American Presidents and the Jews

Adams wrote of Voltaire, “How is it possible [that he] should represent the Hebrews in such a contemptible light? They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their Empire were but a Bauble in comparison of the Jews. They have given religion to three quarters of the Globe and have influenced the affairs of Mankind more, and more happily, than any other Nation ancient or modern.”

Was Adams a Zionist?
"I believe [that] . . . once restored to an independent government & no longer persecuted they [the Jews] would soon wear away some of the asperities and peculiarities of their character & possibly in time become liberal Unitarian Christians for your Jehovah is our Jehovah & your God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob is our God."

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in Virginia. Adopted in 1785
“No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess. . . their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise . . . affect their civil capacities.”

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”.

In 1787, Jefferson summed up his view of Jewish revelation in a letter to his nephew, warning him to be skeptical of “those facts in the Bible which contradict the laws of nature.” As one example, he cited the assertion in the Book of Joshua that the sun stood still for several hours. Since that would have meant, in scientific terms, that the earth stood still, Jefferson asked his nephew to consider how the earth, spinning on its axis, could have stopped suddenly and started rotating again without enormous destruction to natural and manmade structures. Similarly, the rationalist Jefferson doubted that God personally inscribed the Ten Commandments on a tablet which Moses later destroyed and then re-wrote.

Jefferson believed that any official call to prayer was unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of church and state.
Yet, Jefferson prayed publicly in both of his inaugural addresses. For Jefferson, there was a clear distinction between a particular official making a public, but personal, profession of faith and an “official” endorsement or call to prayer.

In 1785 there is an attempt to help fund Virginia’s coffers with a tax on religious dissenters. Madison writes a “Memorial and Remonstrance” against the tax. He wrote,
“The religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right.”

He introduced the first proposal for amending the Constitution to incorporate freedom of religion. (1789)
Fourthly. That in article 1st, section 9, between clauses 3 and 4, be inserted these clauses, to wit: The civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, infringed.
Madison fought an attempt to amend the statute so that it only applied to followers of “Jesus Christ”.

In 1811, Madison offers Noah an appointment to be counsel in Riga, (today Latvia, then Russia). This is the first diplomatic post offered to a member of the Jewish faith – Noah turns it down. But two years later, Noah accepts an invitation to become counsel in Tunis.

To James Madison, the idea of religion goes much deeper than how one does or doesn’t practice. He called conscience “the most sacred of all property,” and, like a good scholar of John Locke, Madison felt strongly that one’s property was a natural right.

On April 25, 1816, U.S. Secretary of State James Monroe wrote to Mordecai Manuel Noah, the American consul in Tunis, informing him that he was being recalled from his position because it had become known that he was a Jew.

Different interpretations of why he was recalled:

- Noah paying too much ransom for American hostages captured by pirates, and his religion became a cover
- The Muslim rulers in Tunis objected to having to deal with a Jew.
This is the only instance in American history in which overt anti-Semitism played a role in the rescinding of a presidential appointment of a Jew. Of course, this does not count those instances where appointments of Jews have not been made in the first place because of the anticipation that they would be opposed by host nations (e.g., a Jew is unlikely to ever be appointed to a post in Saudi Arabia, though, on the other hand, an Orthodox Jew did serve as U.S. ambassador to Egypt).