July 4, 2026 marks the United States of America’s Semiquincentennial—250 years since the adoption of the Declaration of Independence. Arnold Kaplan, who started the Kaplan Collection of Early American Judaica with his late wife Deanne will share with us stories and items from that collection, now archived at the University of Pennsylvania. These stories offer vignettes of the Jewish involvement in the history of the formation of the United States of America.
Jewish Figures in the American Revolution: Francis Salvador (1747–1776), the Paul Revere of the South
Francis Salvador was an English-born Sephardic Jew who became a pioneering figure in early American history. Born into a wealthy London family with deep ties to the British East India Company, Salvador’s family lost the core of their fortune due to the devastating 1755 Lisbon earthquake and subsequent corporate failures. Left primarily with a 7,000-acre tract of wilderness in South Carolina’s Ninety-Six District, Salvador emigrated in 1773 to establish an indigo plantation.
This is a rare Continental Currency from the Kaplan Collection at University of Pennsylvania signed by Francis Salvador, who was elected to South Carolina’s First Provincial Congress.
Despite contemporary colonial laws that technically barred Jewish citizens from holding political office, in December 1774, he made history by being elected to South Carolina’s First Provincial Congress. This historicvictory made him the first practicing, un-converted Jew to be elected to public office in the Thirteen Colonies and to serve in an American popular assembly. As a passionate patriot, he used his political platform to strongly advocate for American independence. When the Revolutionary War intensified, Salvador proved to be equally dedicated on the battlefield. On July 1, 1776, British-allied Cherokee forces launched a series of raids on frontier settlements. Acting as a Southern counterpart to Paul Revere, Salvador mounted his horse and rode 30 miles across the frontier to sound the alarm and successfully rally a local defense militia. Exactly one month later, on August 1, 1776, Salvador led militia forces into an ambush by Loyalists and Cherokee fighters near Seneca, South Carolina. He was shot during the skirmish, fell into the brush, and was subsequently scalped by enemy forces. Salvador died from his wounds at just 29 years old, making him the first Jewish soldier killed in the American Revolutionary War.
To see more of The Kaplan Collection visit: www.kaplancollection.org