The Jewish World of Alexander Hamilton by Andrew Porwancher

Author:Andrew Porwancher [Porwancher, Andrew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography
ISBN: 9780691211152
Google: 13ogEAAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 57423843
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2021-08-17T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

Washington left New York by boat on August 15 and headed east through Long Island Sound toward Newport.22 A number of dignitaries joined the president on his excursion, including a U.S. Supreme Court justice, the governor of New York, two congressmen, and Hamilton’s rival in the cabinet, Thomas Jefferson.23 On the morning of August 17, expectant Newport residents spotted the ship approaching the harbor. The townsfolk quickly went into motion, raising the state flag, ringing bells, and firing thirteen cannons in honor of the states of the Union.24

Washington and his cohort were greeted at the wharf by a committee of leading citizens.25 During his ensuing tour of Newport, the president was almost certainly shown the local synagogue, as it was the best preserved building in a city otherwise ravaged by war.26 A contemporary magazine noted of Newport, “The whole appearance of the place is shattered and out of repair” and its “churches have not much of the beauties of architecture to boast of.” However, “the Jews’ synagogue is the most ornamented of them all,” with a “rich and elegant” interior featuring impressive brasswork.27

While in Newport, Washington met an elderly but entrepreneurial Jewish resident named Jacob Isaacks. The septuagenarian Isaacks had pioneered a technique for desalinating ocean water, thereby making it safe “for all common and culinary purposes,” according to the Newport Herald. Isaacks gifted a fresh bottle of his water to the president, who was reportedly “pleased to express himself highly satisfied therewith.”28 Lest Washington entertain any doubts about the potability of the bottle’s contents, Isaacks also handed him two certificates from local townsmen vouching for his purification process.29

A formal banquet with eighty attendees commenced at 5:00 p.m. in the State House.30 As these were years of scarcity for this once bustling seaport, local families had to volunteer tableware from their homes so that every dish, goblet, and pitcher at the supper would be silver.31 Thirteen toasts followed the meal, as was the tradition in that era. Participants raised their glasses to such admired subjects as the U.S. Constitution, the fallen soldiers of the Revolution, and the women of America. “May the last be the first,” rang one toast, expressing the hope that the last state to ratify the Constitution would be the first in its defense. A local federal judge, Henry Marchant, offered the evening’s final toast to “the man we love,” and those present stood up in Washington’s honor.32 The president and his contingent retired after dinner to an upscale boardinghouse, where they slept two or more men to a room, except for Washington, who enjoyed private quarters. He slumbered under a blue quilt made of silk (which no subsequent guest would be allowed to use until another president, Rutherford B. Hayes, visited Newport eighty-nine years later).33

Touro Synagogue. Source: Samuel Adams Drake, Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast. New York: Harper, 1875.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.