Jewish Americans: Securing Rights and Responsibility to Others

Americans have fundamental rights guaranteed by the Constitution, yet access to those rights by members of 
minoritized groups has been uneven. Jewish Americans have at times, enjoyed religious, political, and civil rights–and at other times, they have had to push for equal treatment. Either way, Jewish Americans have demonstrated that exercising rights also carries the responsibility to care for others to create a more perfect union.

Jewish People in Early America

Although Americans often think of their early history in terms of the Pilgrims, Puritans, and other Christian settlers who came to North America in search of religious freedom, the religious history of the United States is considerably more complicated. From the early decades of European settlement in what would become the United States, Jewish residents have been an integral part of the struggles to make the United States live up to its founding ideals and extend Constitutional rights to all.

Following their expulsion from Brazil, the initial influx of Jewish immigrants to what would become the United States were granted permission by the Dutch to settle in the New Netherland colony (an area that extends across present-day New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware) in 1655. Over the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, congregations grew steadily in New York; Newport, Rhode Island; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; and other colonial cities. Jewish colonists, however, faced antisemitism (hostility or discrimination against Jewish people on religious, ethnic, or racial grounds) that limited their ability to vote, hold office, practice law, and gain citizenship. Restrictions varied by colony.¹

Restrictions on political activity continued into the Revolutionary era. In Massachusetts, for example, the 1780 state constitution required that officeholders swear “that I believe the Christian religion, and have a firm persuasion of its truth.”² Other states had similar requirements. With the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, Jewish Americans took a significant step toward equal political rights. Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution stipulates that “no religious Test shall ever be required as a  Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” Thus, on paper, Jewish citizens could participate in the country’s administration on an equal footing with others. Similarly, the First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” guaranteeing that Jewish Americans (and others) would be neither forced to conform to a state religion nor constrained from practicing their own freely. This freedom of religion provided by the Constitution was in marked contrast to the situation Jewish people faced in many parts of Europe–where they were severely constrained, often confined to specific districts, limited to certain professions, and prohibited from serving in government.

Jewish Americans recognized that the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution were both revolutionary and precarious. In August 1790, the newly-inaugurated President George Washington visited Newport, Rhode Island. During the visit, Moses Seixas, warden of Congregation Jeshuat Israel and a first-generation Jewish American whose parents came from Portugal, presented an address to the president in which he praised the new government as one that deemed “every one, of whatever Nation, tongue, or language, equal parts of the great governmental Machine.” He contrasted the United States with earlier governments that deprived Jewish residents “of the invaluable rights of free Citizens” and gave thanks “For all the Blessings of civil and religious liberty which we enjoy under an equal and benign administration.”³ By addressing Washington, Seixas invoked the protection of the nation’s most prominent leader for these new rights.

Washington assured Seixas that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance.” He supported religious equality for Jewish citizens as their right, noting that “It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights.” Instead, Washington wrote, “. . . all possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.”⁴ Washington’s words established a foundation upon which future generations would build.

Photo caption

Interior photo of Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island. 

Library of Congress

Rights and Responsibilities in a Changing Nation

While working to secure their own rights, as granted by the U.S. Constitution, many Jewish Americans also recognized it as their responsibility to help others. Over the course of the nineteenth century, Jewish Americans founded numerous benevolent organizations to assist community members in need, providing monetary donations, material aid, education, and moral support. In 1802, the Hebrew Orphan Society was founded in Charleston, South Carolina to help widows, orphans, and children living in extreme poverty. Many other Jewish Americans followed suit and established their own charitable organizations. In 1819, Rebecca Gratz founded the Female Hebrew Benevolent Society, the first independent organization established by Jewish people to serve Jewish people in Philadelphia. B’nai B’rith, a mutual aid society organized to perform traditional charitable functions such as helping widows and orphans, was founded in New York in 1843. The United Order of True Sisters, the first national Jewish women’s organization conceived as a female counterpart to B’nai B’rith, quickly followed suit in 1846. Collectively, these benevolent groups were part of an effort by Jewish American citizens (often women) to take responsibility for the well-being of their coreligionists and for helping to build a stronger nation in which care was provided for individuals in need.

