AHC: US state settled by Jewish People

[kernals12]

With a POD after 1810 and before 1870 have one of America's frontier territories be settled by Jewish settlers, similar to how the Mormons settled Utah.

 

[Nephi]

Long Island gets settled largely by Jewish people who eventually seek to form their own state.

 

[Carl Schwamberger]

What parts of Europe did mot of the Jews immigrate from in these decades? My first guess would be the Upper New York, or the Ohio/Indiana/Illinois frontier. After that perhaps the western Kentucky region. Racial views in the South would make the SouthWestern Territories less likely. Mexico & Texas is a longer shot. The Mexican government wanted conversion to Catholicism, which would be a object to many Jewish immigrants.

Like the Mormons a hypothetical Jewish group might be necessary to relocate one or more times before finding a permanent location.

 

[kernals12]

What parts of Europe did mot of the Jews immigrate from in these decades?

Germany had a sizeable Jewish community.

 

[danteheadman]

There were three main waves of Jewish immigration to the USA OTL: Sephardim starting in the 1650s-to-late-1700s; German Ashkenazim in the 1840s; and Eastern European Ashkenazim in the 1880s. And OTL there were "several thousands Jews" in the West by about 1878 (1, 2, 3).

If you want a POD during the mid-1800s, it'll be the German Ashkenazim:

German Jews began to come to America in significant numbers in the 1840s. Jews left Germany because of persecution, restrictive laws, economic hardship, and the failure of movements — widely supported by German Jews — advocating revolution and reform there. They looked to America as an antidote to these ills — a place of economic and social opportunity.

Some 250,000 German-speaking Jews came to America by the outbreak of World War I. This sizable immigrant community expanded American Jewish geography by establishing themselves in smaller cities and towns in the Midwest, West, and the South. German Jewish immigrants often started out as peddlers and settled in one of the towns on their route, starting a small store there. This dispersion helped to establish American Judaism as a national faith.

If German Jews had one city of their own invention, it was Cincinnati. German immigrants flocked to this area, which was considered a gateway to trade in the Midwest and West. Cincinnati became the seat of American Reform Judaism, home to the movement’s first American leader, Isaac Mayer Wise (an immigrant from Bohemia), and its newspaper and seminary.

In addition to promoting Reform Judaism in America, German Jewish immigrants created institutions as significant and longstanding as B’nai B’rith, the American Jewish Committee, and the National Council of Jewish Women.

And also:

In common with most Central Europeans, Jews suffered from postwar desolation and the trauma of adjustment to a pre-industrial society. In backward southern and western Germany, however, particularly in Bavaria, Baden, Wurttemberg, Hesse, and the Palatinate, Jews experienced an additional refinement of political oppression. Without special letters of “protection” from their governments, they were barred from the normal trades and professions. If a Jewish youth sought to marry, he was obliged to purchase a matrikel–a registration certificate costing as much as 1,000 gulden. For that matter, even a matrikel holder had to prove that he was engaged in a “respectable” trade or profession, and large numbers of young Jews were “unrespectable” peddlers or cattle dealers. Facing an endless bachelorhood, then, many preferred to try their fortunes abroad. ...

From Bavaria, by 1840, at least 10,000 Jews had departed for the United States. ... The migration never stopped. In 1820, some 3,500 Jews were living in the United States. By 1840, their numbers reached 15,000; by 1847, 50,000. Like their predecessors, most of the immigrants gravitated to the cities. New York continued as their first choice. In 1840, 10,000 Jews lived there, in 1850, 16,000–30 percent of the American Jewish population. By 1850, 16,000 Jews lived in Philadelphia, 4,000 in Baltimore.

They German Jews fled post-Napoleonic German antisemitism (including pogroms and disenfranchisement). There were still hundreds of thousands of Jews in Germany that didn't go to America, but a significant number did.

There isn't a single POD that could make a Jewish majority state in the American West. Immigrant Jews tended to go to urban areas; that's where the jobs were, and they didn't tend to have the capital needed to start freeholding.

Maybe if there was more post-Napoleonic German antisemitism, to push more Jews to America, and more coastal American antisemitism, to push immigrant Jews to the Midwest. But even then, they would mostly flock to Cincinnati OH and other established urban places. It might be possible for so many German Jews to come that they'd be the majority population of an existing city ... but that wouldn't make them the majority of any state. Not by a long shot.

I don't see it happening. Sorry.

 

[History Learner]

Most obvious answer would be Alaska, if the Slattery Report is enacted.

 

[kernals12]

Most obvious answer would be Alaska, if the Slattery Report is enacted.

I believe the plan was to only have jewish refugees make up a small portion of the migration to Alaska. They didn't want to anger a very antisemitic American public.

 

[History Learner]

I believe the plan was to only have jewish refugees make up a small portion of the migration to Alaska. They didn't want to anger a very antisemitic American public.

The plan itself didn't call for such, although that was a Stipulation FDR made on it if he was to support it.

 

[Byzantion]

Long Island gets settled largely by Jewish people who eventually seek to form their own state.

Maybe Theodor Herzel proclaims a homeland in Oklahoma territory.

