Jewish Financier of the American Revolution
August 1, 2005 11:03 PM   Subscribe

Is there a Mogan Dovid in the Great in the Great Seal of the United States? It may simply be a pleasing arrangement, but some insist that it's George Washington's tribute to Haym Solomon(Salomon), the man who fueled the first American war machine.
posted by Citizen Premier (18 comments total)
 
don't know about that, but i betcha there's some mogen david in paul wolfowitz's fridge.
posted by Hat Maui at 2:20 AM on August 2, 2005


There are really too many instances of the number 13 in the Great Seal to be a coincidence: 13 stars in air, 13 leaves on the branch in the left claw, 13 arrows in the right claw, 13 stripes on the shield, and 13 letters in "E PLURIBUS UNUM". ...I wonder what that's all about.
posted by Down10 at 2:57 AM on August 2, 2005


Er... 13 colonies, Down10. Hence the 13 stripes on the flag, too. And I love a mystic conspiracy as much as anyone.
posted by Faint of Butt at 4:19 AM on August 2, 2005


"fueled the first American war machine"? WTF? Did you mean "helped the colonies gain independence from Britian"? And a FPP made (almost) entirely of wikipedia links?
posted by OmieWise at 5:31 AM on August 2, 2005


It's the Illuminati, man... New world order! Novus Ordo Seclorum!
posted by r3tr0 at 5:42 AM on August 2, 2005


Faint of Butt: Welcome to Sarcasmville. Can I take your jacket? Sit down, take the load off. Do you want a drink?
posted by Plutor at 6:29 AM on August 2, 2005


And did you know that if you turn the eagle upside down the shield on its breast looks sort of like a menorah? Beware the Masonic triangle on the dollar bill! Beware the Vatican's machinations to overthrow the government of the United States! Beware the pro-Satan message of the Mr. Ed theme song played backwards!

Look, I love Wikipedia as much as anyone. But who, exactly, are the (anoymous) "historians" who argue that this is some sort of wink-wink tribute to Haym Solomon? It might be helpful to take the time to read the "Remarks and Explanation" of the various symbols by Charles Thomson, designer of the seal, presented to the Continental Congress in 1782. Or maybe, just maybe, look at any substantive historical documentation of the seal's history.

Or perhaps this too is part of the conspiracy.

PS: Washington's army was hardly a "war machine." In fact, that's a pretty odd term to apply to any army before World War I. Oh, and "financial genius" seems like a somewhat overheated way to describe a sucessful businessman. Then again, it's amazing just how good those Jews are with money
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 6:34 AM on August 2, 2005


Thank you, foxy_hedgehog.

Yup, nothin' like a good, old fashioned Jewish conspiracy on a Tuesday morning!

(Filing down my horns so the people at work don't notice them)
posted by afroblanca at 6:56 AM on August 2, 2005


So, we're on for Christmas, right?
posted by ph00dz at 6:59 AM on August 2, 2005


Leaving aside the bizarre nature of the FPP (including the dumb claim that Solomon "fueled the first American war machine") I would like to point out that the WP article on Solomon is unusually crappy, and that the second link given in the FPP is just taken from the Wikipedia article.

For those actually interested in Solomon's history, outside of the Great Seal, you might want to read the Jewish Encyclopedia article.
posted by blahblahblah at 8:07 AM on August 2, 2005


I don't see why the "allegations" that Solomon helped finance the Revolution are a Bad Thing that they need to be ridiculed or defended against, just like I don't care if the stars were arranged in a Star of David to honor a particular Jew or all Jews; there were so few Jews in America then, and their power so minor, that the Revolution can hardly be called a "Jewish conspiracy".

What it was was a conspiracy by greedy slave owners (from the southern colonies) and greedy slave-traders (from the northern colonies) to break the Crown's ban on settlement west of the Appalachian mountains, deport or kill off the Indians there, and establish new slave plantations. But anyway.

And yes, a lot of the Founding Fathers were Masons, who have a thing for certain symbols. So? A symbol only means what you let it mean. Like I said, the American Revolution was a conspirracy to further Indian-killing, land-theft and African enslavement; any Masonic anything was a means to that end. It's not Jews and Masons that run and ruin this country, it's greedy tyrannical murderous bastards -- and Judaism and/or Masonry are hardly prerequisites for that.
posted by davy at 8:36 AM on August 2, 2005


foxy_hedgehog: I think the Union army at the end of the (American) Civil War could easily be considered a "war machine." It scared the shit out of the Brits, who were worried that such an army might choose to gobble up canada rather than stand down.

Also: 3 Wikipedia links and a picture? Oh, for the halcyon days of.... yesterday.
posted by absalom at 9:01 AM on August 2, 2005


davy, I don't think anyone is complaining about the fact that the post says that Solomon played an important role in funding the American Revolution -- he certainly did, and it is generally considered a point of pride among American Jews. The nature of the post was a bit bizarre, however, from the inaccurate "American War machine" comment to the "some insist" waffle, to the reliance on Wikipedia articles that did not back up the argument. That at least, is what got my attention.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:30 AM on August 2, 2005


davy, I don't think anyone is complaining about the fact that the post says that Solomon played an important role in funding the American Revolution -- he certainly did, and it is generally considered a point of pride among American Jews. The nature of the post was a bit bizarre, however, from the inaccurate "American War machine" comment to the "some insist" waffle, to the reliance on Wikipedia articles that did not back up the argument. That at least, is what got my attention.
posted by blahblahblah at 9:33 AM on August 2, 2005


Sorry about the doubled post. I hate you JRun!
posted by blahblahblah at 9:46 AM on August 2, 2005


Absalom- yes, you're right. Sherman's March was a war machine if there ever was one. And then there was Old Ironsides.
posted by foxy_hedgehog at 10:41 AM on August 2, 2005


The first American war machine?
posted by dhartung at 3:38 PM on August 2, 2005


It seems unlikely that the magen david was used in the Great Seal to represent any specific Jew, or Judaism in any way. Although Jews have used the symbol on and off for thousands of years, they didn't really begin to use it as a representative symbol of Judaism until the French Revolution. Prior to that time, the Magen David was mostly associated with Masons, which would be consistent with the Masonic imagery found in many early American designs.
posted by maxsparber at 5:29 PM on August 2, 2005


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