It is very unlikely that you know the name Haym Solomon. This is unfortunate, because he’s the guy who arranged financing to keep the Continental Army alive during its darkest days, finding the money to keep the revolution going when many were ready to throw in the towel. He was also instrumental in the founding of the Bank of North America – the country’s first “national” bank. Solomon’s contributions to the war and the founding of the nation, though seldom discussed, were of major importance.
Haym Solomon is born to a sephardic Jewish family in Poland in 1740. He travels widely through the banking and finance capitals of western Europe, learning a thing or two and then moving on. He arrives penniless in New York City via England as the colonies are on the cusp of revolution. His expertise with money, along with his ability to converse in several European languages, makes him extremely valuable to overseas traders – he becomes a financial broker to New York’s bustling merchant community.
Solomon also establishes what will become a key friendship with Scottish maniac Alexander MacDougall, a businessman and erstwhile “politician” who was known for his aggressive disdain for class systems, hereditary titles and everything else British rule in the colonies reminded him of from back home. MacDougall, a merchant seaman by trade and privateer (pirate) during the French and Indian wars, was the street leader of the Sons of Liberty in New York. He liked to surround himself with other self-made men like Solomon and he especially liked busting heads and railing against the King.
In the summer of 1776, the Sons of Liberty attempt to burn New York City to the ground, thus denying shelter to the British army stationed there. This was General Washington’s whim and the Sons nearly destroy a quarter of all standing buildings before being rounded up. Solomon is captured by the British army in September of that year and held for 18 months, some of that time confined on a boat and tortured as a spy. He successfully convinces his captors that he is more helpful to them as a translator and is employed as a liaison between the English officers and their Hessian mercenary allies.
Solomon uses this role to access enemy military installations and to undermine German support for the Brits. He is sabotaging from the inside, talking the Hessians out of fighting for the English king. When these insurgency activities are discovered, Solomon is arrested again. This time, he pulls out a gold coin that had been sewn into his clothes and bribes a guard to let him escape. He flees to Philadelphia and arranges for his wife and son to meet him there. For the second time, Solomon has arrived in a new American city penniless and forced to start over.
By this time, the tide has turned and the Continental Army is beginning to pile up victories. The army is still, however, massively underfunded. General Washington is without readily available cash and is hamstrung by this lack of financial flexibility. He makes frequent requests to the Continental Congress to send money, but very little money comes. Into this breach steps Haym Solomon, ready to serve in the capacity in which he is best suited – as broker to the fledgling America.
With his merchant finance business is up and running again, Solomon is now funneling his own personal profits from the enterprise directly to the revolution. According to records of the time, he extends no-interest “loans”, many of which were never repaid, to James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and even Don Francesco Rendon, the Spanish Court’s secret ambassador.
According to the Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation:
Three years after having arrived in in Philadelphia, 1781, Salomon’s extraordinary abilities and multilingualism, positioned him near the center of the American Revolutionary financial heart. He became the agent of the French consul and the paymaster to the newly allied French military forces in North America. The French, Dutch (through St. Eustatius) and the Spanish governments used Salomon to broker their loans helping finance the American Revolution.
Enormous loans passing through his brokerage business was converted into desperately needed specie for the American Revolutionary government and military. Paper money was almost never worth hard gold and silver. Salomon’s fees for his brokerage services to the struggling American government were extremely modest, if there were any at all. Perversely, partlybecause he was a Jew, the French, Dutch, Spanish and Americans alike viewed Jews in anti-Semitic stereotypical roles. They saw Jews as Shylocks from Shakespearian imagery. They saw Jews as medieval money lenders. Ironically their bigotry greased the way for Salomon’s success.
Salomon’s brokerage business became so big that he was the largest depositor in Robert Morris’ Bank of North America.
Solomon arranges some of the most crucial loans of the war effort and, working in concert with Robert Morris – the Revolution’s chief banker – becomes central to the colonials’ eventual victory. When George Washington sees his one-in-a-million opportunity to trap and destroy Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, it is money that is wanting and Solomon comes through. Washington can’t move his army into siege position to capitalize on Cornwallis’s historic error because an army on the march must be fed. Robert Morris turns once again to Solomon the broker, who comes up with the vital $20,000 when the Treasury itself is empty. Within a day, the French and American armies, flush with the funds necessary, make their way to Yorktown and surround the city. Cornwallis is cut off from supply lines and promptly gives up.
