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Haym Salomon 
 
 THE FINANCIER OF THE REVOLUTION 
 
 AN UNWRITTEN CHAPTER IN 
 AMERICAN HISTORY 
 
 MADISON C. PETERS 
 
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 NEW YORK 
 
 THE TROW PRESS 
 
 191 1 
 
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 Copyright, 191 i, by Madison C. Pktkrs 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
 
Preface 
 
 On July 2 2, 19 lo, in a lecture by the au- 
 thor, in San Francisco, on " The Part of the 
 Jew in the Making of America," reference 
 was made to Haym Salomon as the unrecog- 
 nized financier of the American Revolution, 
 and the speaker urged that the American 
 Jews, to establish their rightful place in Amer- 
 ican Revolutionary history, should erect a 
 monument to Haym Salomon, the establisher 
 of the Nation's credit. At the conclusion of 
 the lecture, on motion of Col. Henry I. Kow- 
 alski, who was named as secretary, it was 
 unanimously carried that the monument be 
 built. Hon. Julius Kahn, Congressman from 
 San Francisco, who introduced the lecturer, 
 was made chairman of the National Commit- 
 tee; Mr. Joseph B. Greenhut, of New York, 
 treasurer; and Mr. Adolph Kraus, of Chi- 
 cago, National President of the B'nai B'rith, 
 was named as vice-president. On the sug- 
 gestion of Mr. Greenhut and others this book- 
 let was prepared to give in compact form the 
 story of Salomon in order to create the pre- 
 liminary intelligent interest essential to a suc- 
 cessful campaign for funds. No effort at this 
 7 
 
Preface 
 
 writing has been made for contributions, but 
 the writer presented the proposition to Mr. 
 William Salomon, great-grandson of the Rev- 
 olutionary patriot, and he immediately vol- 
 unteered to head the list with $2,500. 
 
 This booklet is the contribution of a Gen- 
 tile, a minister of the Gospel who has made 
 Jewish history a specialty. It is published in 
 paper covers for general distribution; in cloth 
 binding it should be in all the public and 
 school libraries of the country for future ref- 
 erence, while in its popular form it should be 
 in the hands of the millions of American Jews 
 and Gentiles who are ignorant of the part of 
 the Jew in the battles for American Independ- 
 ence. Those who desire a part in the building 
 of the monument should send their subscrip- 
 tions to J. B. Greenhut, Eighteenth Street and 
 Sixth Avenue, New York, while those who 
 are interested in the circulation of this gener- 
 ally unknown story of unequalled financial 
 sacrifice for human freedom should communi- 
 cate with the author. 
 
 Madison C. Peters. 
 1822 Glenwood Road, 
 
 Brooklyn, New York. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Haym Salomon 1 1 
 
 II 
 Other Jewish Patriots of the Revolution . . 39 
 
I 
 Haym Salomon 
 
 HAYM SALOMON was born at 
 Lissa, Poland, in 1740, of Jewish- 
 Portuguese descent, and it is prob- 
 able that he left his native country after the 
 partition of Poland in 1772. 
 
 Salomon's family were highly respectable 
 and learned people. He enjoyed the friend- 
 ships of Kosciuszko and Pulaski, the noble 
 patriots who unsheathed their swords for hu- 
 man liberty. 
 
 With his own unhappy country's history 
 and with his hatred of despotic Russia, Salo- 
 mon imbibed a love of liberty which extensive 
 travel in Europe intensified, and, as might 
 have been expected, the outbreak of the Revo- 
 lution found him an ardent supporter of the 
 Colonial cause. 
 
 1 1 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 He settled in New York and there married 
 Rachel, daughter of Moses B. Franks, of 
 London, who, as well as his brother, the dis- 
 tinguished Jacob Franks of the Revolution- 
 ary War, died in New York while it was yet 
 a colony. Rachel Franks was the sister of 
 Colonel Isaac Franks, a Revolutionary officer 
 of distinction, and of Mayer Isaac Franks, a 
 judge of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Moses and Jacob Franks were the sons of 
 Adam Franks, of Germany, the friend of 
 King George of Hanover and who loaned 
 that monarch the most valuable jewels in his 
 crown at the coronation. 
 
 Jacob Franks was the British King's sole 
 agent for the Northern Colonies at New York, 
 and his son David was the British King's 
 agent for Pennsylvania, 
 
 When the Revolutionary War began, Salo- 
 mon identified himself with the American 
 cause and was arrested and imprisoned as a 
 spy soon after the occupation of New York 
 by the British in 1776. Salomon was closely 
 confined for a long time in the prison known 
 as " the Provost," which stood on the spot 
 12 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 now occupied by the old Hall of Records in 
 the City Hall Park. So closely were the pris- 
 oners packed there that when they " laid down 
 at night to rest, when their bones ached, on 
 the hard oak planks, and they wished to turn, 
 it was altogether by command, ' right — left,' 
 being so wedged as to form almost a solid 
 mass of solid bodies." 
 
 When Salomon's linguistic proficiency be- 
 came known (he knew Polish, French, Ger- 
 man, Russian, Spanish and Italian), he was 
 turned over to the Hessian general, Heister, 
 who gave him an appointment in the com- 
 missariat department, where his greater lib- 
 erty enabled him to render much service to 
 the French and American prisoners, many of 
 whom he helped to escape. He created dis- 
 sension among the Hessian officers, prompt- 
 ing many to resign from the service. 
 
