Defeating Antisemitism in the World’s First Democratic Republic: the American Revolution and Jewish Legal and Political Equality

Authors

Paul Finkelman
Lance J. Sussman

Abstract

At a moment when antisemitism is on the rise in the United States, we believe it is useful to consider how the American Revolution led to the first nation in the world where antisemitism was fundamentally contrary to the national constitution and Jews were entitled to full rights as citizens of the national government. As we explain in this article, during and after the Revolution, Jews were free to participate in all professions and general civic life, naturalize (if immigrants), vote, serve on juries, become lawyers and judges, become military officers, and attend universities. Jews had almost none of these rights in England and limited rights in the British colonies in the Americas. After the Revolution, the Constitution of 1787 guaranteed total religious liberty to Jews and access to almost all aspects of federal rights and privileges, including the right to hold offices in the national government. However, under the American system of federalism the states regulated rules for voting and state office holding and were able to have established churches, provide state support for some religions, and in other ways favor one faith over another. Thus, most of the early state governments and state constitutions had a religious test (either Protestant or Christian) for holding a state office and had various laws that negatively impacted Jews or provided benefits to some Christians, but not to Jews or all Christians. By the end of the mid-nineteenth century, most of this discrimination was gone. This article shows how Jewish participation in the Revolution led to a sea change in Jewish rights and how the very presence of Jews in the nation helped lead to a national policy of religious liberty that would quickly be adopted by most states within the American system of federalism.

Recommended Citation

Finkelman, Paul and Sussman, Lance J. (2025) "Defeating Antisemitism in the World’s First Democratic Republic: the American Revolution and Jewish Legal and Political Equality," Touro Law Review: Vol. 40: No. 1, Article 5.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/lawreview/vol40/iss1/5