Haym Solomon

Haym Salomon (also Solomon; April 7, 1740 – January 6, 1785) was a Polish-born American merchant best known for his actions during the American Revolution, where he was one of the primary financiers for the Continental Congress.

Born to a Jewish family in Leszno, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Salomon studied finance in Western Europe before emigrating to New York City in 1775. After the American Revolutionary War broke out in the same year, Salomon supported the Patriots by providing financial services while working alongside financier Robert Morris, the Superintendent of Finance of the United States, and risked his life as a member of the Sons of Liberty, leading to multiple arrests by the British for espionage.

Salomon helped convert French loans into hard currency by selling bills of exchange on Morris' behalf, and also brokered large donations to the Patriot cause. This included a critical $20,000 loan in 1781 that enabled George Washington’s decisive Yorktown campaign, a turning point for American independence. From 1781 to 1784, Salomon helped provide over $650,000 ($15.1 million in 2025). He was also an advocate for religious liberty by co-founding Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel synagogue and challenging discriminatory laws. Despite donating his entire fortune to the Continental Army and several Founding Fathers of the United States, Salomon was still in debt when he died of a heart attack in Philadelphia in 1785, due to the failure of government officials and private lenders to repay the debt they owed him.

Haym Salomon was born on April 7, 1740 in Leszno, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to a Sephardic Jewish family descended from Spanish and Portuguese Jews who gradually migrated to Poland following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. Although most Jews in Central and Eastern Europe spoke Yiddish, it has been claimed that because Salomon left Poland with his family while he was still young, he could not read and write Yiddish; Sephardic Jews typically spoke Judaeo-Spanish (Ladino), a language based on Hebrew and Spanish, rather than Yiddish. In his youth, he studied Hebrew, which gave him a reading knowledge of the language, though not a writing capability.

During his adult travels in Western Europe, Salomon acquired a knowledge of finance and fluency in some of the languages of the day. He returned to Poland in 1770, but left for England two years later in the wake of the First Partition of Poland. In 1775, Salomon immigrated to New York City, where he established himself as a financial broker for American merchants engaged in overseas trade.

Sympathizing with the Patriot cause, Salomon joined the New York branch of the Sons of Liberty. In September 1776, he was arrested by the British as a spy, but quickly pardoned. However, the British authorities detained him for 18 months on a boat as an interpreter for Hessian troops, since Salomon could speak German. Salomon used his new position to help prisoners of war from the Continental Army escape, encouraged Hessian troops to desert, and collaborated with Hercules Mulligan and Cato to carry out other acts of espionage. In 1778, Salomon was arrested again, convicted of espionage, and sentenced to death. He eventually escaped and made his way with his family to Philadelphia, where the Continental Congress was located.

Once resettled in Philadelphia, Salomon resumed his activities as a broker. He became the agent to the French consul as well as the paymaster for all French forces in North America. In 1781, Salomon began working extensively with Robert Morris, the newly appointed Superintendent of Finance of the United States.

From 1781 to 1784, records show that Salomon's fundraising and personal lending helped provide over $650,000 ($15.1 million in 2025) in financing to General George Washington in his war effort. However, Salomon's most meaningful financial contribution came immediately prior to the Siege of Yorktown.

In August 1781, the Continental Army trapped Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis in the Virginia coastal town of Yorktown. George Washington and the main army, and Count de Rochambeau with his French army, decided to march from the Hudson Highlands to Yorktown and deliver the final blow. However, Washington's war chest was completely empty, as was that of Congress. Without food, uniforms and supplies, Washington's troops were close to mutiny.

Washington determined that he needed at least $20,000 to finance the campaign. When Morris told him there were no funds and no credit available, Washington said: "Send for Haym Salomon". Salomon raised $20,000, through the sale of bills of exchange. With that contribution, Washington conducted the Yorktown campaign, which proved to be the final battle of the Revolution.

Salomon died suddenly and in poverty on January 6, 1785, in Philadelphia. Due to the failure of governments and private lenders to repay the debt incurred by the war, his family was left penniless at his death at age 44. The hundreds of thousands of dollars of Continental debt Salomon bought with his own fortune were worth only about 10 cents on the dollar when he died.

Salomon's obituary in the Independent Gazetteer read, "Thursday, last, expired, after a lingering illness, Mr. Haym Salomon, an eminent broker of this city, was a native of Poland, and of the Hebrew nation. He was remarkable for his skill and integrity in his profession, and for his generous and humane deportment. His remains were yesterday deposited in the burial ground of the synagogue of this city."

The gravesite of Haym Salomon is located in the Mikveh Israel Cemetery in Philadelphia. Though it is unmarked, there are two plaque memorials. The east wall has a marble tablet that was installed by his great-grandson, William Salomon, and a granite memorial is set inside the cemetery gate. In 1980, the Haym Salomon Lodge #663 of the fraternal organization B'rith Sholom sponsored a memorial in the Mikveh Israel Cemetery. A blue ribbon panel and committee, including Robert S. Whitman, Sidney Bruskin and Marvin Abrams, all lodge past presidents; and Philadelphia residents, arranged for the renovation of the walls and walkways of the cemetery. They then arranged for and oversaw the installation of a large, engraved memorial marker of Barre Granite just inside the cemetery gates, inscribed "An American Patriot". A memorial bronze marker with an American flag was installed by Robert S. Whitman, marking the dedicated space for the American patriot.

There is a legend that during the design process of the Great Seal of the United States, Washington asked what compensation Salomon wanted in return for his financial contributions to the American Revolutionary War. He replied that "he wanted nothing for himself but that he wanted something for his people". While there is no evidence, there is a theory that the 13 stars representing the colonies on the seal were arranged in the shape of the Star of David in commemoration of Solomon's contributions. This appears to have little basis in fact, however, although it is oft-repeated.

In 1893, a bill was presented before the 52nd United States Congress ordering a gold medal be struck in recognition of Salomon's contributions to the United States.

In 1939, Warner Brothers released Sons of Liberty, a short film starring Claude Rains as Salomon.

In 1941, the writer Howard Fast wrote a book Haym Salomon, Son of Liberty. That same year, the Heald Square Monument, a sculpture designed by Lorado Taft was erected in today's Heald Square in downtown Chicago. Taft began the work but died in 1936. It was completed by his associate, Leonard Crunelle. The monument depicts George Washington flanked by Salomon and Robert Morris and grasping hands with both men.