President Lincoln’s Jewish Friends
Lincoln: And so the Children of Israel were
driven from the happy land of Canaan.
Kaskel: Yes, and that is why we have come to Father Abraham, to ask
his protection.
Lincoln: And this protection they shall have at once.
Cesar J. Kaskel, apprising President Lincoln of
General Grant's Order Number 11
In his scholarly study of American Jewry and
the Civil War (Philadelphia, 1951), Bertram W. Korn writes that
in the eulogy Rabbi Isaac M. Wise delivered after the assassination
of President Abraham Lincoln, he claimed: "the lamented Abraham
Lincoln believed himself to be bone from our bone and flesh from our
flesh. He supposed himself to be a descendant of Hebrew parentage. He
said so in my presence." There is no shred of evidence to
substantiate Wise's assertion, Korn declares, and "Lincoln is
not known to have said anything resembling this to any of his other
Jewish acquantances." But, Korn asserts, Lincoln "could not
have been any friendlier to individual Jews, or more sympathetic to
Jewish causes, if he had stemmed from Jewish ancestry." He also
points to the Robert Todd Lincoln Collection of Lincoln Papers in the
Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress as a prime source
"for the elucidation of Lincoln's contacts with various Jews ...
in particular ... Abraham Jonas and Isachar Zacharie."
Some of the "elucidation" Korn mentions
may be gathered from sixteen items, eight in manuscript and eight in
print, garnered from the Library's rich lode of Lincolniana.
Correspondence with the
President
In 1860, Lincoln wrote to Abraham Jonas
(1801-1864) "you are one of my most valued friends." The
friendship began soon after Jonas settled in Quincy, Illinois, in
1838. He came from Kentucky where he had lived for ten years, served
in the State Legislature for four terms, and become the Grand Master
of the Kentucky Masons. Before that he lived in Cincinnati; to which
he came from England in 1819, to join his brother, Joseph, the first
Jewish settler there. In Quincy, Jonas kept store and studied law,
which became his lifelong calling. From 1849 to 185 1, he served as
postmaster and in 1861 was reappointed to that office by Lincoln. Two
letters from the Jonas-Lincoln correspondence in the Library's
collection are especially illuminating.
When Lincoln visited Quincy in 1854, he spent most
of his time with Jonas, as we can see from his letter to Jonas on
July 21, 1860. What occasioned Lincoln's letter was one from Jonas in
which he told the presidential candidate: "I have just been
creditably informed, that Isaac N. Morris is engaged in obtaining
affidavits and certificates of certain Irishmen that they saw you in
Quincy come out of a Know Nothing Lodge." Jonas feared that this
purported association with a nativist antiforeigner political party
would cost Lincoln many immigrant votes, so he alerted his friend in
a "confidential" letter. Lincoln's lengthy reply states, in
part:
Yours of the 20th received. I suppose as good,
or even better men than I may have been in American or Know-Nothing
lodges; but in point of fact, I never was in one, at Quincy or
elsewhere. I was never in Quincy but one day and two nights while
Know-Nothing lodges were in existence, and you were with me that
day and both those nights. I had never been there before in my
life; and never afterwards, till the joint debate with Douglas in
1858. It was in 1854 when I spoke in some hall there, and after the
speaking, you with others took me to an oyster saloon, passed an
hour there, and you walked with me to, and parted with me at the
Quincy House, quite late at night. I left by stage for Naples
before day-light in the morning, having come in by the same route,
after dark the evening previous to the speaking, when I found you
waiting at the Quincy House to meet me ...
That I never was in a Knownothing lodge in
Quincy, I should expect could be easily proved, by respectable men
who were always in the lodges and never saw me there. An affidavit
of one or two such would put the matter at rest.
And now, a word of caution. Our adversaries
think they can gain a point if they could force me to openly deny
the charge, by which some degree of offence would be given to the
Americans. For this reason it must not publicly appear that I am
paying any attention to the charge.
Yours Truly
A. Lincoln
Whatever was done, or not done, by Jonas, must
have been effective because the matter was never mentioned publicly
during the campaign.
