July 4: The Secret Code of the Declaration

The Declaration of Independence, published on this date in 1776, was copied and sent to Amsterdam via the Dutch Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius, where Jewish merchants and arms traders were a significant presence. The British intercepted the document at sea, and an accompanying letter written in Hebrew script, which was assumed to be a secret code, was sent to London for deciphering. (Whether the letter was in Ladino or Yiddish is unclear.) Once the colonies were at war with Great Britain, some of the Jewish merchants of St. Eustatius converted their ships into privateers and harassed British warships, smuggled weapons and gunpowder to the colonies, and helped provoke hostilities between Great Britain and Holland, which became a major distraction for the British Navy. In 1781, