Rabbi Gershom Mendez Seixas—Growth of the Jewish community of Philadelphia on account of the War—Protest against the religious test clause in the Constitution of Pennsylvania—Benjamin Franklin contributes five pounds to Mickweh Israel—Secession of the German-Polish element—New Societies—Jewish lawyers; Judge Moses Levy—Congressman H. M. Phillips—The Bush family of Delaware—New Jersey and New Hampshire—North Carolina: the Mordecai family and other early settlers.
[CHAPTER] XV.
THE QUESTION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN VIRGINIA AND IN NORTH CAROLINA.
Little change in the basic systems of State institutions—Patrick Henry, Madison and Jefferson on religious liberty in Virginia—The similarity between the Virginia statute and the conclusions of Moses Mendelssohn pointed out by Count Mirabeau—The first congregation of Richmond—Article 32 of the Constitution of North Carolina against Catholics, Jews, etc.—How Jacob Henry, a Jewish member of the Legislature, defended and retained his seat in 1809—Judge Gaston’s interpretation—The first congregation of Wilmington, N. C.—Final emancipation in 1868.
[CHAPTER] XVI.
THE WAR OF 1812 AND THE REMOVAL OF JEWISH DISABILITIES IN MARYLAND.
The Jewish community almost at a standstill between the Revolution and the War of 1812—Stoppage of immigration and losses through emigration and assimilation—No Jews in the newly admitted States—The small number of Jews who fought in the second war with England included Judah Touro, the philanthropist—The Jewish disabilities in Maryland—A Jew appointed by Jefferson as United States Marshal for that State—The “Jew Bill” as an issue in Maryland politics—Removal of the disabilities in 1826.
[CHAPTER] XVII.
MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH AND HIS TERRITORIALIST-ZIONISTIC PLANS.
Noah’s family; his youth and his early successes as journalist and as dramatist—His appointment as Consul in Tunis and his recall—His insistence that the United States is not a Christian nation—Editor and playwright, High-Sheriff and Surveyor of the Port of New York—His invitation to the Jews of the world to settle in the City of Refuge which he was to found on Grand Island—Impressive ceremonies in Buffalo which were the beginning and the end of “Ararat”—His “Discourse on the Restoration of the Jews”—Short career on the bench—Jewish activities.