 In 1778, he was taken by the British gen- 
 eral. Sir H. Clinton, on charges that he had 
 received orders from Washington to burn 
 fleets and destroy their warehouses, " which 
 he had attempted to execute to their great 
 damage and injury." 
 
 13 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 He was imprisoned, tortured, and con- 
 demned to a military death, but on August 1 1, 
 1778, he managed to escape, by bribing his 
 jailor, leaving behind him in New York, six 
 thousand pounds sterling, a distressed wife, 
 and child one month old. It seems likely 
 that his intimate friend, the brave General 
 McDougall, who then commanded the Ameri- 
 can army in the neighborhood of New York, 
 was in co-operation with him. Fourteen days 
 later Salomon addressed a petition to the Con- 
 tinental Congress, setting forth his services 
 and asking for some employment; but, char- 
 acteristic of the man, he asked not for himself 
 alone, at the same time he entered a plea for 
 the exchange of Samuel Demezes, a fellow 
 prisoner. 
 
 Congress turned a deaf ear to his plea and 
 the denial worked for the ultimate good both 
 of Salomon and the young country. 
 
 The tide in his affairs, and as the story 
 shows, the tide in the affairs of the young 
 Republic, turned upon his escape to Phila- 
 delphia, and it was not long until he succeeded 
 in establishing himself in business, and there 
 14 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 becoming one of the greatest financiers of his 
 adopted city. 
 
 Salomon's matchless enterprise, eminent re- 
 spectability, remarkable intelligence, irre- 
 proachable integrity, his delicate sense of 
 mercantile honor, his unbounded benevolence 
 for all mankind, and, above all, his undying 
 hatred of English tyranny, soon led to his 
 recognition by the leading men of his time, 
 and the uncompromising, implacable foe to 
 British dominion was brought into intimate 
 relationships with th-e Revolutionary patriots. 
 
 Early in 178 1, he made known through 
 the newspapers that he was a dealer in bills 
 of exchange on France and Holland. For the 
 most part the money advanced by Louis XVI 
 and the proceeds of the loans negotiated in 
 Holland passed through his hands. He was 
 intrusted with the negotiation of all the war 
 subsidies of France and Holland on his own 
 personal integrity, which were sold to the res- 
 ident merchants in America without any loss, 
 at a credit of two and three months, for which 
 he received the small commission of one- 
 fourth of one per cent. Several European fi- 
 15 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 nancial houses did business through him. A 
 few days after the foregoing announcement, 
 Robert Morris became Superintendent of 
 Finance. Morris' diary records not less 
 than seventy-five financial transactions with 
 Salomon, between August 178 1, and April 
 1784. 
 
 Alexander Hamilton, writing during the 
 dark days of the war to Robert Morris, says: 
 " It is by restoring public credit, not by gain- 
 ing battles, that we are finally to gain our ob- 
 ject." Haym Salomon brought not only all 
 his wealth to the aid of his adopted country, 
 but a financial insight which, for clearness and 
 depth, was not surpassed by Alexander Ham- 
 ilton nor equalled by Robert Morris. Amer- 
 ica found in Haym Salomon a champion 
 equalled by few, his fertility in resource and 
 soundness of financial views made him, 
 through Robert Morris, Superintendent of Fi- 
 nance, the real financier of the Revolution and 
 judged by Alexander Hamilton's standard of 
 patriotism, surpassed by none, for Haym Salo- 
 mon was practically the sole agent employed 
 by Morris for negotiating bills of exchange, 
 16 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 by which means the credit of the Government 
 was so largely maintained during this period. 
 We do not wish to detract from the glory of 
 Robert Morris, but we do insist that the suc- 
 cess Morris obtained in his financial schemes 
 was due to the skill, ability and sacrifice of 
 Haym Solomon. 
 
 On July 12, 1782, he requested Morris' 
 permission to publish the fact that he was 
 broker to the Ofl'ice of Finance. In reference 
 to this Morris entered into his diary: "This 
 broker has been useful to the public interests. 
 ... I have consented, as I do not see that 
 any disadvantage can possibly arise to the 
 public service, but the reverse." 
 
 He was appointed broker to the French 
 consul and the treasurer of the French army 
 and fiscal agent of the French Minister to the 
 United States, Chevalier de la Luzerne, enor- 
 mous sums passing through his hands. He 
 was the principal depositor of the Bank of 
 North America, an institution founded 
 through the instrumentality of Robert Mor- 
 ris, to serve as a means of obtaining funds to 
 carry on the Government, the first and only 
 17 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 bank, chartered by the Revolutionary Con- 
 gress. The accounts of fifteen other mer- 
 chants who commenced with the opening of 
 the bank occupied, in all, fifteen pages, up 
 to the period of Salomon's death, while Salo- 
 mon's account occupied in all fifteen pages, 
 double columns, of the same ledger. Salo- 
 mon's one account was as large as their entire 
 account in the aggregate. The balances at 
 the various times of settlement in his bank 
 book show special balances of from $15,000 
 to $50,000 at each period. The amount 
 charged by the bank to his account as paid to 
 Robert Morris was over $200,000, while 
 Robert Morris' own account during the same 
 period had a deposit of less than $10,000. 
 A further interesting fact is that on a day 
 when Robert Morris deposited $10,000 in 
 the bank, he received exactly the same amount 
 from Haym Salomon. 
 