This letter marked “Confidential” discloses
the intimate longtime friendship of Lincoln
and Abraham Jonas, and Lincoln's political
prudence as well as his political stance.
Abraham Lincoln to Abraham Jonas, July 21, 1860.
Manuscript Division, Papers of Abraham Lincoln.
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In a letter from Jonas to Lincoln on December 30,
1860, marked "Private," Jonas again alerts his friend:
The purport of this communication must be my
apology for troubling you-and my great anxiety in regard to your
personal safety and the preservation of our National integrity will
I think justify me on this occasion, when you have so much to think
of and so many things to perplex you.
You perhaps are aware, that I have a very large
family connection in the South, and that in New Orleans I have six
children and a host of other near relatives. I receive many letters
from them, their language has to be very guarded, as fears are
entertained that the sanctity of the mails, is not much regarded.
on yesterday I received a letter from N.O. from one who is prudent,
sound and careful of what he writes and among other things, he says
"things are daily becoming worse here, God help us, what will
be the result, it is dreadful to imagine. One thing I am satisfied
of, that there is a perfect organization, fearful in numbers and
contrauled by men of character and influence, whose object is to
prevent the inauguration of Lincoln, large numbers of desperate
characters, many of them from this city, will be in Washington on
the 4th of March and it is their determination, to prevent the
inauguration, and if by no other means, by using violence on the
person of Lincoln. Men, engaged in this measure are known to be of
the most violent character, capable of doing any act, necessary to
carry out their vile measures." The writer of this, I know,
would not say, what he does, did he not believe the statement above
given to you. I cannot give you, his name, for were it known, that
he communicated such matters to persons in the North, his life
would be in danger — and I trust you will not communicate, having
received any such information from me. I had seen rumors in the
Newspapers to the like effect, but did not regard them much —
this however alarms me, and I think is worthy of some notice. What
ought to be done-you are more capable of judging, than any other
person — but permit me to suggest — ought not the Governors of
the free States, and your friends generally to adopt at once some
precautionary measure-no protection can be expected from the damned
old traitor at the head of the Government or his
subordinates-something should be done in time and done effectually.
With great esteem and devotion
I am truly yrs —
A. Jonas
In
this prescient letter marked “Private” Abraham
Jonas warns Lincoln that he has been
informed by a relative in New Orleans
that large numbers of desperate characters...will be in Washington on
the 4th of March and it is their determination to prevent the
inauguration, and if by no other means, by using violence on the
person of Lincoln.
Abraham Jonas to Abraham Lincoln, December 30, 1860.
Manuscript Division, Papers of Abraham Lincoln.
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Jonas was one of the first to suggest Lincoln for
the presidency. When Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York
Daily Tribune, went to Quincy for a lecture in December 1858, he
met with a number of leading Republicans to discuss the election of
1860. Abraham Jonas and his law partner Henry Asbury were
among them. Asbury later recalled that when the discussion turned to
who might be a strong candidate, he proposed a likely one:
Mr. Greeley and one or two others asked who I
meant. I said gentlemen I mean Abraham Lincoln of Illinois. I am
sorry to say that my suggestion fell flat, it was not even
discussed, none of them seemed for Lincoln ... Some one said
Lincoln might do for Vice - President-at this point Mr. Jonas ...
said: Gentlemen there may be more to Asbury's suggestion than any
of us now think.
Dr.
Isachar Zacharie, an English-born chiropodist, first met Lincoln
in September 1862 on a professional call. A satisfied patient,
Lincoln gave the doctor a testimonial, "Dr. Zacharie has
operated on my feet with great success, and considerable addition to
my comfort." Within a few months Zacharie was in New Orleans on
a mission for the president. Two years later, the New York World wrote
that the chiropodist and special emissary "enjoyed Mr. Lincoln's
confidence perhaps more than any other private individual."
Zacharie also involved himself in politics, actively soliciting the
"Jewish vote" for the president. When honored by Jews in
1864, he expressed what may well have been his ambition as
Lincoln's friend and confidant:
Let us look at England, France, Russia, Holland,
aye, almost every nation in the world, and where do we find the
Israelite? We find them taken into the confidence of Kings and
Emperors. And in this republican and enlightened country, where we
know not how soon it may fall to the lot of any man to be elevated
to a high position by this government, why may it not fall to the
lot of an Israelite as well as any other?