 

[kernals12]

Maybe Theodor Herzel proclaims a homeland in Oklahoma territory.

Any Jewish settlers to Oklahoma by that point would face the KKK's wrath.

 

[danteheadman]

Maybe Theodor Herzel proclaims a homeland in Oklahoma territory.

Why would he? The Zionist Congress was strongly against any plan that put a Jewish state outside the Jewish homeland. They rejected Uganda. Why would they accept Oklahoma?

 

[RogueTraderEnthusiast]

You'd literally have to build a social movement of Jews to the frontier. Now, that isn't impossible, give it popular backing, and backing by those with moderate income, and you've got the basis of a semi-zionist movement. (In a way).

Perhaps that is a reaction to popular antisemitism, even getting backing from non-Jews to *shudders* "Get Rid of Them". Cue new Israel in the Rockies.

What I think would a brilliant option would be a political movement backed by American politicians to create a Jewish State in the Colorado River Valley - effectively a loyal community in the more Hispanic Conquests after the Mexican War. I sort of love the idea that the Nevada Silver Rush is dominated by Jews in Colorado. It'd not help the antisemitic attacks, but it could build a very wealthy Jewish Community that also has the Grand Canyon, later potentially a Hoover Dam, etc. It'd be different to be sure.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

Have the Jewish territorialists push for settling in the American West rather than a slice of Patagonia.

Western areas often were absolutely desperate for any kind of settlement. They also were so sparse that folks there likely wouldn't complain (initially).

The climate of areas like Wyoming and Montana isn't really that different from that of the Pale of Settlement. An OTL analogy is how Galician Ukrainians settled in the Canadian West and did fairly well for themselves.

In 1900 there were 1.5 million Jews in the United States versus 92,000 people in the whole of Wyoming. In 1880 this was only 20,000 people. Have Jacob Schiff and Theodore Herzl organize a scheme to move a large number of Jews out west (possibly in conjunction with a leadership of the State or City of New York which doesn't like how many Jews have arrived in New York).

It also doesn't have to be Wyoming necessarily. New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, or Montana could work as well. Idaho was abolished up because nobody lived there and Arizona and New Mexico didn't have enough people to justify admission until the 20th century.

Arizona: 40,400 people in 1880; 88,200 people in 1890; 122,900 people in 1900; 204,400 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1912)
New Mexico: 119,500 people in 1880; 160,300 people in 1890; 195,300 people in 1900; 327,300 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1912)
Wyoming: 20,800 people in 1880; 62,600 people in 1890; 92,500 people in 1900; 146,000 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1890)
Idaho: 32,600 people in 1880; 88,500 people in 1890; 161,800 people in 1900; 325,600 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1889)
Montana: 39,200 people in 1880; 142,900 people in 1890; 243,300 people in 1900; 376,100 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1889)


Arizona and New Mexico's admissions were delayed despite their large populations because much of their population was hispanic. One of those territories might be worth targeting for settlement as folks in other places might not complain as much. The much-disliked Mormons targeted Arizona for settlement historically for example. Otherwise, Wyoming's emptiness makes it attractive.



Baruch Goldwasser as the Senator from a mostly-Jewish US state sounds like a fun idea.

 

[kernals12]

Have the Jewish territorialists push for settling in the American West rather than a slice of Patagonia.

Western areas often were absolutely desperate for any kind of settlement. They also were so sparse that folks there likely wouldn't complain (initially).

The climate of areas like Wyoming and Montana isn't really that different from that of the Pale of Settlement. An OTL analogy is how Galician Ukrainians settled in the Canadian West and did fairly well for themselves.

In 1900 there were 1.5 million Jews in the United States versus 92,000 people in the whole of Wyoming. In 1880 this was only 20,000 people. Have Jacob Schiff and Theodore Herzl organize a scheme to move a large number of Jews out west (possibly in conjunction with a leadership of the State or City of New York which doesn't like how many Jews have arrived in New York).

It also doesn't have to be Wyoming necessarily. New Mexico, Arizona, Idaho, or Montana could work as well. Idaho was abolished up because nobody lived there and Arizona and New Mexico didn't have enough people to justify admission until the 20th century.

Arizona: 40,400 people in 1880; 88,200 people in 1890; 122,900 people in 1900; 204,400 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1912)
New Mexico: 119,500 people in 1880; 160,300 people in 1890; 195,300 people in 1900; 327,300 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1912)
Wyoming: 20,800 people in 1880; 62,600 people in 1890; 92,500 people in 1900; 146,000 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1890)
Idaho: 32,600 people in 1880; 88,500 people in 1890; 161,800 people in 1900; 325,600 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1889)
Montana: 39,200 people in 1880; 142,900 people in 1890; 243,300 people in 1900; 376,100 people in 1910 (Admitted in 1889)


Arizona and New Mexico's admissions were delayed despite their large populations because much of their population was hispanic. One of those territories might be worth targeting for settlement as folks in other places might not complain as much. The much-disliked Mormons targeted Arizona for settlement historically for example. Otherwise, Wyoming's emptiness makes it attractive.