 Morris' diary, August 26, 1782, records: 
 " I sent for Salomon and desired him to try 
 every way he could to raise money." Two 
 days later he wrote: " Salomon, the broker, 
 came and I urged him to leave no stone un- 
 18 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 turned to find out money and the means by 
 which I can obtain it." 
 
 Not only did Salomon advance large sums 
 to the Government for which he received no 
 return, but the services of James Madison, 
 Edmund Randolph, Generals Mifflin, St. 
 Clair and others were retained in the cause 
 through his bounty. In Madison's letter to 
 Virginia, in 1781, he writes: " My wants are 
 so urgent that it is impossible to suppress 
 them. The case of my brethren is equally 
 alarming." Later he declares: "The kind- 
 ness of our friend in Front Street (Mr. Salo- 
 mon) is a fund that will preserve me from ex- 
 treme necessities, but I never resort to it with- 
 out great mortification, as he obstinately re- 
 jects all recompense. To necessitous delegates 
 he gratuitously spares from his private stock." 
 
 Henry Wheaton says: " Judge Wilson, so 
 distinguished for his labors in the Convention 
 that framed the Federal Constitution, would 
 have retired from public service had he not 
 been sustained by the timely aid of Haym Sal- 
 omon, as delicately as it was generously ad- 
 ministered," 
 
 19 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 When Salomon was called on to advance 
 the entire pay for the ensuing year to Jones, 
 Randolph, and Madison, as members of the 
 Revolutionary Congress, they had in writ- 
 ing allotted that Madison should get fifty 
 pounds less than the other two, but Salomon, 
 seeing in young Madison, then only twenty- 
 nine years old, those great talents for which 
 be became distinguished in after years, pre- 
 sented him, from his own private purse, the 
 fifty pounds, thus equalizing the pay of the 
 whole delegation. 
 
 Jared Sparks in his life of Gouverneur 
 Morris, a member of Congress in 1780, pub- 
 lishes a letter written by Mr. Morris, In 
 which he declares that " the person who did 
 loan cash to a member to relieve his distress 
 in that day, was in no expectation of ever 
 getting repaid." 
 
 James Madison, twice President of the 
 United States, the most learned and patriotic 
 member of the Revolutionary Congress, thus 
 paid his tribute to Salomon's devotion and 
 bounty: " When any member was In need, all 
 that was necessary was to call upon Salomon." 
 20 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 Again and again he refers to his " Httle friend 
 in Front Street," acknowledged not only his 
 indebtedness to " the little Jew " on whose 
 bounty he had pensioned, but again and again 
 refers to his integrity and disinterestedness. 
 
 It is true that there were merchants who 
 subscribed to make up army supplies in 1780, 
 ostensibly without security, but Madison's 
 journal shows that they had a contingent se- 
 curity of the best Sterling Exchange to the 
 amount of 150,000 pounds in excess of their 
 subscription. 
 
 Not only did Salomon aid his home gov- 
 ernment, but he was the confidential friend 
 and adviser of agents, consuls, and representa- 
 tives of foreign powers in sympathy with the 
 Revolutionary movement. He had confiden- 
 tial relations with all the foreign representa- 
 tives at one time or another. He was the con- 
 fidential friend of that ardent adherent to 
 the American cause. Count de la Luzerne, 
 Ambassador for France. With this appoint- 
 ment, Salomon was made banker for that 
 Government. He was appointed by Mon- 
 sieur Roquebrune, treasurer of the forces of 
 21 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 France in America and made paymaster-gen- 
 eral, which office he filled free of charge. A 
 letter from Count Vergennes, Minister of 
 Spain, to De la Luzerne, states that in two 
 years 150,000 livres (equal to present-day 
 francs) were distributed through Salomon. 
 
 Salomon for two years, up to the time of 
 his death, out of his own private purse main- 
 tained Don Francisco Rendon, Ambassador 
 from Spain. Writing to the Spanish Governor 
 of Cuba, Rendon says: "Mr. Salomon has 
 obtained money for his Most Catholic Maj- 
 esty and I am indebted to his friendship in 
 this particular for the support of my charac- 
 ter, as his Most Catholic Majesty's agent 
 here, with any degree of credit and reputa- 
 tion, and without it I would not have been 
 able to give that protection and assistance to 
 His Majesty's subjects which His Majesty 
 enjoins and my duty requires." More than 
 $10,000 was thus advanced which was never 
 repaid. 
 
 The secret support of Charles III of Spain 
 is said to have been due to Salomon's efforts. 
 
 Although Salomon endorsed a great por- 
 22 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 tlon of the bills of exchange for the amount 
 of loans and subsidies our Government ob- 
 tained in Europe, of which he negotiated 
 the entire sums and the execution of which 
 duty required a great deal of his valuable 
 time, from 1781 to 1783, still there was 
 only charged a fractional percentage to the 
 United States. He never caused the loss to 
 the Government one cent of the many mil- 
 lions of his negotiations, either by his own 
 management or from the credit he gave to 
 others on the sale he made of those immense 
 sums of foreign drafts on account of the 
 United States. 
 
