A Little Known Secret In American History
Many conspiracy theories exist about the Jews and the Rothschild family but did you know that America would literally not exist today if it weren’t for the jewish financier, Haym Salomon, (Chaim Salomon). Here are some little know facts about this American hero and his life story.
Haym Salomon was born in 1740 in Lissa, Poland. The Polish-born American businessman was an American patriot and the principal financier of the fledgling American republic. He was also the founder of the first Philadelphia synagogue, Mikveh Israel.
Salomon acquired a knowledge of finance and fluency in some of the languages of the day during his travels in Western Europe. In the wake of the Polish Partition, he left Poland for England.
Probably because of his revolutionary activities for Polish liberty, Salomon fled to New York City in 1772 where he established himself as a financial broker for merchants conducting overseas trade. He soon became a successful financier and supporter of the patriotic cause on the outbreak of the American Revolution, joining the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty.
In September 1776, he was arrested as a spy. The British pardoned him, but detained him for 18 months on a British boat as an interpreter for Hessian soldiers, German troops employed by the British. Salomon used his position to help prisoners of war from the Continental Army escape, Salomon was arrested again in 1778, convicted of espionage, and sentenced to death. Again, he escaped, making his way with his family to the revolutionary capital in Philadelphia.
The Patriot Cause, known as Revolutionaries, Continentals, Rebels, or Whigs, who were colonists in the Thirteen Colonies opposing the Kingdom of Great Britain’s control and governance during the colonial era, helped support and launch the American Revolution that ultimately established American independence.
These politicians led colonial opposition to British policies regarding the American colonies, eventually building support for the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, unanimously adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.
Referred to as the Founding Fathers of the United states were the most prominent Patriot leaders defined as the 56 men who, as delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, signed the Declaration of Independence.
Upon his resettlement in Philadelphia, Salomon resumed his activities as a broker. He became the agent to the French consul as well as the paymaster for the French forces in North America. In 1781, he began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent for Finance for the Thirteen Colonies.
From the period of 1781–1784, records show Salomon’s fundraising and personal lending helped provide over $650,000 (approximately $19,565,382.35 in 2023 dollars[8]) in financing to General George Washington in his war effort. His most meaningful financial contribution, however, came immediately prior to the Siege of Yorktown.
The Continental Army trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in the Virginia coastal town of Yorktown in August of 1781. George Washington and 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, except for one small problem. Washington’s war chest and those of Congress were completely empty. Without food, uniforms and supplies, Washington’s troops were on the verge of mutiny and loss.
Washington calculated that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington said: “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 final battle of the Revolution.
Salomon brokered the sale of a majority of the war aid from France and the Dutch Republic, selling bills of exchange to American merchants. Salomon also personally supported various members of the Continental Congress during their stay in Philadelphia, including James Madison and James Wilson. He requested below-market interest rates, and he never asked for repayment.
Salomon is believed to have granted outright bequests to men that he thought were unsung heroes of the revolution who had become impoverished during the war. One example is Bodo Otto, a senior surgeon in the continental army. Otto joined the army at the age of 65 and served for the entire war. Among other things, he established the hospital at Valley Forge, where he often used his own funds to purchase medical supplies. Due to Salomon’s bequest, Otto was able to rebuild his medical practice in Reading, Pennsylvania, at war’s end.
The Patriots assimilated into the Continental Army, commanded by George Washington which helped secure a victory against the British, leading to the sovereign independence of the colonies. On September 3rd, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States, officially ending the American Revolutionary War and recognizing the Thirteen Colonies, which had been part of colonial British America, as an independent sovereign nation, formalizing the establishment of the United States of America.
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the Revolutionary War but not the financial problems of the newly established nation. America’s war debt to France was never properly repaid, which was part of the cascade of events leading to the French Revolution.
In Philadelphia, at the age of 44, on January 8th, 1785, Haym Salomon died suddenly and in poverty. Due to the failure of governments and private lenders to repay the debt incurred by the war, his family was left penniless at his death. The hundreds of thousands of dollars of Continental debt Salomon bought with his own fortune were worth only about 10 cents on the dollar when he died.
His obituary in the Independent 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 skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city.”
There is a legend that during the design process of the Great Seal, Washington asked what compensation Salomon wanted in return for his financial contributions to the American Revolutionary War. He replied that “he wanted nothing for himself but that he wanted something for his people”.
Why was Haym Salomon a hero? Judge for yourself……
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.
In 1893, a bill was presented before the 52nd United States Congress ordering a gold medal be struck in recognition of Salomon’s contributions to the United States.
In 1939, Warner Brothers released Sons of Liberty, a short film starring Claude Rains as Salomon.
In 1941, the writer Howard Fast wrote a book Haym Salomon, Son of Liberty. That same year, the Heald Square Monument, a sculpture designed by Lorado Taft was erected in Heald Square in downtown Chicago. Taft began the work but died in 1936. It was completed by his associate, Leonard Crunelle. The monument depicts George Washington flanked by Salomon and Robert Morris and grasping hands with both men.
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. This stamp, like others in the “Contributors to the Cause” series, was printed on the front and the 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 World War II, the United States liberty ship SS Haym Salomon was named in his honor. The ship was launched on May 17, 1943. It was sold for private use in 1947 and scrapped in 1971.
The Haym Salomon Nursing Home in Brooklyn, New York, is named in his honor.
Haym Salomon Square is located in Kew Gardens Hills, Queens, New York City.
The Haym Salomon Center is a nonprofit organization located in Northbrook, Illinois, that advocates for pro-Western, pro-democracy values.
Ask most Americans if they’ve heard of George Washington. Then ask them if they know who Haym Solomon was. Most likely they haven’t. But now you know!