In the 1780’s, the United States is just getting off the ground as a new nation – but it is again short of funds, having borrowed from all over Europe and from just about every merchant of renown in the colonies. Once again, Morris and the founding fathers turn to their broker. “I sent for Salomon and desired him to try every way he could devise to raise money, and then went in quest of it myself…Salomon the broker came and I urged him to leave no stone unturned to find out money and means by which I can obtain it.”
Legend has it that in the aftermath of the war George Washington asked Haym Solomon what he wanted in return for his incredible service to the nation. Solomon allegedly said he wanted nothing for himself, but for the Jewish people to be recognized in some way. Washington is said to have arranged for the thirteen stars representing the colonies on the Great Seal of the United States of America to be laid out in the shape of a Star of David.
Haym Solomon will attempt to rebuild his fortune once again as it becomes apparent that the loans he’d been making to early America would not be paid back anytime soon. At the outset of 1785, he dies of tuberculosis at age 44. His estate is worth $350,000 at the time of his death, a paltry total in relation to the estimated $600,000 in principle and interest owed to him, money his family will never end up seeing.
Unlike the majority of the heroes of the American Revolution we are taught about in grade school, Solomon does not originally hail from Britain or the American colonies. He is not a statesman or a soldier or a wealthy landowner turned patrician Founding Father. But without his contributions and brokering skills, Washington’s army could not have been outfitted, armed and fed. The surrender at Yorktown that ended the war may not have been possible and the founding of the nation could not have been financed in the early going.
Haym Solomon was the nation’s financier when capital was scarce, credit was tight and everything depended on the flow of funds to keep the British on the run. He was the broker who saved America.
1740-1785
Revolutionary War Historical Article
Haym Salomon -The Revolution's Indispensable Financial Genius
By Donald N. Moran
Editor's Note: This article was reprinted from the October 1999 Edition of the Liberty Tree and Valley Compatriot Newsletter
Haym Salomon was born in Lesno, Poland in 1740. His parents were Jewish refugees from Portugal, who escaped religious persecution there. In his early twenties, he traveled throughout Europe acquiring an extensive knowledge of currency finance, that was to serve him well in his coming years.
After ten years of touring Europe he returned to Poland to join in that country's war with Russia. It is believed that he had to escape from the Russians, and decided on England. After earning enough money to pay for his passage to America he sailed in August, 1772. He arrived in New York City that winter.
In 1772, New York was a thriving colonial city of some 14,000 souls. Salomon soon learned that the colonies were in political turmoil over the issue of taxation without representation. Haym soon started a brokerage company and was very successful. His clientele included a large number of prominent loyalists, however, when word of the fighting at Lexington and Concord reached New York, Haym sided with the revolting Colonials and joined New York's active "Sons of Liberty". This was to get him into serious trouble.
New York City fell to the British on September 15th, 1776. Five days later a mysterious fire destroyed twenty-five percent of the city. 493 houses were burned, greatly inconveniencing the British Army that had planned on quartering their troops in these houses.
British General William Howe blamed the Sons of Liberty (He was probably right although no evidence has ever been found to substantiate it). George Washington reportedly said: "Providence, or some good honest fellow, has done more for us than we were disposed to do for ourselves". (Congress had forbidden Washington to destroy the city to deny the British it's use). In any case, before the British and citizens of New York City had put out all the fires, all known members of the Sons of Liberty found themselves in jail! Among them Haym Salomon.
A makeshift prison was set up in an old warehouse, called the "Old Sugar House". The building was in terrible condition and the prisoners suffered horribly. Salomon became ill with a severe chest cold (pneumonia?). He was transferred to the maximum security prison "The Provost" where his condition worsened. Haym noticed that the Hessian soldiers that were serving as guards did not speak English, and the British did not speak German. He let the British know he could speak German, without volunteering to be an interpreter. He did not want to be viewed as a British sympathizer. He was soon given the job and received better treatment, food and quarters.
