(ANGLO-AMERICAN JUDAICA).

According to the Naturalization Act of 1740 (also referred to in the literature as the Plantation Act), foreigners who had been residents in the British colonies for a period of seven years could be naturalized without taking the sacrament, merely by taking an oath of fidelity upon the Old Testament. Thus, for the first time, professing Jews were enabled to be naturalized as British citizens. The act was meant to encourage Jewish traders to populate British America by shifting control of naturalization to the imperial authorities. In easing the naturalization of Jews and foreign Protestants, the government aimed to create a competitive edge against its European rivals. However, that Parliamentary Act of 1740 (13th Year of George II) benefited only Jews and Quakers. The present act, expanding upon the previous act, extends the privilege of naturalization to "People of the Congregation called the Moravian Brethren, and other Foreign Protestants not Quakers" (p. 936). Once again, the Crown's motives were purely opportunistic: "…if the Benefit of the said Act, made in the Thirteenth Year of His present Majesty's Reign, were extended to them, they who are now there would thereby be encouraged to continue their Residence in His Majesty's Colonies, and others would resort thither in greater Numbers, whereby the said Colonies would be improved, their Strength increased, and their Trade extended" (pp. 936-7). See Bernardini and Fiering (Eds.), The Jews and the Expansion of Europe to the West 1450-1800 (2001), p.388; T.M. Endelman, The Jews of Britain 1656 to 2000 (2002), p. 75; JE, Vol. V, p.169; Vol. XII, p.365