants. Slowly, and using his language skills, he re-established commercial networks that language. His wife Rachel and their infant child eventually reached him. Soon, a second son was born, and the family settled into the small but active Jewish community centered around Congregation Mikveh Israel.
Their kehilla at the time was itself still finding its footing, with no permanent building of its own. In 1782 the decision was made to purchase land and construct a shul.
Salomon left a manuscript account of the project, still held by Congregation Mikveh Israel (a facsimile is available through the Philadelphia Congregations Early Records Project). In it he records his own major pledge of one-fourth of the total cost, “be it what it might”. He also describes serious conflicts with Jonas Phillips, then serving as parnas. According to Salomon’s account, these grew severe enough that it almost led to Phillips’s nidui (excommunication). Phillips had written objections to the proposed building plan, of being too close to neighboring houses, an inconvenient door placement, etc. In fact, a year later Jonas was absent from the December, 1783 Mikveh Israel petition to the Pennsylvania Council of Censors protesting Pennsylvania’s religious test oath (sources that list Jonas among the petitioners are in error).
As mentioned in a seperate post discussing Jonas Phillips, he had sent his own letter to Washington relating to these matters -specifically, the requirement in Section 10 of the 1776 Pennsylvania Frame of Government that every member of the General Assembly must swear: “I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration”, effectively barring observant Jews from serving in the state legislature.
As for the letter sent by Salmons inter alia, here is an excerpt:
To the honourable the Council of Censors, assembled agreeable to the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania.
The Memorial of Rabbi Ger. Seixas of the Synagogue of the Jews at Philadelphia, Simon Nathan their Parnass or President, Asher Myers, Bernard Gratz and Haym Salomon, in behalf of themselves and their brethren Jews.
…By the tenth section of the frame of government of this commonwealth, it is ordered that each member of the general assembly of representatives of the freemen of Pennsylvania, before he takes his seat, shall make and subscribe a declaration, which ends in these words, “I do acknowledge the scriptures of the old and new testament to be given by divine inspiration,” to which is added an assurance, that “no further or other religious test shall ever hereafter be required of any civil officer or magistrate in this state.”
Your memorialists beg leave to observe, that this clause seems to limit the civil rights of your citizens to one very special article of the creed…it is asserted without any other limitation than the professing the existence of God, in plain words, “that no man who acknowledges the being of a Gd can be justly deprived or abridged of any civil rights as a citizen on account of his religious sentiments.” But certainly this religious test deprives the Jews of the most eminent rights of freemen, solemnly ascertained to all men who are not professed atheists.
May it please your honors: Although the Jews in Pennsylvania are but few in number, yet liberty of the people in one country, and the declaration of the government thereof, that these liberties are the rights of the people, may prove a powerful attractive to men, who live under restraints in another country.
Your memorialists beg further leave to represent, that in the religious books of the Jews, which are or may be in every man’s hands, there are no such doctrines or principles established as are inconsistent with the safety and happiness of the people of Pennsylvania, and that the conduct and behaviour of the Jews in this and the neighbouring States, has always tallied with the great design of the Revolution; that the Jews…have distinguishedly suffered for their attachment to the Revolution principles…The Jews of Pennsylvania in proportion to the number ..have served some of them in the Continental army; some went out in the militia to fight the common enemy; all of them have cheerfully contributed to the support of the militia, and of the government of this State…
It was signed by:
- Rabbi Gershom Mendes Seixas
- Simon Nathan (Parnas / President)
- Asher Myers
- Bernard (Barnard) Gratz
- Haym Salomon
The matter was largely ignored, until in 1790 when this oath was finally removed from the state. Many see their letter as aiding in changing the climate to an atmosphere if acceptance in Pennsylvania, and the country more broadly.
It was at this point when the government had indeed called upon Salomon’s financial expertise, as we will see in the next chapter.
V. Was He Important to Our Founding?
Based on the information thus far shared, a running question may have risen in the reader’s mind: How did the myth of Haym Salomon as the financial savior to the American Revolution ever maturate? While certainly a supporter of the patriot cause, Haym was in-and-out of prison from 1776-1778! By the time he was a free man in Philadelphia the Declaration had already been adopted.
However, as a point of fact, when Haym Salomon arrived in Philadelphia in late August 1778, the Revolution was far from secured. The British still held New York, Svananh, Charleston, etc. Making things more precarious, the Continental currency was collapsing, leading to soldiers being unpaid and cuasing real fears for a mutiny. Worse, the foreign loans to the patriot cause was not easy to turn into usable currency. The Revolution was being held up by a house of cards.
It was at this juncture that Haym was in Philldeplphia rebuilding his merchant business
It is here where the legend of Haym was born in earnest, and from which it is still debated.
To understand the varying views of Haym’s importance, we will center on these years, and the one man who brought Haym into the fore.
- Get Me The ‘Jew Broker’!
Robert Morris is one of only two men (along with Roger Sherman) who signed all three of the nation’s founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution.
