Cresson, Warder. The Key of David. David the True Messiah… Also, Reasons for Becoming a Jew; With a Revision of the Late Lawsuit for Lunacy on That Account.

Born into an old Quaker family in Philadelphia, Warder Cresson (1798-1860) traveled through a period of strong religious upheaval joining a series of spiritual-seeking sects that appeared to him to represent true faith. In 1840, he met Rev. Isaac Leeser and became deeply interested in Judaism. He was also influenced by the writings of Mordecai Manuel Noah, who believed that the Jews should return to live in Palestine, their national homeland. In May, 1844, Cresson was commissioned to be United States Consul at Jerusalem, the first to hold such office. Upon arrival, he was much affected by the surroundings of Jerusalem and became even more inclined toward Judaism, finally converting in March, 1848. In September 1848 he returned to Philadelphia to arrange his personal affairs in order to settle permanently to Jerusalem. His family however claimed he had lost his sanity and in May 1849, his wife applied to court to have him declared insane. Cresson appealed and the trial became a celebrated case of the day. Eminent counsel were retained on both sides and nearly one hundred witnesses were called. Finally a verdict was rendered - Warder Cresson was declared to be quite sane. The Philadelphia Herald reported on the trial’s verdict: “This prosecution was an attempt to coerce conscience, through the horrors of a lunatic asylum, deprive a man of his civil and religious liberty and throw an imputation on the Jewish faith. But the jury, with a sagacity and magnanimity that does them high honor, vindicated the truth of American Rights and of our Republican Constitution. Warder Cresson was raised as a Quaker. He chose a different path to God. He vindicated a basic American institution: Freedom of Religion.” During his stay in Philadelphia, Cresson was a regular attendant at Leeser’s Mikve Israel synagogue, taking part in Jewish communal life, and rigorously observing Jewish religious law. At the trial’s conclusion, Cresson returned to Jerusalem where he actively supported the early efforts for the agricultural regeneration of Palestine made by Judah Touro and Sir Moses Montefiore. Cresson believed that the prevailing economic distress of local Jews could be relieved by the establishment of agricultural colonies. Cresson remarried, this time a local Sephardic woman and lived out the rest of his life as a pious Jew in the Oriental tradition. Upon his death, he was buried on the Mount of Olives. “The Key of David” is Cresson’s most personal work, in which this Philadelphia Main Line Quaker sets out his gradual and irreversible attachment to the Jewish people.