Hays, Moses Michael (1739-1805). Autograph Letter Signed written to Myer Polock on behalf of Michael Gratz.
AUCTION 79 |
Thursday, November 15th,
2018 at 1:00 PM
The Valmadonna Trust Library: Further Selections from the Historic Collection. * Hebrew Printing in America. * Graphic & Ceremonial Art
Lot 187
(AMERICAN JUDAICA)
Hays, Moses Michael (1739-1805). Autograph Letter Signed written to Myer Polock on behalf of Michael Gratz.
New York: 18th December 1770
Est: $3,000 - $5,000
Moses Michael Hays, a friend of Paul Revere, was a prominent 18th century American Jew and Bostonian. While living in Newport, RI in 1776, Hays, though a patriot, refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the cause of the American Revolution because he felt he had been singled out as for questionable loyalty simply for being a Jew. Persuasively pointing out ways in which he had been discriminated against in matters of voting, he prevailed in his argument and was not forced to sign.
Myer Polock (d. 1779) was Hays’ former business partner. Polock was in fact a Tory. He declined to sign the aforementioned loyalty oath on religious grounds, but in the end was forced to.
Michael Gratz (1740-1811) of Philadelphia an eminent American patriot, was among the widely-known Colonial American Jews.
On the loyalty oath in Newport, see Oscar Reiss, The Jews in Colonial America (2003) pp. 53-4.