During this time Salomon became a member of the American espionage ring. They operated in such secrecy that even today we know little of their activities, however, it appears that Salomon was responsible for encouraging more then 500 Hessian solders to desert to the American side! The British paroled him, not knowing of his other activities. However, two years later, he was again arrested, and this time taken to a prison called "Congress Hill". On August 11th, 1778, he was convicted of several capitol charges, all relating to his activities as a spy. He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, the next morning. He was returned to his cell to await his fate.
Haym Salomon had planned on this eventuality and had hidden some gold coins in his clothes. With them he bribed a guard, escaped and made his way to Philadelphia and safety.
In Philadelphia he reestablished hi s brokerage business from a coffee house and became known as a knowledgeable broker. In addition he was appointed by Congress as Postmaster to the French Army and Navy as well as to the Spanish, French and Dutch Ministers (Ambassadors). He did very well, and soon had created a new fortune.
About this time his ability to make money and serve the cause of American independence was noticed by Robert Morris, Congress's Minister of Finance. Haym started handling transactions for Congress. He did this for little or no remuneration, his continued contribution to the American cause. He made numerous personal loans to members of our fledging government, thus allowing many of them to stay in Philadelphia. It should be noted that these loans were from Haym's personal funds. Like Robert Morris, and other contributors, none were reimbursed or repaid.
In August of 1781, our Southern forces had trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in the little Virginia coastal town of Yorktown. George Washington and the main army and the Count de Rochambeau with his French army decided to march from the Hudson Highlands to Yorktown and deliver the final blow. But Washington's war chest was completely empty, as was that of Congress. 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". Haym again came through, and the $20.000 was raised. Washington conducted the Yorktown campaign, which proved to be the final battle of the Revolution, thanks to Haym Salomon.
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3rd, 1783, and ended the Revolutionary War, but the financial problems of the newly established Country were not. It was Haym Salomon who managed, time-after-time, to raise the money to bailout the debt ridden government.
The damage done to Salomon's health during his imprisonment is believed to have led to his contracting tuberculosis. At age 44, on January 6th, 1785, he succumbed to the disease, leaving his wife, Rachael (Franks) Salomon, and four young children. He was buried in the Mikveh Israel Cemetery, Philadelphia. His estate showed that he owned approximately $354,000 of Continental securities, but inflation had reduced the value of this substantial amount owed him to a mere $44,732. Against this asset, he owed $45,292. His estate was insolvent! Haym Salomon had died in bankruptcy.
Prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1789, Congress did not have the power to levee taxes, other then collect duty on imported goods. The overwhelming debt owed by the fledgling Nation far exceeded that of its meager income. Among the indebtedness obligating Congress was the need to provide pensions for those officers and soldiers who had been wounded while serving in the Continental army. This was their first priority. Repaying vast sums to a few creditors like Salomon and Morris, was outweighed by the number of disabled veterans desperately needing governmental support.
Haym's children attempted, on several occasions, to recover the monies owed, but they were always turned down. They even offered to accept a settlement of $100,000 - - but, Congress simply didn't have the money.
In 1925 a bill was introduced in Congress to erect a statue to Haym Salomon in Washington, D.C., but again, events interceded. The financial crash of 1929 caused the government to renege on the project. In 1926, Congress, did however, officially recognize the contribution to the American Revolution by Salomon, and passed a resolution placing a record of his efforts in the Congressional Record.
On December 15th, 1941, the City of Chicago erected the statue of George Washington, flanked by Haym Salomon and Robert Morris. It stands today at the intersection of Wabash and Wacker Drive. Under the image of Salomon it says "Haym Salomon - Gentlemen, Scholar, Patriot. A banker whose only interest was the interest of his Country. "
The twelve foot tall statue we rededicated on January 10, 1999, was sculpted by Robert Paine in 1941 and was originally placed in Hollenbeck Park in East Los Angeles in 1944. Because of vandalism, the statue was moved to MacArthur Park in 1953, and then again to West Wilshire Recreation Center of Pan Pacific Park at the request of the Los Angles Council of the Jewish War Veterans of America, who paid all the relocation expenses.
