With President;s Day just behind us, it is a good time to learn about a Jew who, while not a president, enabled America's first president to take office in the newly created country called the United States of America. Heroes of the American Revolutionary War, such as Benjamin Franklin, John Hancock, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Paul Revere, are even familiar to schoolchildren. Yet, most American Jews have never heard of Haym Salomon, a Jew who was a hero of the American Revolution. Who was Haym Salomon? Early Years Haym Salomon was born in Leszno (Lissa), Poland, in 1740 to a Jewish family descended from Spanish and Portuguese Jews. His ancestors had migrated to Poland as a safe haven following the Spanish Inquisition and Expulsion. However, the Jewish villages in Poland were also vulnerable and were attacked on numberous occasions by vicious peasants. When Haym was young, one such pogrom threatened Lissa, and he fled to Holland. Salomon traveled to England and sailed to New York, which was already a thriving port and the center of commercial and shipping interests in North America. As he traveled through Western Europe towards safer havens, he acquired knowledge of finance and fluency in several languages, including German. He returned to Poland in 1770, but in the wake of the Polish partition in 1772, it seems he became involved in Poland's Nationalist Movement and was forced to flee the country again. In New York, Salomon married Rachel, daughter of Moses B. Franks. Rachel Franks was the sister to Colonel Isaac Franks, a Revolutionary officer of distinction, and to Mayer Isaac Franks, a Supreme Court of Pennsylvania judge. Salomon's knowledge of finance and accounting practices enabled him to find a job as a broker and commission agent for ships plying the Atlantic. As time would soon show, Salomon's impact would be vast, for he had arrived in America at one of the greatest moments of world history: The American Revolution. Joining the Revolution Salomon sympathized with the Patriot cause and joined the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty. For this reason, in September 1776, he was arrested as a spy. The British pardoned him, conditional on his spending 18 months on a British boat as an interpreter for Hessian soldiers, due to his knowledge of Polish, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Italian. Salomon used his position as interpreter to help prisoners of the British escape and encourage the Hessians to desert the British war effort. After Salomon was released from custody, he continued to work underground to sway Hessian allegiance. He was jailed a second time in August 1778 as one of several individuals suspected of planning a fire that would destroy the British royal fleet in New York harbor. He was sent to the infamous prison of Provost, and a death sentence loomed. However, Salomon used several gold guineas hidden on his person to bribe a jailer and escape to freedom. Financial Success Salomon left British-occupied New York and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At the time, Philadelphia was the center of the independence movement and home to the Continental Congress, the legislative body of the thirteen colonies since 1776. Salomon spoke before the Second Continental Congress, offering his services and requesting a position, but was turned down. With borrowed funds, he opened an office as a dealer of bills of exchange. His firm was located on Front Street, near the Coffee House where Colonial Army officers and members of the Continental Congress often gathered, and his business began to flourish. He also became the agent to the French consul and the paymaster for the French forces in North America. Financing The Last Years Of The American Revolutionary War By 1781, the revolutionary cause was in dire financial straits. The colonies were battling against a highly wealthy enemy, the British Empire. Keeping the American forces supplied with arms, food, and other supplies was daunting. In 1781, Salomon began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent of Finance for the Thirteen Colonies, to support the Revolution financially. The Congressional Record of March 25, 1975, reads: "When Morris was appointed Superintendent of Finance, he turned to Salomon for help in raising the money needed to carry on the war and later to save the emerging nation from financial collapse. Salomon advanced direct loans to the government and also gave generously of his own resources to pay the salaries of government officials and army officers. With frequent entries of "I sent for Haym Salomon," Morris' diary for the years 1781–84 records some 75 transactions between the two men." Incredibly, records from 1781–84 show that Salomon's fundraising and personal lending helped provide over $650,000 (Tens of Millions in current US dollars) to George Washington in his war effort! Salomon brokered the sale of most of the war aid from France and the Dutch Republic, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. Salomon also supported various Continental Congress members during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison and James Wilson. He requested below-market interest rates, and he never asked for repayment. Before the final revolutionary war battle at Yorktown, Salomon's financial contribution played a deciding role in America's future. In August 1781, the Continental Army had trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in the Virginian coastal town of Yorktown. George Washington, the main army, and Count de Rochambeau, with his French army, decided to march from the Hudson Highlands to Yorktown and deliver the final blow to the British. Washington's war chest was completely empty, as was that of Congress. Washington's troops were close to mutiny without food, uniforms, and supplies. Washington determined that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington gave him a simple but eloquent order: "Send for Haym Salomon." Salomon raised $20,000 through the sale of bills of exchange. With that contribution, Washington conducted the Yorktown campaign, which proved to be the Revolution's final battle. Proud and Observant Jew Salomon was involved in Jewish community affairs as a member of the Orthodox Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, also known as the "Synagogue of the American Revolution." It was founded in 1740 and is the fourth oldest synagogue continually in use in the United States. Salomon significantly contributed to the 1782 construction of the