Nathan Levy (American Consul in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands). Maritime Document, signed (twice).

(AMERICAN-JUDAICA).

31st January

St. Thomas (Danish West Indies)

1834

Drawback Certificate for the Moses Reed, Whittemore & Co. Printed with manuscript additions.

Since America had little domestic product to export in its developmental years, merchants made money through the carrying trade. They would purchase commodities from the French and British West Indies, and export them to Europe at a profit. Since this was vital for the American economy, a refund, or drawback, of virtually all tariffs on these goods were available, provided that they be exported within one year. This certificate is the paperwork for such a transaction. Little is known of Nathan Levy. He served as U.S. Consul in St. Thomas from 1818 to 1841. Blau and Baron tentatively suggest that he was the Nathan Levy, son of Benjamin Levy (1726-1802) of Baltimore and lived from 1759-1846. Levy’s tenure was not without controversy and some merchants were displeased with him. A racist and antisemitic attack from a disgruntled merchant is preserved in a letter to President John Quincy Adams. In it, one Joseph O’Reilly complains that Levy “is a Jew who lives with a Black Woman and frequently Walks the Streets with her arm in arm.” O'Reilly writes that Americans who witness this “painfull[sic]” scene are “mortified.” Adams, apparently, was unmoved. See Joseph L. Blau and Salo Wittmayer Baron, The Jews of the United States, 1790-1840: A Documentary History (1963) p. 612.