 After the peace of 1783, when foreign 
 commerce could again float unmolested, Salo- 
 mon engaged as a trading merchant to Eu- 
 ropean ports. He had several ships upon the 
 sea, but through the failure of merchants in 
 whom he had confidence, he suffered great 
 losses. 
 
 Always eager to help his fellowmen, he 
 
 gave every assistance possible to those who 
 
 commenced trading after the war. To the 
 
 president of the National Bank, whose part- 
 
 23 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 ner was the Superintendent of Finance, he 
 gave two loans of $40,000 and $24,000, and 
 without interest. The firm was known as 
 Willing, Morris & Swanick. It is doubtful 
 If he ever got any of his money back. 
 
 So successful had Salomon become that he 
 opened up an establishment In New York. In 
 the Pennsylvania and Weekly Advertiser, 
 January i, 1785, appeared the following an- 
 nouncement : 
 
 " Haym Salomon, broker to the Office of 
 Finance, having provided a license of ex- 
 ercising the employment of an auctioneer in 
 the City of New York, has now opened for 
 the reception of every species of merchandise, 
 his house. No. 22 Wall Street, and every 
 branch of business, which in the smallest de- 
 gree appertains to the profession — factor, 
 auctioneer and broker, will be transacted in it, 
 with that fidelity, dispatch and punctuality 
 which has hitherto characterized his dealings. 
 The house, in point of convenience and situa- 
 tion, is exceedingly well calculated for the 
 different kinds of business above mentioned, 
 and he thinks it is almost unnecessary to assure 
 those who favor him with their orders that 
 the strictest attention shall be paid to them 
 and the utmost care and solicitation employed 
 24 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 to promote their Interests. The nature of his 
 business enables him to make remittances to 
 any part of the world with peculiar facility, 
 and this he hopes will operate considerably 
 in his favor with those who live at a 
 distance. 
 
 " A desire of being more extensively use- 
 ful and of giving universal satisfaction to the 
 public are among his principal motives for 
 opening the house and shall be the great lead- 
 ing principles of his transactions. By being 
 broker to the Office of Finance and honored 
 with its confidence, all those sums have passed 
 through his hands, which the generosity of 
 the French Monarch, and the affection of 
 the merchants of the United Provinces, 
 prompted them to furnish us with, to enable 
 us to support the expenses of the war and 
 which have so much contributed to Its suc- 
 cess and happy termination. This Is a cir- 
 cumstance which has established his credit and 
 reputation, and procured him the confidence 
 of the public, a confidence which It shall be 
 his study and ambition to merit and increase, 
 by sacredly performing all his engagements. 
 The business will be conducted upon the most 
 liberal and extensive plan, under the firm 
 name of Haym Salomon and Jacob Morde- 
 cal." 
 
 Salomon died suddenly in Philadelphia, 
 January 6, 1785, at 45 years of age. He left 
 25 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 a widow and four small children, to use the 
 language of the Congressional report : " to 
 hazard and neglect." Here is his obituary 
 notice taken from the Pennsylvania Journal 
 and JFeekly Advertiser, of January 8, 1785 : 
 " On Thursday, died Haym Salomon, a 
 broker." That is all, not a word about his 
 princely fortune to the new Republic, nothing 
 about his self-denying gifts whereby the great 
 geniuses of Revolutionary days could give the 
 service that constructed the greatest Nation 
 on the globe, nothing about his leadership in 
 the first charitable organization among the 
 Jews of Philadelphia, a society for the relief 
 of destitute strangers, nothing about his loy- 
 alty to the ancient faith, his eminent charac- 
 ter as a business man and high standing as a 
 citizen. But — he was a Jew ! That tells the 
 story. 
 
 The following is a copy of an authentic cer- 
 tificate from the Register's office in Philadel- 
 phia, showing the amount of public securities 
 and Revolutionary papers left by Haym Salo- 
 mon and from which personal estate not a 
 cent has been received by any of his heirs: 
 26 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 58 Loan office certificates $110,233.65 
 
 19 Treasury certificates 18,259.50 
 
 2 Virginia State certificates. . . 8,166.48 
 
 70 Commissioners' certificates . . 17,870.37 
 
 Continental liquidate 199,214.45 
 
 $353»744-45 
 
 Besides he left evidences of advances to 
 Robert Morris In the sum of $211,000, a 
 claim of $92,000 on the United States for ad- 
 ditional loans, an unpaid balance of $10,000 
 to the Spanish Ambassador, and Innumerable 
 loans to Madison, St. Clair, Steuben, Wilson, 
 and many others. 
 
 The condition of the Government's finances 
 as well as those of individuals during and im- 
 mediately after the Revolutionary War was 
 almost as chaotic, and his affairs were neces- 
 sarily much Involved and his family were al- 
 most without resources. The widow's un- 
 famlllarlty with business, together with the 
 monetary situation prevailing at the time, pre- 
 vented her ever securing a dollar of the $658,- 
 007.13 advanced, as shown from document- 
 ary evidence afterwards submitted to Con- 
 27 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 gress — an enormous sum at that period for a 
 private individual, when all commerce and 
 business were prostrated. Madison, in 1827, 
 urged that the memorialists might be indemni- 
 fied and reports in their favor have been fre- 
 quently made, but not a dollar has been repaid 
 — not a medal granted in lieu of the claim — 
 a fact which affords support to the oft-re- 
 peated observation of the ingratitude of re- 
 publics.* 
 
 *The descendants of Salomon have been de- 
 prived of their valued inheritance by the reason 
 of their vouchers being lost while in the custody 
 of the Government, and in consequence of the 
 destruction by the British of many of the public 
 archives of that period, during the invasion of 
 Washington in 18 14. 
 