Congregation's main building. He also served as the Society for the Relief of Destitute Strangers treasurer, the first Jewish charitable organization in Philadelphia. Salomon was among the prominent Jews involved in the successful effort to have the Pennsylvania Council of Censors remove the religious test oath required for office-holding under the State Constitution. In 1784, Salomon answered anti-Semitic slanders in the press by stating: "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." An Untimely Death Sadly, Salomon contracted tuberculosis and died suddenly on January 8, 1785, at the age of 45. Due to the government's failure and private lenders' failure to repay debt incurred by the war, he was impoverished, and his family was left destitute after his passing. His obituary in the Independen t Gazetteer read, "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 professional skill and integrity and his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city." Neglected by a Young America When Salomon died at the age of 45, he was a bankrupt man with a wife, three children under the age of seven, and a fourth on the way. His estate was valued at $44,000 but had liabilities of $45,000. Not long after his death, his chief clerk, who could have been crucial to straightening out financial matters regarding the family debt, committed suicide. Attempts were made by his heirs over the next few years to obtain some retribution, but a series of suspect occurrences thwarted these challenges. It was alleged by the government, for instance, that papers concerning the Salomon estate claims were destroyed when government buildings in the District of Columbia were burned by the British in the War of 1812. Salomon's fourth child, Haym Jr., met with President John Tyler in the early 1840s and reportedly left a bundle of documents with him for his perusal. The box of papers later disappeared. The younger Salomon then petitioned the Senate Committee on Revolutionary Claims until 1864, when he was in his late seventies. He even offered to settle the claim at a sum of just $100,000. This was quite generous, considering that, with interest, the actual amount owed would have spiraled to a debt of grand proportions. At this, the Committee once more approved the claim's legitimacy and submitted it to Congress, but Congress again failed to support the expenditure. In the 1870s, a cache of Salomon papers remaining in Congressional archives was discovered to be missing. Many concerned financial dealings bore the signatures of Washington, Jefferson, and other historical figures. It is assumed that they were stolen for the value of these autographs. In 1893, Salomon's heirs petitioned Congress to strike a commemorative medal in honor of their patriotic forebear, with a Congressional appropriation submitted in the amount of $250, but this was also rejected. Future president Woodrow Wilson sat on a committee charged with the task of founding a university in Salomon's honor in 1911, but World War I derailed the project. Only one hundred and fifty years after his passing, Haym Salomon finally began to be recognized for his noble deeds to the young nation. In 1941, the writer Howard Fast wrote a book Haym Salomon, Son of Liberty. In 1939, Warner Brothers released Sons of Liberty, a short film about Salomon. During World War II, the United States liberty ship SS Haym Salomon was named in his honor. In 1941, a statue was dedicated in Downtown Chicago, depicting George Washington standing between and clasping the hands of Robert Morris and Haym Salomon, publicly recognizing the two men whose services were so vital in financing the Revolutionary War. In 1946, a memorial statue was erected to Salomon at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles. The statue was rededicated in 2008 at Pan-Pacific Park in the Fairfax District, where it can be found on the corner of Gardner and Third Street. In 1975, the United States Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp honoring Haym Salomon for his contributions to the cause of the American Revolution. Like others in the "Contributors to the Cause" series, this stamp was printed on the front and back. On the glue side of the stamp, the following words were printed in pale green ink: "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." In 1975, the writer Shirley Milgrim wrote a book Haym Salomon, Liberty's Son. In addition, there are fraternal orders, streets, historical markers, cemeteries, and even a nursing home named in his honor. The Legend of the Dollar Bill The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men develop a Seal for the new country. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to approve it. On the rear of the One Dollar bill, there are two circles. Together, they comprise the Great Seal of the United States. When one looks carefully at the arrangement of the 13 stars in the right-hand circle, they are arranged as a Star of David. The Numismatic Bibliomania Society recounts one version of how the Jewish symbol came to be found on the dollar note. "This was ordered by George Washington, who, when he asked Haym Solomon, a wealthy Philadelphia Jew, what he would like as a personal reward for his services to the Continental Army. Solomon said he wanted nothing for himself, but he would like something for his people," the story claims. "The Star of David was the result." Yet, most historians view that version as apocryphal: Washington had no input into the design of the Great Seal, and the original design specification for the Great Seal included no instructions about how the constellation of 13 stars on the obverse side should be arranged. The likely reason why artist Robert Scot chose to set that constellation of 13 stars into the shape of a hexagram when engraving the first die of the Great Seal in 1782 is unknown. Still, most assume it is because he was emulating the arrangement of stars on the first American flag. 19th Century Historian John L. Motley remarked, "Deeds, not stones, are the true monuments of the great." With his contributions and actions, Haym Salomon helped lay the foundation for the independence of the United States of America. Until today, we are all the beneficiaries of Haym Salomon's deeds and legacy. Rabbi Menachem Levine is the CEO of JDBY-YTT, the largest Jewish school in the Midwest. He served as Rabbi of Congregation Am Echad in San Jose, CA from 2007 – 2020. He is a popular speaker and has written for numerous publications. Rabbi Levine’s personal website is https://thinktorah.org .