In the Lincoln Papers at the Library there are
thirteen letters from Zacharie to Lincoln, and one dated September
19, 1864, apparently as yet unpublished, from Lincoln to
Zacharie:
Dear Sir
I thank you again for the deep interest you have
taken in the Union Cause. The personal matter on behalf of your
friend which you mentioned shall be fully and fairly considered
when presented.
Yours truly
A. Lincoln
To which Zacharie replied:
Dear Friend,
Yours of the 19th came duly to hand, it has had
the desired effect, with the friend of the Partie.
I leave tomorrow for the interior of
Pennsylvania, may go as far as Ohio. One thing is to be done, and
that is for you to impress on the minds of your friends for them
not to be to [o] sure.
This brief letter discloses that
Isachar Zacharie served Lincoln as more than
his chiropodist. It is know from other sources
that Lincoln used him on occasion as a private
agent, and that Zacharie was deeply involved
in trying to secure for Lincoln, the "Jewish
Vote."
Abraham Lincoln to Isachar Zacharie, September 19, 1864.
Manuscript Division, Papers of Abraham Lincoln
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As rabbi of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, the Rev.
Dr. Morris J. Raphall (1798-1868), one of New York's more prominent
clergymen, had gained renown as an orator, distinction as being the
first rabbi to open the session of the House of Representatives with
a prayer, and notoriety for his sermon The Bible View of Slavery,
which was printed, reprinted, and widely distributed as a proslavery
sermon by antiabolitionist forces. As Raphall told his congregation,
when it assembled to mourn the martyred president, he knew Lincoln
but slightly. He had met Lincoln only once, but on that single
occasion the rabbi had asked a favor of the president and, as Raphall
told his congregants, Lincoln had "granted it lovingly, because
he knew the speaker to be a Jew-because he knew him to be a true
servant of the Lord." The favor granted must have been the
rabbi's request that his son be promoted from second lieutenant to
first. Forty years later, in 1903, Adolphus S. Solomons of the book
publishing firm of Philip and Solomons, in Washington, D. C.,
reminisced that he had helped Rabbi Raphall get an audience with the
president, where that request was made and granted. Lincoln did even
more for Raphall's son-in-law, Captain C. M. Levy.
New York's prominent rabbi,
author, and orator, Morris J. Raphall, thanks
Lincoln for "the generosity and justice with which you have treated my
son-in-law Captain C. M. Levy ... You are indeed his true
benefactor." Levy, who had been with
the Quartermaster Department, and had been
distributing special food and clothing to
Jewish soldiers in Washington's hospitals,
was dismissed from service. Lincoln's fabled
compassion, as this letter of gratitude indicates,
apparently came to his rescue.
M. J. Raphall to Abraham Lincoln, March 1, 1864.
Manuscript Division, Papers of Abraham Lincoln.
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Assigned to the Quartermaster Department in
Washington, Captain Levy undertook as an added task to distribute
special food and clothing to Jewish soldiers in the capital's
hospitals. On October 9, 1863, a Captain C. M. Levy was
court-martialed and dismissed from service for unspecified charges.
Apparently appealed to, Lincoln must have responded with his fabled
compassion, for on March 1, 1864, Raphall wrote him thanking him
"for the generosity and justice with which you have treated my
son-in-law Captain C. M. Levy."
My whole family unites with me in feeling that
you are indeed his true benefactor. Happy shall we be that any
thing you may at any time require of me or them, is thankfully
obeyed by all of us.
I take the liberty of sending you a couple of my
potographs [sic] and with sincere prayers for your continued health
and prosperity I am Your obliged and respectful servant, M. J.
Raphall.
The "potographs" may well have been the
prints of a photograph of the rabbi, first published by P. Haas in
New York, 1850, of which the Library has a fine copy.
Sources:Abraham J. Karp, From
the Ends of the Earth: Judaic Treasures of the Library of Congress,
(DC: Library of Congress, 1991).
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