On March 25th, 1975, in time for the bicentennial, the United States Post Office issued a commemorative postage stamp which honored him as a Revolutionary War hero. It depicted him seated at a desk. On the front side of the stamp are the words "Financial Hero". And, for only the second time in 143 years of U.S. stamps, a message appeared on the back of this stamp, reading:
"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. "
| Haym Salomon (ca. 1740 - 1785) | |
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 | by Bob Blythe
 Salomon (sometimes written as Solomon and Solomons in period documents) was a Polish-born Jewish immigrant to America who played an important role in financing the Revolution. When the war began, Salomon was operating as a financial broker in New York City. He seems to have been drawn early to the Patriot side and was arrested by the British as a spy in 1776. He was pardoned and used by the British as an interpreter with their German troops. Salomon, however, continued to help prisoners of the British escape and encouraged German soldiers to desert. Arrested again in 1778, he was sentenced to death, but managed to escape to the rebel capital of Philadelphia, where he resumed his career as a broker and dealer in securities. He soon became broker to the French consul and paymaster to French troops in America.
Salomon arrived in Philadelphia as the Continental Congress was struggling to raise money to support the war. Congress had no powers of direct taxation and had to rely on requests for money directed to the states, which were mostly refused. The government had no choice but to borrow money and was ultimately bailed out only by loans from the French and Dutch governments. Government finances were in a chaotic state in 1781 when Congress appointed former Congressman Robert Morris superintendent of finances. Morris established the Bank of North America and proceeded to finance the Yorktown campaign of Washington and Rochambeau. Morris relied on public-spirited financiers like Salomon to subscribe to the bank, find purchasers for government bills of exchange, and lend their own money to the government.
From 1781 on, Salomon brokered bills of exchange for the American government and extended interest-free personal loans to members of Congress, including James Madison. Salomon married Rachel Franks in 1777 and had four children with her. He was an influential member of Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel congregation, founded in 1740. He helped lead the fight to overturn restrictive Pennsylvania laws barring non-Christians from holding public office. Like many elite citizens of Philadelphia, he owned at least one slave, a man named Joe, who ran away in 1780. Possibly as a result of his purchases of government debt, Salomon died penniless in 1785. His descendants in the nineteenth century attempted to obtain compensation from Congress, but were unsuccessful. The extent of Salomon’s claim on the government cannot be determined, because the documentation disappeared long ago.
In 1941, the George Washington-Robert Morris-Haym Salomon Memorial was erected along Wacker Drive in downtown Chicago. The bronze and stone memorial was conceived by sculptor Lorado Taft and finished by his student, Leonard Crunelle. Although Salomon’s role in financing the Revolution has at times been exaggerated, his willingness to take financial risks for the Patriot cause helped establish the new nation.
To learn more:
Laurens R. Schwartz, Jews and the American Revolution: Haym Salomon and Others (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Co., 1987).
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| Haym Salomon |
Haym Salomon was born in Lesno, Poland in 1740. His parents were Jewish refugees from Portugal, who escaped religious persecution there. In his early twenties, he traveled throughout Europe acquiring an extensive knowledge of currency finance, that was to serve him well in his coming years.
After ten years of touring Europe he returned to Poland to join in that country's war with Russia. It is believed that he had to escape from the Russians, and decided on England. After earning enough money to pay for his passage to America he sailed in August, 1772. He arrived in New York City that winter.
In 1772, New York was a thriving colonial city of some 14,000 souls. Salomon soon learned that the colonies were in political turmoil over the issue of taxation without representation.
Haym soon started a brokerage company and was very successful. His clientele included a large number of prominent loyalists, however, when word of the fighting at Lexington and Concord reached New York, Haym sided with the revolting Colonials and joined New York's active "Sons of Liberty". This was to get him into serious trouble.
New York City fell to the British on September 15th, 1776. Five days later a mysterious fire destroyed twenty-five percent of the city. 493 houses were burned, greatly inconveniencing the British Army that had planned on quartering their troops in these houses.
