THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
January 30, 1976 39
Revolutionary Patriot Salomon Had Many Roles
Editor's Note: The
American Jewish Histori-
• cal Society is currently
preparing for publication
\, volume dealing with
'Ilaym Salomon's life
. which will include all of
his known remaining pap-
ers. A number of histori-
ans will contribute essays
to this volume which will
assess the various roles of
_Salomon as broker, pa-
triot and Jew during his
lifetime. Publication of
this volume is slated for
1976 under the direction of
the Society's Librarian-
Editor, Dr. Nathan M. Ka-
ganoff.
Of the Jews present in
merica during the Revolu-
onary period, the best
known is Haym Salomon
(1740-1785). Not only is Sal-
omon famous for his own
deeds but he has come to
symbolize the Jewish pa-
=triot who lent financial sup-
port to the Revolutionary
) forces when their fortunes
and future were low.
Very little is known about
, Salomon's early life. He was
2 born in Lissa, Poland in
• 1740, and traveled exten-
sively through Europe. He
arrived in New York about
1775 and soon cast his lot
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with the American rebels.
After New York was occu-
pied by the British, he was
arrested as a spy and con-
fined in the Provost, the
dreaded military prison.
Because of his knowledge
of several European lan-
guages, Salomon was re-
leased from prison through
the intervention of Gen.
Heister and became a purve-
yor of supplies for the Hes-
sian commander. While act-
ing as interpreter for the
Hessians, he attempted to
talk several into deserting
the British side. The British
learned of this and issued
orders for Salomon's arrest,
but he managed to escape to
Philadelphia, leaving his
family and fortune behind.
All this is recounted in a
memorial submitted to the
Continental Congress.
After escaping from
New York to Philadelphia
in 1778, Salomon soon es-
tablished himself as a
broker. His various news-
paper advertisements and
extant correspondence
show his rapid advance
from an obsucre business-
man to the authorized
broker of the Office of Fi-
nance of the American
Revolution.
When Robert Morris was
appointed Superintendent
of the Office of Finance on
May 10, 1781, American
credit was extremely low. A
broker was needed who
could convert the foreign
bills of exchange from
France and Spain, who un-
derstood European finance
and was honest. For this he
chose Salomon. Of the 25
brokers then active in Phila-
delphia, Morris selected the
man who was already serv-
ing as the broker for France,
the government with whom
the Americans were most
involved.
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Although Salomon was
not the largest broker in
Philadelphia, his reputation
was beyond question, and
his signature on a note
made the endorsement
"undeniable".
In addition to Salomon's
brokerage activity with the
Office of Finance, he also
helped out a number of pub-
lic figures with monetary
loans.
In addition to what we
know of Salomon as a
businessman and financial
broker, we have evidence
of his activity in Jewish
community affairs. Salo-
mon provided approxi-
mately one-fourth of the
money raised for the build-
ing of the synagogue Mik-
veh Israel in Philadelphia.
He served as treasurer of
the Ezrath Orechim — the
Society for Destitute
Strangers — in Philadel-
phia.
Salomon also appears to
have been involved in the
first recorded instance of a
Jewish court of arbitration
in the New World. In a let-
ter now located in the li-
brary of the Jewish Theo-
logical Seminary of
America, Salomon was
asked by Rabbi David Tevele
Schiff of London to help set-
tle a claim against an Amer-
ican, originating in Poland
and involving settlement of
an estate.
In 1776 the new State
Constitution enacted in
Pennsylvania included the
following oath to be taken
by each member elected to
the General Assembly:
"I do acknowledge the
Scriptures of the Old and
New Testaments to be given
by divine Inspiration."
The governing board of
Cong. Mikveh Israel, of
which Salomon was a
member, petitioned the
Council of Censors that
this restrictive clause be
eliminated. The passage
of the Bill of Rights in
the Federal Constitution
which declared that Con-
gress shall make no law
respecting an established
religion resolved the issue.