Shortly before the Civil War, a group of New York businessmen, philanthropists, and religious leaders established the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, a civil and political rights organization. Among its goals was to ensure that the civil and religious rights of Jewish people were respected, both within the United States and abroad.⁵ During the Civil War, political and military leaders initially saw no need to include Jewish chaplains in the Union Army. The first law authorizing chaplains, signed by President Abraham Lincoln on July 22, 1861, stipulated that they must be ordained members of a Christian denomination. The Board of Delegates of American Israelites sprang into action with a publicity campaign to lobby President Lincoln and Congress for a new, inclusive law. They were successful, and a new law allowing rabbis to be commissioned as chaplains was signed by President Lincoln on July 17, 1862.⁶

During the Vicksburg Campaign in December 1862, General Ulysses S. Grant issued General Orders No. 11. This order expelled Jewish residents from Grant’s military district in parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, ostensibly for violating the “regulation of trade established by the Treasury Department, and also Department orders.”⁷ The Board of Delegates of American Israelites, along with representatives of the affected Jewish communities, issued heated protests to federal representatives in Washington, including President Lincoln. Lincoln revoked the order, which had received considerable negative attention in the national press, and Grant later expressed regret for having issued it in the first place. Through these efforts, Jewish Americans stood up in protest when their rights were violated and reversed unjust orders.⁸

Photo caption

The Board of Delegates of American Israelites sent these resolutions to President Lincoln protesting General Grant’s General Orders No. 11 in 1863. 

Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress

As Jewish Americans built their lives in the United States in the decades after the Civil War, religious leaders came together to formulate governing principles that would influence their religious lives and civic responsibilities. In 1885, religious leaders adopted the Pittsburgh Platform, which solidified the position of Reform Judaism and called for adherents to adopt a modern practice of their faith. Among its tenets was the belief that “we deem it our duty to participate in the great task of modern times, to solve, on the basis of justice and righteousness, the problems presented by the contrasts and evils of the present organization of society.”⁹ Although Reform Judaism’s guiding principles were revised over the course of the twentieth century, the focus on social justice remained central, with the 1937 Columbus Platform declaring that Judaism “aims at the elimination of man-made misery and suffering, of poverty and degradation, of tyranny and slavery, of social inequality and prejudice, of ill-will and strife.”¹⁰ These tenets helped guide Jewish Americans as they advocated for their rights and the rights of others.

By the early twentieth century, Jewish benevolent organizations noted that both rising antisemitism and crowded conditions in the urban areas of the East Coast posed hardships for Jewish immigrants. To ease the burden on immigrants, these organizations developed an immigrant assistance plan that included guidance through the immigration process and help getting settled in a new location. An important part of the plan was identifying a new entry port to alleviate crowding in places like New York City. The Jewish Immigrant Information Bureau sought a city where immigrants could be processed quickly, with the hope that they could then proceed to access economic opportunities in the Midwest and West.

In what became known as the “Galveston Movement,” the Bureau selected the Port of Galveston, Texas. It was an established port with good rail connections and a small but supportive local Jewish community. Between 1907 and 1914, more than 10,000 Jewish immigrants entered the United States through the Port of Galveston. As ships arrived, Rabbi Henry Cohen of Temple B’nai Israel welcomed nearly every immigrant and helped them reach their new homes. Many settled in Texas and other parts of the American West–even as far afield as Fargo, North Dakota. Despite conflicts among organizing groups, economic challenges that hindered immigration, and the reluctance of many immigrants to settle in the rural West, the Galveston Movement exemplified one of the ways Jewish Americans endeavored to enact what they saw as their responsibility to help others. In this case, it helped Jewish immigrants to exercise their right to immigration and establish a new life in the United States.¹¹

Fighting for the Rights of All Americans

In the twentieth century, Jewish people in the United States continued and intensified their work to secure rights and combat antisemitism. The American Jewish Committee, which concerned itself with developments both in the United States and overseas, was founded in 1906 to “prevent infringement of the civil and religious rights of Jews and to alleviate the consequences of persecution.”¹² A few years later, in 1913, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith was created to counter rising antisemitism in the United States. This organization was founded in the wake of Leo Frank’s murder conviction in Atlanta, which many considered to be unjust and based primarily on antisemitism. The Anti-Defamation League protested unfair depictions of Jewish people in the media through boycotts, letters of protest, and other means. It also issued informational materials to help non-Jewish Americans learn about Judaism and the threats posed by antisemitism.¹³

Photo caption

Front page from The Southern Jewish Weekly on December 20, 1940. 