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A makeshift prison was set up in an old warehouse, called the "Old Sugar House". The building was in terrible condition and the prisoners suffered horribly. Salomon became ill with a severe chest cold (pneumonia?).
He was transferred to the maximum security prison "The Provost" where his condition worsened. Haym noticed that the Hessian soldiers that were serving as guards did not speak English, and the British did not speak German.
He let the British know he could speak German, without volunteering to be an interpreter. He did not want to be viewed as a British sympathizer. He was soon given the job and received better treatment, food and quarters.
During this time Salomon became a member of the American espionage ring. They operated in such secrecy that even today we know little of their activities, however, it appears that Salomon was responsible for encouraging more then 500 Hessian solders to desert to the American side!
The British paroled him, not knowing of his other activities. However, two years later, he was again arrested, and this time taken to a prison called "Congress Hill".
On August 11th, 1778, he was convicted of several capitol charges, all relating to his activities as a spy. He was sentenced to be hanged by the neck until dead, the next morning. He was returned to his cell to await his fate.
Haym Salomon had planned on this eventuality and had hidden some gold coins in his clothes. With them he bribed a guard, escaped and made his way to Philadelphia and safety.
In Philadelphia he reestablished his brokerage business from a coffee house and became known as a knowledgeable broker.
In addition he was appointed by Congress as Postmaster to the French Army and Navy as well as to the Spanish, French and Dutch Ministers (Ambassadors).
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HAYM SALOMON helped George Washington finance the war.
Stephanie Boyd, a member of the
LA-Eschscholtzia Chapter, was a delegate at DAR’s 123rd annual Continental Congress recently in Washington, D.C. While there she submitted a proposal to the U.S. Historian General’s Office for a new marker to be dedicated at a statue of Salomon at Pan Pacific Park.
Already approved by the city of L.A., the new marker—made of Israel limestone and bronze—has a longer narrative on the war hero than the existing plaque on his statue, said Boyd.
“It’s been a labor of love… People think there were no Jewish people at the American Revolution, so it’s good to be reminded,” Boyd added. Originating in the 1940s, the statue had been moved from McArthur and other parks before settling in Pan Pacific Park in 1984. Legend has it George Washington, out of funds, food and supplies for his troops, called out “Send for Haym Salomon.”
A banker and broker, Salomon responded by raising the necessary funds enabling Washington to carry on with the Yorktown campaign, winning the final battle of the Revolution. Salomon
Haym Salomon Memorial 
Queens
Click image for larger view
Location:
Main Street, Vleigh Place, 72nd Drive, and 72 Road
Description:
Stele on base
Materials:
Stele--granite (unpolished); Base--concrete (rusticated at top and sides)
Dimensions:
Stele H: 4' W: 2'1" D: 1'1"; Base H: 1' W" 4'1" D: 2'7"
Cast:
ca. 1976
Dedicated:
June 27, 1976
Donor:
Nat and Maxwell Dorr Post No. 793, Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
Inscription:
THIS PLAQUE IS DEDICATED TO HAYM SALOMON IN
RECOGINITION OF HIS TIRELESS EFFORTS ON BEHALF
OF THE REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.
SALOMON A POLISH JEWISH IMMIGRANT, WAS SO
IMBUED WITH THE SPIRIT OF FREEDOM, HE, WITHOUT
MUCH ASSISTANCE, FINANCED THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTIONARY WAR BY HIS INEXHAUSTIBLE FUND-
RAISING. THROUGH HIS HEALTH WAS RUINED DURING
HIS IMPRISONMENT BY THE BRITISH, SALOMON’S FAITH
IN JUDAISM NEVER FALTERED, NOR DID HIS BELIEF IN
THE GREATNESS OF OUR COUNTRY. WHILE HE RAISED HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR THE WAR
EFFORT, SALOMON, IRONICALLY, DIED PENNILESS.
APPROXIMATELY 100 YEARS AFTER HIS DEATH, HAYM
SALOMON WAS FINALLY ACKNOWLEDGED BY THE
UNITED STATES FOR HIS EXTRAORDINARY PATRIOTISM.
