New Yorkers, like all Americans, celebrate July 4 as the birthday of American independence. But October marks the anniversary of the victory that made it possible. It was 245 years ago today, Oct. 19, 1781, when Gen. George Washington forced the British Army, led by Lt. Gen. Charles Cornwallis, to surrender at Yorktown, Va. That decisive victory effectively secured American independence.
One of the men who helped finance that victory was a New Yorker whose name rarely appears in our history books: Haym Salomon.
Salomon’s story belongs to New York as much as it belongs to the nation. A Sephardic Jew born in Poland in 1740, he endured antisemitism in Europe. He came to America in 1775 and settled in Manhattan as revolution swept the colonies.
When the British occupied New York, Salomon’s activities became dangerous. Imprisoned as a suspected spy, he used his multilingual skills to quietly help American and French prisoners.
He escaped, but was soon in shackles again and sentenced to death. He managed to flee to Philadelphia in 1778. The fight for independence unfolded not only on battlefields, but in the streets of Manhattan.
In Philadelphia, Salomon joined Robert Morris, the principal financier of the Revolution, in financing the war effort. Salomon extended funds to James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and Thomas Jefferson to defray their living expenses. He neither asked for interest nor requested repayment. He donated money to soldiers and other Patriots.
In 1781, as the war dragged on, Washington had grown desperately short of funds. Encamped and unable to pay or supply his troops, he feared mutiny. He called upon Salomon and Morris for help. They generated $20,000 for the Yorktown campaign.
The war left the new republic without credit. Salomon, who had bought the nation’s debt, also personally guaranteed it. In 1785, he died at 44, likely from tuberculosis contracted in British prisons. With the government’s notes virtually worthless and his estate required to pay his guarantees, he died penniless.
Salomon was a freedom fighter, financial sponsor, and avowed patriot. He risked his life for American independence and sacrificed his fortune for the republic.
Rightfully, we celebrate Washington, Hamilton and Jefferson. New York claims Hamilton’s legacy, from shaping the nation’s finances to the Broadway musical. But their efforts also depended on Salomon, a Jewish immigrant. That omission leaves a hole in the history American and New Yorkers tell.
Salomon’s religion rendered him ineligible to serve in the Continental Congress. The political system Salomon helped create did not yet grant Jews political equality. During Salomon’s lifetime, Jews did not even have the right to vote. He helped initiate an effort to remove Pennsylvania’s requirement that officeholders swear allegiance on the Christian Bible, a change finalized after his death.
The American story was not just written by men whose names appear on our most prized documents. It was also built by people who, despite the odds, fought and sacrificed for freedoms they themselves were not permitted to enjoy.
That contradiction is precisely why Salomon belongs in our understanding of America’s founding.
Today, at a ceremony in Philadelphia, we will honor Salomon as America’s Jewish Founding Father near the resting place of thousands of Revolutionary War soldiers. At a time of rising antisemitism and arguments over who truly belongs in America, Salomon’s story reminds us that people of different faiths and backgrounds helped build this country, even before its promise fully included them.
Lazin serves as the Haym Salomon 250th Commemoration chair.