Aaron Lopez (1731–1782)—Faith Before Fortune: Jewish Life in Colonial America

Portrait of Aaron Lopez | Courtesy of the American Jewish Historical Society; Receipt signed by Lopez in November 1773 | Courtesy of Saul Jay Singer

At a time when Jews were seeking to escape from the long shadow of the Inquisition, a small but determined community took root in Newport, Rhode Island—determined not merely to trade, but to live openly as Jews. Between 1740 and 1760, enterprising Jewish settlers from Spain, Portugal and the West Indies arrived in the colony, helping to establish Newport as a trading hub. By the time of the Revolutionary War, some twenty-five Jewish families lived there. One notable community member was Aaron Lopez—a man whose mercantile achievements were considerable, but whose deeper legacy lay in his unwavering commitment to Jewish identity and practice.

The Lopez family, Portuguese Jews fleeing persecution, emigrated to Colonial America, and Aaron (born Duarte Lopez) moved to Newport in October 1752 at age twenty-one, not simply to seek his fortune but to build a life in which he could practice Judaism publicly. Known as “the Merchant Prince of New England,” he is credited with playing the leading role in the rapid commercial development of Newport that transformed it into the most formidable commercial rival to New York in Colonial America. He built an extensive transatlantic mercantile empire, was among the first to pursue the whaling business as far as the Falkland Islands and, in particular, he was heavily involved in the West India trade in molasses, which he brought to Newport, manufactured into rum and exported to Africa.

Lopez was a proud Jew who took great pride in his Jewish heritage. Once he settled in America, he publicly renounced his Marrano past and he and his family became practicing Jews in the Sephardic tradition. He underwent circumcision at age twenty-one (and had his son circumcised in 1753); regularly donned tefillin; married his wife Abigail in a Jewish ceremony; and became the president of Congregation Yeshuat Israel in Newport, laying the cornerstone for the famous Touro Synagogue.

In a letter to a correspondent in Charleston, Lopez describes the Spanish Inquisition and his family’s flight to Newport. His account books include references to purchases of sweet oil for Chanukah and mentions “sedakah” (sic), charity that he donated to the synagogue. He was strictly Shabbat observant, closing his shop on Saturday and prohibiting any of his ships from departing Newport on Saturday; out of deference to his Christian clients and neighbors, he also kept his shop closed on Sundays, making his closing on Shabbat an ever greater financial challenge and sacrifice.

Having escaped the shadow of the Spanish Inquisition, Aaron Lopez built a legacy not in wealth or commerce, but in the freedom to live fully as a Jew—creating a foundation for generations to follow.

In 1782, he was deeply upset when his trial regarding one of his vessels continued through Saturday, forcing him to remain overnight in Hartford for Shabbat; as he wrote to his friend, Moses Seixas, in a January 7, 1782 correspondence, “I would not stay one hour longer in that Town & soon as our Sabbath was over I mounted my Sulkey and left the contentious Judges to pass the Sentence.” It was broadly known that he meticulously kept the chagim as well; on one occasion, an out-of-town client apologized for being in Newport and not visiting him because it was Passover and he knew that Lopez would not conduct business. He not only forbade his employees from working on Shabbat and the chagim, but also on minor holidays when work was ordinarily permitted, such as Purim and the afternoon of Tishah B’Av. In accordance with Torah law, his “no work” on Jewish holidays policy extended to his slaves as well.

There is a record of Lopez ordering 250 pounds of matzah from New York, and the family refused to compromise its observance of Passover even after the outbreak of the American Revolution forced them to flee from Newport. He sold some of his cheese as “coushir” (kosher) and he frequently included “Jew beef” (i.e., kosher meat) for sale in his shops.

Jacob Rodriguez Rivera, whose daughter married Lopez in 1763 after the death of his first wife, often acted as his partner. His business interests included whale oil and spermaceti candles, livestock, groceries, household furnishings and clothes, lumber, molasses, rum, and ships, which he outfitted and chartered. By 1770, Lopez had become the wealthiest man in Newport and one of the largest merchants in the American colonies. He owned a wharf and more than 120 ships, including transoceanic vessels engaged in European and West Indies trade, dispatching over 200 voyages between 1760 and 1776.

Although there were actually very few Jewish slave owners in Colonial America, Lopez personally owned five slaves. Lopez’s (and Rivera’s) involvement in the slave trade included sending slave ships to the west coast of Africa between 1761 and 1774. Although all fourteen of the slave voyages reached their intended destinations and returned safely to Newport, there is evidence that few of them turned a profit and, in general, the slaving enterprise resulted in a net loss for Lopez and Rivera. Thus, while it is true that, regrettably, Lopez and Rivera did engage in the slave trade, contrary to allegations by countless antisemites and historians, they did not make their fortunes from slaving. In fact, slavery constituted only the smallest part of their commercial activities and the slave trade in general was never a meaningful part of Newport’s economy.

On the eve of the American Revolution, Lopez was Newport’s leading merchant and recognized by both the Jewish and broader secular communities. Notwithstanding his extensive financial and other contacts with the British, he strongly supported the American cause. With the imminent capture of Newport by the British, he was forced to flee. He relocated to Leicester where, together with Rivera, he took seventy members of the Newport Jewish community and founded the first Jewish community in Massachusetts. Even in exile, he helped sustain Jewish communal life while establishing a modest retail shop and commodities trade. He used the proceeds from his business to become an important supplier of munitions to American forces, including equipping his own ships with guns to serve as armed frigates, and he harbored many Jewish refugees in his Leicester home during the American Revolution.

He died in 1782 in an accident when, returning with his family from Leicester to Newport, he drowned. He was buried in the Jewish cemetery in Newport and was mourned not only by the Jewish community, but by all Newporters. Having escaped the shadow of the Spanish Inquisition, Aaron Lopez built a legacy not in wealth or commerce, but in the freedom to live fully as a Jew—creating a foundation for generations to follow.

Saul Jay Singer is an expert on legal ethics who serves as senior legal ethics counsel with the District of Columbia Bar. He has published 600 articles on some of the more interesting personalities and events in Jewish history.