Mordecai Manuel Noah
| Mordecai Manuel Noah | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
July 14, 1785 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Died | March 22, 1851 (aged 65) New York City |
| Occupation | Diplomat, Journalist, Playwright |
| Known for | Jewish toleration |
Mordecai Manuel Noah (July 14, 1785, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – May 22, 1851, New York) was an American playwright, diplomat, journalist, and utopian. He was born in a family of Portuguese Sephardic ancestry. He was the most important Jewish lay leader in New York in the early 19th century, and the first Jew born in the United States to reach national prominence.
Noah engaged in trade and law. After moving to Charleston, South Carolina, he dedicated himself to politics.
In 1811, he was appointed by President James Madison as consul at Riga, then part of Imperial Russia, but declined, and, in 1813, was nominated Consul to the Kingdom of Tunis, where he rescued American citizens kept as slaves by Moroccan masters. In 1815, Noah was removed from his position; in the words of US Secretary of State James Monroe, his religion was "an obstacle to the exercise of [his] Consular function." The incident caused outrage among Jews and non-Jews alike.
Noah sent many letters to the White House trying to get an answer as to why they felt his religion should be a justifiable reason for taking the office of consul away. He had done well as consul and had even been able to accommodate the United States request to secure the release of some hostages being held in Algiers. Noah never received a legitimate answer as to why they took the office of Consul away from him. This worried Noah, since he was afraid that this would set a precedent for the United States. He worried that this would block future Jews from holding publicly elected or officially granted offices within the United States.
Noah protested and gained letters from John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison supporting church-state separation and tolerance for Jews. Prominent Reform Judaism leader Isaac Harby was moved to write, in a letter to Monroe,
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