Salomon died in 1785 and
was interred in the Mikveh
Israel cemetery in Philadel-
phia. The site of his grave is
unknown. His estate, re-
ported at $350,000, was pri-
marily in depreciated certif-
icates of indebtedness and
Continental currency. His
debts actually exceeded his
assets and Salomon's young
wife and four children were
left in distress.
This financial situation at
Salomon's death may have
partly accounted for his
subsequent legendary eleva-
tion to the role of "financier
of the Revolution."
His son, Haym M. Salo-
mon, petitioned Congress
several times for compensa-
tion of the sums which his
father had advanced to the
Revolutionary cause which
he said contributed to his
father's insolvency at his
death. The question of Salo-
mon's personal contribution
has as yet not been histori-
cally determined and his
son's claims against the gov-
ernment have only served to
confuse the issues.
Over the years more
than a dozen bills were in-
troduced in Congress to
compensate the Salomon
family or otherwise honor
Haym Salomon for his
work. None of these were
ever enacted.
The earliest recorded bio-
graphical sketch of Haym
Salomon was probably writ-
ten by his son about 1845.
Since that date, numerous
additional biographies have
appeared. They are filled
with conflicting evidence,
often with errors of fact,
misinformation or unsub-
stantiated evidence.
Salomon's memory has
endured great swings of
popularity. Numerous her-
oic deeds and actions have
been attributed to him over
the years which have then
been resoundingly dis-
claimed by detractors who,
in their enthusiasm, will
refute those activities of
Salomon's for which there is
solid evidence. One of the er-
rors of fact includes: no
proof has as yet been found
that Salomon actually lent
his own money or gave away
his personal fortune for the
Revolutionary cause. Rather
he served as a broker who
negotiated the sale of drafts
and foreign loans by the
governments of France and
Holland and thus supplied
the Revolutionary forces
with needed cash to meet
their bills.
There have been several
attempts to honor the
memory of Salomon. In
1803, a resolution was
Israeli Warns
Against Schisms
NEW YORK — An Israeli
editor and educator, while
recognizing the validity of
continued debate on reli-
gious vs. secular attitudes in
Israel and in Jewish life,
calls for Jews to exhibit the
"moral strength to view
Jewish nationality as the
`oneness' of the Jewish peo-
ple" in order to avoid possi-
bly fatal schisms in Israel.
Zvi Yaron, editor of the
Jerusalem publication
Forum, who is also an exec-
utive of the Jewish Agency
and a teacher at the Hebrew
University, warns of the
dangers of emotional strife
between believers and secu-
larists in - a featured article,
"Religion in Israel," in the
1976 edition of the Ameri-
can Jewish Year Book,
which has just been pub-
lished.
The year book is pub-
lished by the American Jew-
ish Committee and the Jew-
ish Publication Society of
America.
Two Eyes
Every human being is
endowed by his Maker with
two eyes. With one he is
expected to look at his
neighbor, fastening his gaze
on his virtues, his excell-
ences, his desirable quali-
ties. With the other eye, he
is to turn inward to see his
own weaknesses, his imper-
fections, and his shortcom-
ings, in order to correct
them. —Israel Salanter
presented in the United
States Congress to strike a
medal in Salomon's mem-
ory but was not approved.
Legislation to erect a sta-
tue in Washington, D.C.
was proposed in 1925 but
also not approved. In 1929,
the Federation of Polish
Jews initiated action to
erect a statue in New York
to memorialize Salomon
which generated a great
deal of controversy but
which produced no results.
The first statue to appear
was erected in Chicago in
1936 under the auspices of
the Patriotic Foundation of
Chicago. The sculptor was
Lorado Taft. A second sta-
tue was erected in Los An-
geles. During this past year,
in anticipation of the Bicen-
tennial, many commemora-
tive events have taken place:
a special medal was created
by Paul Vincze on behalf of
the Magnes Museum in
Berkeley, Calif.; the munici-
pality of Chicago and Los
Angeles County each pro-
claimed an official Haym
Salomon Day; a subway
train in Chicago was also
named the Haym Salomon
train; on March 25, 1975 the
United States Postal Service
issued a series of four
stamps for four lesser
known heroes of the Revolu-
tionary War, one of which is
devoted to Salomon.
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