Sketch of Proceedings in the Legislature of Maryland ... on what is Commonly Called the Jew Bill ... Extending to Those Persons Professing the Jewish Religion the Same Privileges That Are Enjoyed by Christians ..., Baltimore, Joseph Robinson: 1819

88 pages (9 ¼ x 6 in.; 235 x 150 mm). pagination: iv [1], 6-86 [2]. Browned and brittle, as in the few remaining extant copies (the edition was printed on poor quality wove paper stock, almost certainly a key contributing factor to the extreme scarcity of this pamphlet.) Corners and edges of title page, first page, and the loose final blank, chipped; else marginal chipping, though not affecting any text. Later stab-sewn. Housed in protective paper wrapper and brown buckram clamshell box; affixed leather label with gilt stamped title.

 

an exceedingly rare contemporary documentary history

Article VI of the Constitution of the United States declares that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States."  Accordingly, religious qualifications for public office have always been prohibited at the national level of the federal system of government. Several individual states however, continued to prevent Jews, Catholics, and Quakers from occupying public offices. Beginning in 1797, Jewish citizens of Maryland, most notably, Solomon Etting, had regularly, but unsuccessfully petitioned their legislature for equal status. The “Jew Bill,” as it came to be known, was defeated in 1802, 1804, and 1819, prompting a huge public outcry in Maryland and across the nation. This volume comprises the report of the committee charged with determining the “justice and expediency” of granting the Jews civic equality, as well as the speeches, in their entirety, of the two most passionate advocates for the Jewish cause, Maryland legislators Thomas Kennedy and William Brackenridge. Newspaper articles in support of Jewish equality are printed in the appendix, as are excerpts from letters of three of the nation’s Founding Fathers: James Madison, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, the three living former Presidents of the United States. The Maryland "Jew Bill" was finally passed in 1826. (Singerman, 0301).