A new history that centers Judaism at the dawn of the United States Jews played a critical role both in winning the American Revolution--fighting for the Patriot cause from Bunker Hill to Yorktown--and in defining the republic that was created from it. As the most visible non-Christian religion, Judaism was central to the debate over religious freedom in America at a critical juncture. During the war every city with a synagogue fell to the British-with the exception of Philadelphia, birthplace to the Declaration of Independence and a core of resistance. Jewish patriots throughout the colonies flocked to the city, where they re-founded the local synagogue as a distinctively American organization. After the war, Jews began to press for full citizenship in the hope that liberty would apply to everyone, and that the limits to freedom imposed on Jews in the Old World would be removed in the New.
As Adam Jortner shows in this eye-opening account, the decision to extend citizenship to all religions was not a twentieth-century phenomenon prompted by immigration and Supreme Court rulings, but a debate the Founding generation itself had had-unambiguously deciding against the idea of nation defined exclusively by Christianity. Instead, the Founders, Jewish patriots, and their allies, sought and achieved the broadest possible definition of religious liberty, and the separation of church and state. A Promised Land sheds new light on this key struggle in early America and the driving forces behind it.
Industry Reviews
"Jortner's research is unquestionably exhaustive, and the text occasionally overflows with biographical vignettes, which will appeal to readers with an interest in Jewish studies and early American history." -- Kirkus
"A great historian-and storyteller-of American religion has now brought his considerable talents to bear on the intersecting histories of Jews and the American founding. The result is a lively book filled to the brim with fascinating details and insightful interpretations. Adam Jortner offers his readers an authoritative account of early American Jews as well as a provocative challenge to some of our most persistent national myths." -- Shari Rabin, Author of
Jews on the Frontier: Religion and Mobility in Nineteenth-century America
"This smart, well-written, and comprehensively researched history refutes 'Christian America' claims that Protestants alone founded the United States, and shows how Jews participated in the birth of American freedom, and freedom reshaped the lives of America's Jews. A timely and valuable contribution." -- Jonathan D. Sarna, University Professor and Joseph H. & Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History, Brandeis University
"A Promised Land is now the definitive history of Jews and the American Revolution. Brimming with new insights about the meaning of the Revolution and the relationship between church and state in the early Republic, Adam Jortner's brilliant historical scholarship will change the way I teach and write about this era." -- John Fea, Messiah University, author of Was America Founded as a Christian Nation?
"Adam Jortner gracefully delves into the complicated history of Jews in the era of the American Revolution. With deft storytelling and a keen eye on how Jews responded to both challenges and opportunities, Jortner argues that the American Revolution ushered in a new era of religious freedom--not as a matter of course, but because Jews and other religious minorities demanded that it be so. This is a must-read for those interested in the birth of American
religious liberty." -- Kate Carté, Southern Methodist University, author of Religion and the American Revolution: An Imperial History
"Readers of all backgrounds dedicated to the success of the American experiment will no doubt gain great understanding and insight by reading Jortner's wonderful volume." -- Stuart Halpern, Jewish Book Council
"Readers of all backgrounds dedicated to the success of the American experiment will no doubt gain great understanding and insight by reading Jortner's wonderful volume." -- Stuart Halpern, Jewish Book Council