Baruch Goldwasser as the Senator from a mostly-Jewish US state sounds like a fun idea.

The only way Mr. Goldwasser could have a political career is as a Democrat. Jews are a staunchly left wing group.

 

[GTStinger]

The Spanish never got much traction settling West Florida. Presumably it was less attractive than other parts of New Spain.
Have Spain adopt a policy of allowing Jewish conversos to settle in West Florida, establishing a colony in OTL Pensacola with a sympathetic governor (Luis de Carvajal perhaps?). Whenever the inquisition heats up somewhere, more Jews wind up immigrating to West Florida.

Dutch/Portuguese Jews fleeing inquisition in Brazil, resettle in West Florida instead of New Amsterdam.

As the French and then British become prominent in the area, Jews from those countries also preferentially immigrate. The area also picks up German immigrants in the 19th century.

With it's own distinct culture and political history, West Florida becomes a separate territory from Florida. It is admitted as a US state around 1845-1850 as part of a slave state / free state compromise.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

The only way Mr. Goldwasser could have a political career is as a Democrat. Jews are a staunchly left wing group.

Well, yes and no.

Jews originally were attracted to socialist and communist movements because of their internationalism and willingness to tolerate and accept Jews. Meanwhile in most countries, Jews tend to align with either center-left or non-nationalist right-of-center parties. The US is an outlier in this regard, largely due to the GOP's social conservatism. Orthodox Jews in the US align strongly with the GOP however.

You could point out many Jewish socialist/communist thinkers and activists, but you could also point out comparably many Jewish libertarians, conservatives, and left-anticommunists.

Plus, Arizona was considered pretty democratic-leaning when Goldwater first won in the state.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

The Spanish never got much traction settling West Florida. Presumably it was less attractive that other parts of New Spain.
Have Spain adopt a policy of allowing Jewish conversos to settle in West Florida, establishing a colony in OTL Pensacola with a sympathetic governor (Luis de Carvajal perhaps?). Whenever the inquisition heats up somewhere, more Jews wind up immigrating to West Florida.

Dutch/Portuguese Jews fleeing inquisition in Brazil, resettle in West Florida instead of New Amsterdam.

As the French and then British become prominent in the area, Jews from those countries also preferentially immigrate. The area also picks up Greman immigrants in the 19th century.

With it's own distinct culture and political history, West Florida becomes a separate territory from Florida. It is admitted as a US state around 1845-1850 as part of a slave state / free state compromise.

The Jewish pirate Jean Lafitte took/used the island of Galveston in 1815/1816/1817. If we're sticking to the limitation that PoDs need to be between 1810 and 1870, Jews settling Lafitte's island in conjunction with Mordechai Manuel Noah's "Ararat Plan". Noah bought an island (Grand Island) near today's Buffalo and called it Ararat with the intention of it being a haven for Jews. Lafitte and Noah cooperating to set something up in Galveston rather than in upstate New York might work much better.

A Jewish colony and smuggling/trading center set up by a pirate and a playwrite? That's a fun idea.

 

[danteheadman]

Have the Jewish territorialists push for settling in the American West rather than a slice of Patagonia. ...
Baruch Goldwasser as the Senator from a mostly-Jewish US state sounds like a fun idea.

First off, the Jewish gauchos settled in Patagonia in 1888, outside the AHC timeframe.
Second, Goldwater the arch-conservative is a product of Jewish assimilation into America. The creation of a Jewish-majority U.S. State would severely limit that assimilation. He'd probably be butterflied completely.

 

[danteheadman]

The Jewish pirate Jean Lafitte took/used the island of Galveston in 1815/1816/1817. If we're sticking to the limitation that PoDs need to be between 1810 and 1870, Jews settling Lafitte's island in conjunction with Mordechai Manuel Noah's "Ararat Plan". Noah bought an island (Grand Island) near today's Buffalo and called it Ararat with the intention of it being a haven for Jews. Lafitte and Noah cooperating to set something up in Galveston rather than in upstate New York might work much better.

A Jewish colony and smuggling/trading center set up by a pirate and a playwrite? That's a fun idea.

That's super cool! But I doubt that Jews could actually become a majority of the Texas population in the long term. Even if they are a majority during Texas' early post-Mexico days, migration to TX skyrocketed really quickly. There are more people in Texas than there are Jews in the world! By a lot!

For a US State to become majority Jewish, it needs to have a small enough population that early Jewish immigration doesn't become outnumbered. Land between the West Coast, Texas, and the Mississippi are the only areas that could hypothetically work.

 

[Deleted member 109224]

That's super cool! But I doubt that Jews could actually become a majority of the Texas population in the long term. Even if they are a majority during Texas' early post-Mexico days, migration to TX skyrocketed really quickly. There are more people in Texas than there are Jews in the world! By a lot!

For a US State to become majority Jewish, it needs to have a small enough population that early Jewish immigration doesn't become outnumbered. Land between the West Coast, Texas, and the Mississippi are the only areas that could hypothetically work.

Perhaps it doesn't need to be all of Texas. Galveston Island and the surrounding area being a separate state could possibly work. This is all before the establishment of the Republic of Texas after all.