 During the first session of the Twenty-ninth 
 Congress the Senate Committee of Claims unani- 
 mously agreed upon a report similar to that 
 adopted by the House Committee of the Thir- 
 tieth Congress, but too late for presentation. 
 
 At the second session of the Fifty-second Con- 
 gress (February 24, 1893), a bill presented to 
 the House ordered that a gold medal be struck 
 off' in recognition of services rendered by Haym 
 28 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 Ezeklel, the elder son of Haym Salomon, 
 was for some time purser in the United States 
 Navy, and died in 1822 while cashier of New 
 Orleans branch of the United States Bank. 
 
 Haym M., the younger son, established 
 himself in the mercantile business in New 
 York City, where he married Ella, the 
 daughter of Jacob Hart, a German Jew who 
 came to America in 1775, became a promi- 
 nent merchant of Baltimore and is mentioned 
 in the secret journals of Continental Congress 
 as having headed a subscription of the Balti- 
 more merchants for the relief of a detachment 
 of the American Army, under command of 
 Lafayette, then passing through that city. 
 
 In 1844, Haym M. Salomon abandoned 
 business, gathered the evidence proving his 
 father's claim against the Government and de- 
 voted all his energies to recovering the fortune 
 of which his family had so long been deprived. 
 
 Salomon, in consideration of which the Salomon 
 heirs waived their claims upon the United States 
 for indemnity. The measure was reported favor- 
 ably by the House Committee on the Library, 
 but too late for consideration. 
 29 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 He enjoyed the confidence of Webster, Clay, 
 Calhoun and other great Americans of his 
 time, and though his claims were frequently 
 reported favorably by committees of both 
 Houses of Congress, a united action taking 
 the form of legislation was never secured by 
 him. 
 
 Colonel David Salomon, grandson of 
 Haym, was a man of mark, and after having 
 made a great name as a merchant in Phila- 
 delphia, the Pennsylvania Railroad created 
 for him the office of financial agent in New 
 York. His son, William, great-grandson of 
 Haym Salomon, one of the famous bankers 
 of New York, as the direct descendant, makes 
 no monetary claim upon the Government. 
 
 For the justice of the Haym Salomon claim 
 we have the highest possible authority. In 
 the report filed in the Senate during the twen- 
 ty-ninth Congress it was said : 
 
 " From the evidence in the possession of 
 the committee, the patriotic devotion of Haym 
 Salomon to the cause of the American Inde- 
 pendence cannot in their judgment be ques- 
 tioned. The proof of his eminent character 
 and standing as a citizen and merchant is very 
 30 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 clear and abundant." Further In the report, 
 the committee found Mr. Salomon to have 
 been " the negotiator of all the war subsidies 
 obtained from France and Holland, which he 
 Indorsed and sold In bills to the merchants In 
 America, at the credit of two or three months 
 on his own personal security." 
 
 In the same report It was also stated: 
 
 " The committee from the evidence before 
 them are Induced to consider Haym Salomon 
 as one of the truest and most efficient friends 
 of the country In a very critical period of Its 
 history and when Its pecuniary resources were 
 few and Its difficulties many and pressing. 
 He seems to have trusted implicitly to the 
 National honor; and the committee are of the 
 opinion that, as In the case of Lafayette and 
 others, the Nation ought to be liberal In their 
 Indemnity to a son of any early benefactor In 
 the day of Its prosperity. 
 
 " France, in the most pressing times during 
 the Revolutionary struggle, redeemed her 
 paper obligations by means of the public do- 
 main; and generation after generation of Rev- 
 olutionary claimants in this country have been 
 rewarded by a grateful people; nor ought the 
 memorialist to bear exception. His claim, in 
 the opinion of the committee, to the amount 
 which the United States owed to his father 
 when he suddenly died, and which has been 
 clearly established by documents referred to 
 
 31 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 in this report, is a just one, and the recom- 
 pense he seeks ought not to be longer delayed. 
 " Abundant proof is presented that Haym 
 Salomon rendered very essential aid to the 
 cause of the Revolution, and that he did so, 
 judging by so many of his acts, disinterestedly 
 and from a sincere and ardent love for human 
 freedom." 
 
 In the report submitted by the Committee 
 on Revolutionary Claims in the Senate, under 
 date July 2, 1865, the justice of the claim was 
 again affirmed, and a further attestation of the 
 remarkable public spirit of Haym Salomon 
 was made, in these words, viz. : 
 
 " It is also proven by the vouchers before 
 your committee that Haym Salomon provided 
 the means to support the ambassador of the 
 King of Spain, Don Francisco Rendon, who 
 was in secret alliance with the Revolutionary 
 Government, and whose supplies were cut off 
 by the British cruisers. This fact was ac- 
 knowledged in an official letter from that 
 minister to the Governor-General of Cuba, 
 and the original orders, uncancelled, to the 
 amount of ten thousand Spanish dollars, are 
 before your committee, showing that the 
 amount was never paid. But the memorialist 
 does not nor never has asked this Government 
 to pay that sum. 
 
