Haym Salomon, Financier Who Helped Fund a Revolution

The story of Haym Salomon (1740–85) is both inspiring and deeply bittersweet. One of the most successful financiers of the American Revolution, he directly supported the final victories of the Continental Army, yet he died in poverty. Born in Leszno, Poland–Lithuania, to a Jewish family, Salomon traveled across Western Europe in his early adulthood, learning multiple languages and acquiring...
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Religious Freedom: Key to Diversity

“There can be no reason to persecute any man in this world about anything that belongs to the next.” – William Penn   To describe Pennsylvania’s re­ligious diversity is to present the history of its religious develop­ment. Although many other states be­came religiously heterogeneous during the nineteenth century, Pennsylvania was pluralistic even as a colony within...
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“Prepare Thyself … to Meet the Lord Thy God!”: Religion in Pennsylvania During the Revolution

Religion in the colony of Pennsylvania was distinctive. In contrast to most areas of the western world, this province practiced freedom of religion. It never had an established church. Friends who controlled the first legislative assembly, meeting in Upland, now Chester, in 1682, specified that no one was “at any time [to] be com­pelled to frequent or Maintain anie religious worship, place...
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