THE FIRST BIG-NAME BIGOT
IN AMERICA:
U.S. CONGRESSMAN
LEWIS CHARLES LEVIN,
JEWISH FOUNDER OF THE
“KNOW NOTHING” PARTY
The subject of “anti-Semitism”
and “bigotry” is much discussed in the mainstream media
and in the history books in America today. But perhaps the biggest
secret of all is that one of the first and foremost outspoken bigots
in America leading the fight against immigration into the United
States — particularly Irish Catholic immigration — was
a prominent Jewish American, Lewis Charles Levin.
Although history often tells us that the so-called “Know Nothing”
movement — the Native American Party — was “led
by Protestants” and “aimed at Catholics and Jews,”
the truth is that Levin — a Jew — was not only one of
the party’s founders but also one of the editors of its national
organ and one of the first Know Nothing members elected to Congress!
In fact, Levin was the first Jew elected to the U.S.
Congress. Yet, Jewish literature today never mention’s
Levin’s preeminent role in the anti-Catholic agitation of
America’s early years.
Levin was born in 1808 in Charleston, South Carolina, which —
as students of the African slave trade know — was the Jewish
population center of the United States for many years, long before
New York City emerged as such. He later moved north, as an attorney,
to Philadelphia where he published and edited the Philadelphia
Daily Sun. In 1844 he was elected to Congress from
Pennsylvania on the American (or “Know Nothing” ticket)
and held that post for three terms until he was defeated for re-election
in 1850. Levin died ten years later, on March 14, 1860.
The fact that Levin was indeed one of the pioneering anti-Catholic
agitators on American soil is very interesting, to say the least,
particularly because, as we’ve noted, the history books have
been careful to “edit” the historical record as far
as Levin’s role in the Know Nothing movement is concerned.
And that, of course, raises the question: “Why?”
In the pages of The New Jerusalem we will
effectively explain why Levin’s career has been consigned
to the Orwellian “Memory Hole” and why, instead, we
always hear how both “the Protestants” and “the
Catholics” have been so hostile to “the poor Jewish
immigrants who were fleeing persecution.”
Levin’s story is very revealing indeed . . .