 32 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 " All the former reports from the commit- 
 tees of both houses show that Haym Salomon 
 supported from his private means many of the 
 principal men of the Revolution, who other- 
 wise, as stated by themselves, could not have 
 attended to their public duties, among whom 
 are mentioned Jefferson, Madison, Lee, Steu- 
 ben, Mifflin, St. Clair, Blond, Jones, Monroe, 
 Wilson and others." 
 
 The unsecured loans of Haym Salomon in 
 the Nation's supreme crisis, like Washing- 
 ton's advance of $64,000, at an earlier period, 
 out of his own purse, with no other security 
 but his own faith in the cause, to pay his daily 
 expenses, while he was leading their armies, 
 inspired the confidence that made men rally 
 'round the flag. Even so Jeremiah purchased 
 a field in Anathoth, in the days when Judah 
 was captive under Babylon, paying down 
 seventeen shekels of silver as a token of his 
 faith that the land would some day be de- 
 livered from the enemy and restored to peace- 
 ful habitation. Washington's pledge of prop- 
 erty to liberty was repaid by a grateful people 
 — but for his services, not a dollar. 
 
 The men who stood with Washington were 
 
 33 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 recklessly rash in the pursuit of their Ideals. 
 John Dickinson said: " It is not our duty to 
 leave wealth to our children, but it is our duty 
 to leave liberty to them. We have counted 
 the cost of this contest and find nothing so 
 dreadful as voluntary slavery." 
 
 Samuel Adams, hungry and poorly clad, 
 rejected with scorn the offer of a profitable 
 ofl^ce, wealth, a title even, to turn him from 
 his allegiance to America. 
 
 John Adams wrote to his wife: "I have 
 accepted a seat in the House of Representa- 
 tives and thereby have consented to my own 
 ruin, to your ruin and to the ruin of our chil- 
 dren." 
 
 She replied: " I am willing, in this cause, 
 to run all the risks with you and be ruined 
 with you if you are ruined." 
 
 Benjamin Franklin, past seventy, then the 
 most celebrated man in all America, accepted 
 the dangerous mission to France, saying: " I 
 am old and good for nothing, but as the 
 storekeepers say of the remnants of cloth, ' I 
 am but a fag end and you may have me for 
 what you please.' " 
 
 34 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 America has honored these patriotic men 
 and justly so, by high places in her history, 
 and as we sing their praises we are inspired 
 with the invincible determination to give our 
 country to our children as we got It from our 
 fathers, a free and Independent Nation, but 
 this man, Haym Salomon, who, renouncing 
 the maxim of worldly wisdom which says, 
 ** Get all you can and keep all you get," gave 
 all he had to the cause of America, gave it 
 in a crucial moment, when money alone saved 
 the day, and when, had he kept it, he could 
 have made millions, and it is only just to 
 ask that future writers of American history 
 acknowledge " the little Jew," the real finan- 
 cier of the American Revolution. Shall not 
 the people of this peerless, unrivalled, unap- 
 proached and unapproachable Republic, now 
 In the days of their prosperity, erect to this 
 early benefactor a monument at Washington, 
 a memorial to this ardent lover of human free- 
 dom, who did In his little office In Front Street, 
 Philadelphia, for the Nation's credit, what 
 Washington did on the field of battle for the 
 people's freedom? 
 
 35 
 
Bibliography 
 
 A. U. S. Government Reports on Haym 
 Salomon Claim 
 
 Rep. F. A. Talmadge, April 26, 1848, 
 House Reports, No. 504, 30th Congress, ist 
 sess., Vol. III. 
 
 Report of Senator J. D. Bright, July 28, 
 1848. Senate Reports No. 219, 30th Con- 
 gress, ist sess. 
 
 Report of Senator I. P. Walker, August 9, 
 1850. Senate Reports, No. 177, 31st Con- 
 gress, ist sess., 'Vol. I. 
 
 Report of Senator Charles Durkee, March 
 9, i860. Senate Reports, No. 127, 36th 
 Congress, ist sess.. Vol. I. 
 
 Report of Senator M. S. Wilkinson, July 
 2, 1862. Senate Reports, No. 65, 37th Con- 
 gress, 2d sess. 
 
 Senate Reports, June 24, 1864, No. 93, 
 37th Congress, 2d sess. 
 36 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 Senate Report to 31st Congress. 
 
 Papers of the Continental Congress, No. 
 41, Vol. IX, p. 58. 
 
 The House Report (No. 2,556 to accom- 
 pany H. R. 7,896) summarizes the efforts 
 made in previous Congresses and reprints 
 in full the Senate Report to the 37th 
 Congress. 
 
 B. Books and Articles 
 
 Adams, Herbert B., Haym Salomon : 
 
 Publication, American Jewish Historical 
 Society, No. 2, pp. 15-19. 
 
 Daly, Judge Charles Patrick : 
 
 Settlement of the Jews in North America. 
 Edited by Max J. Kohler, New York, 1893; 
 pp. 58-60. 
 
