Walking the Even Tenor of Our Ways: Liberty and Tradition in Isaac Leeser’s Claims of the Jews to an Equality of Rights

Abstract

This article explores a collection of letters to the Philadelphia Gazette written by Isaac Leeser, a prominent nineteenth-century writer and American Jewish leader. In the letters, which were published in an 1841 book entitled Claims of the Jews to an Equality of Rights, Leeser argues for greater Jewish acceptance in American life, suggesting that the religious rights safeguarded by America’s founders were under threat during the Second Great Awakening. I argue that Leeser proceeds in two ways, both unique for a nineteenth-century American writer. First, he argues that it is Jewish difference—not assimilation—that should make Jews particularly welcome to their American neighbors. Emphasizing Jewish history and the moral and ethical values of Judaism, Leeser argued that to contribute to American society Jews need not abandon their traditional ways. Second, he positioned himself as a teacher of American ideals, frequently citing doctrines of separationism and individual liberty to persuade his audience that America’s approach to religious minorities is one of liberty, and not mere tolerance. Leeser’s letters underscore the important role of the press in antebellum life, and his arguments for religious liberty stand in sharp contrast to increasingly Christianized governance in the mid-nineteenth century.