Haym Salomon

• Born: 1740
• Birthplace: Leszno, Poland
• Died: January 6, 1785
• Place of death: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Polish-born businessman, merchant, and financier

Salomon helped obtain the funds the Continental Congress needed to conduct the American Revolution and to operate the country in the immediate aftermath of the fighting. His contribution to the revolutionary cause was vital.

Areas of achievement: Business; government and politics

Early Life

Haym Salomon (him SAH-loh-muhn) was born in Leszno, in west-central Poland. His parents, originally from Spain, fled first to Portugal and from there to Poland, to escape persecution against Jews. Little is known of Salomon’s early life. He had an affinity for languages, as he learned several while traveling through Europe as a young man. He also learned about finance and business in these travels. Salomon was back in Poland in 1772, when Prussia, Russia, and Austria joined in seizing parts of Poland in their first partition of that country. The Salomons fled to the Netherlands, though Salomon did not remain there. By the end of the year, he was living in New York.

He began working as a broker for merchants, helping them market their goods for a commission. By the early 1770’s, agitation against the British was spreading. Salomon had clients among both the Whigs, or Patriots, who protested British policies, and the Tories, or Loyalists, who supported the British government. After fighting broke out at Lexington and Concord, early in 1775, Salomon moved toward the Whig camp.

Life’s Work

In September of 1776, the British took possession of New York City. Within days, a fire burned about a quarter of the city’s buildings. The British arrested several Whig sympathizers, including Salomon. Saved by his knowledge of languages, Salomon was soon released to serve as a translator for General Leopold Philip von Heister, commander of German mercenaries fighting with the British. Von Heister assigned Salomon to work with the commissary staff. While doing this work, Salomon secretly convinced some soldiers to desert.

In January, 1777, Salomon married Rachel Franks, the daughter of a New York merchant. Their first child was born in 1778. By that year, however, Salomon had come under British suspicion again. He was once more arrested, and, after being convicted of conspiring to burn British ships, he was sentenced to death. By bribing his guards, he managed to escape.

Settling in Philadelphia, Salomon began rebuilding his fortune. By 1781, he had secured a position as the broker who funneled French and Dutch loans to the United States. Taking a commission, he made the funds available to the government, which used the money to support the army and its own operations. On occasion, Salomon supplied cash advances from his own funds.

That same year, Congress appointed Philadelphia merchant Robert Morris as superintendent of finance. Morris was given broad authority to raise money to meet the government’s desperate need for funds. Salomon, a prominent businessman, became a natural ally, and the two worked closely together. Morris often relied on the financier when he needed money in an emergency. Salomon also made loans—at no interest—to individual members of Congress, such as Virginia’s James Madison and Pennsylvania’s James Wilson, when payments from their states were slow to reach them.

When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, Salomon continued providing help to the American government. He also expanded his business, buying ships and opening an office in New York City.

By this time, Salomon’s family had grown as well. Two daughters were born, and, in 1784, Rachel became pregnant once again. The family joined the congregation of Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia. Salomon became a trustee of the synagogue, and when the congregation began raising funds to construct a building, he was the first to contribute money. In the winter of 1784, however, Salomon became ill. He died early the following year, of what was probably tuberculosis.

At his death, Salomon’s debts outweighed his assets. He held tens of thousands of dollars of paper money, but this money was losing value every day. Salomon’s family was destitute. Years later, his son, Haym Salomon, Jr., petitioned Congress for repayment. His request was endorsed more than once by committees of Congress, but funds were never appropriated for the purpose.

Significance

Much has been made of Salomon as the “financier of the Revolution,” some accounts presenting him as the source of vast funds and a businessman of unusual selflessness. Salomon did not lend the government hundreds of thousands of dollars, as is often claimed. As a broker, he sold the government’s promissory notes to other business people and, in the process, collected a fee. His skill in selling that paper did help finance the war, though, and there is no question that his financial aid to Madison, Wilson, and others helped them remain as members of Congress. Salomon made vital contributions to the American Revolution.

Bibliography

Adler, Cyrus, and Herbert Friedenwald. “Haym Salomon.” In The Jewish Encyclopedia, edited by Isidore Singer. Vol. 10. New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1905. This account of Salomon’s life, though dated, is full and balanced, with details on his personal life and his work.

Feingold, Henry L. Zion in America: The Jewish Experience from Colonial Times to the Present. New York: Twayne, 1974. Feingold gives useful background on the position of Jews in colonial and Revolutionary times and touches on Salomon’s role.

Peters, Madison C. Haym Salomon: The Financier of the Revolution—An Unwritten Chapter in American History. New York: Trow Press, 1911. Contains details of Salomon’s life and stands as an example of the high praise sometimes heaped on the businessman.

Wright, Robert E., and David J. Cowen. Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006. Amid a detailed account of Morris’s actions to finance the American Revolution, the authors include a brief and evenhanded appraisal of Salomon’s role.