 Hollander, Jacob H. : 
 
 Some further references relating to Haym 
 Salomon. Publications of the American Jew- 
 ish Historical Society, Vol. Ill (1895) 5 PP- 
 
 7-1. 
 
 Jewish Encyclopedia, Vol. X (1905) ; pp. 
 
 653-655. 
 
 Magnus, Lady Kate : 
 
 37 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 Outlines of Jewish History, Philadelphia, 
 1890; p. 350. 
 
 Madison, James: 
 
 Writings (Hunt), 228-242. 
 
 Markens, Isaac: 
 
 The Hebrews in America, New York, 
 1888; pp. 66-70. 
 
 Morris, Robert: 
 
 Diary (in Mss.), in Library of Congress, 
 Washington, 
 
 Salomon, Haym M. : 
 
 Two letters relating to Haym Salomon. 
 Publications of the American Jewish Histor- 
 ical Society, No. 16 (1907), pp. 189-192. 
 
 38 
 
II 
 
 Other Jewish Patriots of 
 the Revolution 
 
 HAYM SALOMON was not the only 
 Jew who sacrificed his fortune for 
 Independence, for we find that 
 among the signers of the bills of credit for 
 the Continental Congress, in 1776, were Ben- 
 jamin Levy, of Philadelphia, and Benjamin 
 Jacobs, of New York. Samuel Lyon, of New 
 York, was among the signers of similar bills 
 In 1779. Isaac Moses, of Philadelphia, con- 
 tributed $15,000 to the Colonial Treasury, 
 and Herman Levy, another Philadelphlan, re- 
 peatedly advanced considerable sums for the 
 support of the army in the field. Manuel 
 Mordecai Noah, of South Carolina, not only 
 served in the army, as an officer on Washing- 
 ton's staff, and likewise with General Marion, 
 39 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 but gave $100,000 to further the cause in 
 which he was enhsted. 
 
 Among the patriots of the South none 
 worked more unselfishly than Mordecai Shef- 
 tall, " Chairman of the Rebel Parochial Com- 
 mittee," organized to regulate the internal af- 
 fairs of Savannah and composed of patriots, 
 opposed to the royal government, and who, 
 after active hostilities were begun in the 
 South, was appointed Commissary-General to 
 the troops of Georgia in July, 1777, and soon 
 thereafter was also appointed Commissary to 
 the Continental troops; and when the British 
 attacked Savannah in December, 1778, Shef- 
 tall's name appears not only foremost among 
 the patriot-defenders of that city and as one 
 who advanced considerable money to the 
 cause, but as one who was placed on board 
 the prison ship because of his refusal to flock 
 to the royal standard. In 1780, when the 
 British authorities passed the disqualifying 
 act, we find the name of Mordecai Sheftall 
 near the head of the list with the most promi- 
 nent patriot names of Georgia. 
 
 Among the 600 Jews of Charleston, S. C, 
 40 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 then the largest Jewish city in America, there 
 was not one Tory. 
 
 The Jews in New York were not on a foot- 
 ing of political equality with Christians until 
 the adoption of the first constitution of the 
 State of New York, in 1777, New York hav- 
 ing been the first State actually granting full 
 religious liberty to the Jews, Even in Mary- 
 land, to which Bancroft has referred as 
 among the first colonies which " adopted re- 
 ligious freedom as the basis of the State," re- 
 ligious freedom was limited to those who be- 
 lieved in Jesus Christ, and accompanied by a 
 proviso, which declared that any person who 
 denied the Trinity should be punished with 
 death. Even after the Revolution, though 
 under the Constitution of the United States 
 a Jew was eligible to any office, no one could 
 hold any office under the government of 
 Maryland without signing a declaration that 
 he believed In the Christian religion. These 
 intolerant provisions were not repealed in 
 Maryland until February 26, 1825. 
 
 Though subjected to civil disabilities and 
 unreasonable demands in most of the States, 
 41 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 where they had settled prior to the Revolu- • 
 tion, yet the Colonial cause found among the 
 Jews its staunchest friends. Freely they gave 
 their lives for Independence and aided with 
 their money, to equip and maintain the armies 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 The Non-Importation Resolution In 1765, 
 the first organized movement In the agitation 
 for separation from the mother country — a 
 document still preserved in Carpenter's Hall, 
 Philadelphia — contains the following Jewish 
 names : Benjamin Levy, Samson Levy, Joseph 
 Jacobs, Hayman Levy, Jr., David Franks, 
 Mathias Bush, Michael Gratz, Bernard Gratz 
 and Moses Mordecal. 
 
 The decision reached in New York, In 
 1770, to make more stringent the Non-Im- 
 portation Agreement, which Colonists had 
 adopted to bring England to terms on the tax- 
 ation question, had among Its signers, Samuel 
 Judah, Hayman Levy, Jacob Moses, Jacob 
 Meyers, Jonas Phillips and Isaac Seixas. 
 
 Cyrus Adler recently called attention to the 
 following incident, based on the unpublished 
 letter of Jared Sparks: " At the outbreak of 
 42 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 the Revolutionary War, a Mr. Gomez, of 
 New York, proposed to a member of the Con- 
 tinental Congress that he form a company of 
 soldiers for service. The member of Con- 
 gress remonstrated with Mr. Gomez on the 
 score of age, he being then sixty-eight, to 
 which Mr. Gomez replied that he ' could stop 
 a bullet as well as a younger man.' " 
 
 Colonel Isaac Franks became aide-de-camp 
 to Washington, holding the rank of Colonel 
 on his staff and served with distinction 
 throughout the war. 
 