Library of Congress

In response to the entrenchment of fascism in Europe in the early 1930s, and in order to protest antisemitic laws and violence perpetrated under Adolf Hitler’s regime, American Jews orchestrated a boycott of German goods. During the 1930s and early 1940s, Jewish individuals and organizations, aware of how dire the situation was becoming for Jewish people in Europe, used petitions, newspaper articles, speeches, meetings with government officials, and rallies and marches to pressure the United States government and the international community to intervene. The American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, and others also joined together to monitor the activities of pro-Nazi organizations in the United States. After the war, Jewish aid organizations helped Jewish refugees resettle in the United States.¹⁴ During the latter half of the twentieth century, while Jewish Americans persisted in advocating for their own rights, many also actively participated in the campaign to secure civil rights for African Americans. As early as the 1910s, Jewish philanthropist Julius Rosenwald made significant donations to support Booker T. Washington’s efforts to build schools for African Americans across the South. White participants in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s were disproportionately Jewish–including about half of the students who took part in 1964’s Mississippi Freedom Summer.¹⁵ Rabbis Abraham Joshua Heschel, Maurice Davis, and several others marched with the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in Selma, Alabama, and Rabbi Heschel delivered a eulogy at King’s funeral.¹⁶ 

Although the involvement of Jewish Americans in the Civil Rights Movement was not without tensions, it was a significant experience for those who took part. For many, the fundamental tenets of the Civil Rights Movement dovetailed with both the recognition of the inherent right to equality and the corresponding responsibility to ensure rights for self and others.

Throughout the history of the United States, Jewish Americans have worked to secure for themselves and their families the full rights of citizenship in the face of persistent and pervasive antisemitism. At the same time, they recognized a responsibility to care for others and to work for social justice. Through their activism, they have claimed their place as citizens and have helped form our modern nation.

Works Cited

1. “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America,” Online Exhibition, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/; “Jews in British America,” The American Revolution, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.ouramericanrevolution.org/index.cfm/page/view/p0157.

2. “Religious Tests and Oaths in State Constitutions, 1776-1784,” Center for the Study of the American Constitution, University of Wisconsin-Madison, accessed November 15, 2023, https://csac.history.wisc.edu/document-collections/religion-and-the-ratification/religious-test-clause/religioustests-and-oaths-in-state-constitutions-1776-1784/.

3. Seixias’ address can be founder under Washington’s response at “From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790” Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration, accessed November 15, 2023, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135.

4. “From George Washington to the Hebrew Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, 18 August 1790,” Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration, accessed November 15, 2023, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/05-06-02-0135.

5. “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America,” Library of Congress.

6. Karen Abbott, “Rabbi-Chaplains of the Civil War,” The New York Times [New York, New York], December 11, 2011. https://archive.nytimes.com/opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/rabbi-chaplains-of-the-civil-war/.

7. “Ulysses S. Grant and General Orders No. 11,” Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site, National Park Service, last updated January 14, 2021, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/ulysses-s-grant-and-general-orders-no-11.htm.

8. “General Grant’s Notorious Order No. 11,” Abraham Lincoln Papers, Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/havenchallenges.html#obj10.

9. “Declaration of Principles: The Pittsburgh Platform–1885,” Central Conference of American Rabbis, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.ccarnet.org/rabbinic-voice/platforms/article-declaration-principles/.

10. “The Guiding Principles of Reform Judaism: The Columbus Platform–1937,” Central Conference of American Rabbis, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.ccarnet.org/rabbinic-voice/platforms/article-guiding-principles-reform-judaism/.

11. Jane Manaster, “Galveston Movement,” Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association, updated May 18, 2016, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/galveston-movement.

12. “Jewish Committee Meets: National Body to Protest Civil Rights—Officers Elected,” New York Times, November 11, 1907, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/11/11/104712077.pdf.

13. From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America, Timeline 1900s,” Library of Congress, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/haventohome/timeline/haven-timeline_3.html.

14. “From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America,” Library of Congress; “The United States and the Nazi Threat: 1933–1937,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Museum, updated September 9, 2022, accessed November 15, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-united-states-and-the-nazi-threat-1933-37; “The United States and the Holocaust, 1942–45,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Museum, updated March 30, 2023, accessed November 15, 2023, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theunited-states-and-the-holocaust-1942-45.

15. “The Rosenwald Schools: Progressive Era Philanthropy in the Segregated South (Teaching with Historic Places),” National Park Service, updated September 19, 2023, accessed November 15, 2023, https://www.nps.gov/articles/the-rosenwald-schools-progressive-era-philanthropy-in-thesegregated-south-teaching-with-historic-places.htm; Judith Rosenbaum, “Freedom Summer: Introductory Essay,” Living the Legacy: Civil Rights, Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed November 15, 2023, https://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/freedom-summer-introductory-essay.

16. Frye Gaillard, “The Rabbi and Dr. King,” Alabama Heritage from the Vault, July 24, 2023, https://www.alabamaheritage.com/from-the-vault/the-rabbi-and-dr-king; Jill Weiss Simins, “Walking with Dr. King: The Civil Rights Legacy of Rabbi Maurice Davis,” Indiana History Blog, Indiana State Library, January 9, 2019, https://blog.history.in.gov/tag/selma/.