Morris was born in Liverpool in 1734 and raised in Philadelphia. By the 1770’s he built one of the largest and most successful mercantile businesses in the colonies and widely regarded as one of the wealthiest men in America and,in 1775, Pennsylvania sent him to the Second Continental Congress. Interestingly, he initially voted ‘absent’ regarding the Declaration, thinking that this step was premature, only later signing, explaining that a good citizen should support the final vote.
In congress, he quickly became vital in dealing with procurement, serving on the Secret Committee and the Committee of Secret Correspondence, which helped arrange for armaments.
As the Revolution was in severe financial danger, in February of 1781 Congress created a new executive office, Superintendent of Finance. They unanimously elected Robert Morris to fill this role, a forerunner to the Secretary of Treasury. There, he created the Bank of North America and repeatedly used both public and private means to keep the army supplied and paid.
It was during this period that he frequently turned to Haym Salomon as a broker to sell foreign bills of exchange, thus raising needed cash.
Morris kept a meticulous diary that remains the single most important contemporary record of Revolutionary finance. Beginning in mid-1781, the name Haym Salomon appears in it more than any other broker. So much so, that by 1782 Morris formally authorized Salomon to title himself ‘Broker to the Office of Finance.’
Some excerpts: On August 26, 1782, the diary records: “I sent for Salomon and desired him to try every way he could to raise money.” Two days later: “Salomon, the broker, came and I urged him to leave no stone unturned…” These entries continue through 1782 and into 1783, the critical years after the ‘Siege at Yorktown’, when military victory had been won but the financial urgency continued.
In addition, Haym also advanced personal loans. On August 27th, 1782, James Madison wrote to a friend “I have for some time been a pensioner on the favor of Haym Salomon, a Jew broker.” A few weeks later (September 30th, 1782), Madison referred to Haym again, added a better picture:
“The kindness of our little friend in Front street, near the coffee-house, is a fund which will preserve me from extremities, but I never resort to it without great mortification, as he obstinately rejects all recompense.”
Madison is sharing the fact that Haym would not take interest from him!
This is the entire record of Haym’s aid. While significant, it only began in the 1780’s, ending with Haym’s untimely death in 1785.
But just how significant?
VI. Numbers Game
“Thursday, last, expired, after a lingering illness, Mr. Haym Salomon, an eminent broker of this city, was a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city.”
– The Independent Gazetteer (Philadelphia), January 1785
Sadly, Haym died destitute, perhaps due to him asking for no or little interest.
The official inventory of Haym Salomon’s estate, filed in the Philadelphia probate court on February 15th, 1785, recorded the following:
- Loan-office certificates -$110,233.63;
- Treasury certificates-$18,244.88;
- Continental liquidated dollars-$199,214.45;
- Commissioners’ certificates-$17,870.37;
- Virginia State certificates-$8,166.00.
This comes to the total of $353,729.43, perhaps owed to Haym.
A few decades later, Haym’s son would claim an additional $211,678 advanced to Robert Morris, and $92,600 in promissory notes.
The total now comes to $658,007.43.
However, even if we accept this number, the total estimate for Continental spending in the years of 1780–1783 were about $12 million. Meaning, at most, Haym aided in providing between 5-6% of all funds.
While certainly no small figure, it would not make Haym the most essential fundraiser for the cause.
However, even this figure is questioned by many. Where these securities evidence that Salomon had personally advanced his own money, or were they securities he acquired in the ordinary course of his business as a broker? he was holding on to in order to exchange, or, what was given to him in payment for a bill? Either way, this would mean these monies were not Haym’s but rather owed back to the government.
This distinction is the heart of the argument between noted historians Charles Edward Russell and Max J. Kohler. Russell’s 1930 book Haym Salomon and the Revolution saw the sheer frequency of Morris’s diary entries as evidence of near-dependence on Haym, thus portarying Salomon as an indispensable figure who kept the financial machinery moving. While Kohler’s accepted that Salomon was a capable and patriotic broker, he rejected the larger claims. Using estate records and Bank of North America accounts, Kohler showed that Salomon had not personally lent vast sums from a private fortune, as his estate was insolvent at his death. Rather, he was a middleman.
Later scholarship has largely settled somewhere in the middle: Salomon was not the legendary personal financier, but he was a real and significant broker upon whom Morris relied at the most difficult moments.
VII. Haym’s Last Word
Haym’s life and influence still echoes today, in our new age of antisemitism.
In early 1784, Philadelphia was in the middle of a sharp public argument over banking. A proposal to create a new Bank of Pennsylvania had drawn criticism, some of which turning antisemitic.
A Quaker lawyer named Miers Fisher attacked Jewish brokers, implying they charged excessive interest and were harmful to the public interest, painting Jewish merchants in general as greedy outsiders.
A reply to this charge appeared in the Independent Gazetteer on March 13th 1784, and signed “A Jew Broker.” Most historians believe Haym Salomon either wrote it or was closely associated with it.
He stated:
“I am a Jew; it is my own nation; I do not despair that we shall obtain every other privilege that we aspire to enjoy along with our fellow-citizens.”
The writer states how Fisher’s words had injured not only him personally but “every other person of the same religious persuasion,” and insisted that this new country and its principles allowed him to live openly as a Jew.
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