 Major Benjamin Nones, a native of Bor- 
 deaux, France, who came to America in 1777, 
 served on the staffs of both Lafayette and 
 Washington. He entered service under Pu- 
 laski, as a private, and as he writes: " fought 
 in almost every action which took place in 
 Carolina, and in the disastrous affair of Sa- 
 vannah shared the hardships of that sangui- 
 nary day." He became Major of a legion of 
 four hundred men, attached to Baron de 
 Kalb's command and composed in part of He- 
 brews. 
 
 Colonel David S. Franks, of Montreal, 
 
 43 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 openly sympathized with and aided the Amer- 
 icans under Generals Montgomery and Ar- 
 nold during their invasion of Canada, and 
 was forced to flee from Canada in 1776, when 
 the American forces abandoned the country. 
 The name of David S. Franks appeared on 
 Governor Carleton's list of twenty-nine per- 
 sons, sent to the British Ministry early in 
 I777> "being the principal persons who set- 
 tled in the province who very zealously served 
 the rebels in the winter of 1 775-1 776, and 
 fled upon their leaving it." Franks, who left 
 Canada with the intention of joining the 
 American Army, although his course in this 
 matter resulted in heavy pecuniary losses in 
 his business affairs and also alienated him 
 from his father, became aide-de-camp to Ar- 
 nold, intrepid, zealous, and able soldier that 
 he was, until jealousy, extravagance and spite 
 led him to take up the traitor's role. Franks 
 gave testimony to Mrs. Arnold's innocence 
 of all complicity in her husband's treason. 
 Suspicions were aroused against Franks on 
 account of Arnold's treason, but after a 
 searching inquiry into his conduct, he was not 
 44 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 only acquitted, but was sent to Europe with 
 important dispatches to Jay and Franklin, 
 with instructions to await their orders. In 
 a letter from Robert Morris to Franklin, 
 dated Philadelphia, July 13, 178 1, we read: 
 " The bearer of the letter, Major Franks, 
 formerly aide-de-camp to General Arnold, 
 and honorably acquitted of all connection with 
 him, after a full and Impartial inquiry, will 
 be able to give you our public news more par- 
 ticularly than I could relate them." 
 
 Philip Moses Russell, in the spring of 
 1775, enlisted as a surgeon's mate under com- 
 mand of General Lee. After the British oc- 
 cupation of Philadelphia in September, 1777, 
 he became surgeon's mate to Surgeon Nor- 
 man of the Second Virginia Regiment. Rus- 
 sell went into the winter quarters with the 
 army at Valley Forge, 1 777-1 778. 
 
 Sickness forced him to resign in August, 
 1780. He received a letter of commendation 
 from General Washington " for his assidu- 
 ous and faithful attentions to the sick and 
 wounded." 
 
 Solomon Bush, Emanuel de la Motta, Ben- 
 45 
 
Haym Salomon 
 
 jamin Ezekiel, Jason Sampson, Ascher Levy, 
 Nathaniel Levy, David Hays and his son 
 Jacob, Reuben Etting, Jacob L Cohen, Major 
 Lewis Bush, Aaron Benjamin, Moses Bloom- 
 field, Isaac Israel and Benjamin Moses are 
 the names of a few of the other Jews who 
 distinguished themselves upon the battlefields 
 of the Revolution. 
 
 A pretty good record is it not, when we 
 remember that there were only 3,000 Jews 
 — men, women and children, in the Colonies 
 at the time of the Revolution? 
 
 The commemoration of the first battlefield 
 of the Revolutionary War was made possible 
 through a Jew. Upon learning that Amos 
 Lawrence, of Boston, had pledged himself to 
 give $10,000 to complete the Bunker Hill 
 monument, if any other person could be found 
 to give a like amount, Judah Touro, of New 
 Orleans, who came to the aid of Andrew Jack- 
 son during the memorable defense of that 
 city, immediately sent a check for the amount. 
 In the History of Bunker Hill Monument, 
 which was published by George Washington 
 Warren, appears the following tribute to Ju- 
 46 
 
The Financier of the Revolution 
 
 dah Touro : " He was one of that smallest of 
 all classes into which mankind can be divided 
 — of men who accumulate wealth without 
 ever doing a wrong, taking an advantage, or 
 making an enemy; who become rich without 
 being avaricious; who deny themselves the 
 comforts of life that they may acquire the 
 means of promoting the comfort and elevat- 
 ing the condition of their fellowmen." At a 
 dinner given at Faneuil Hall on June 17, 
 1843, to celebrate the completion of the mon- 
 ument, the two great benefactors of the asso- 
 ciation were remembered by the following 
 toast : 
 
 " Amos and Judah, venerated names, 
 Patriarch and Prophet press their equal 
 
 claims; 
 Like generous coursers running neck and 
 
 neck. 
 Each aids the work by giving it a check. 
 Christian and Jew, they carry out one plan, 
 For, though of different faiths, each is in 
 
 heart a man." 
 
 47 
 
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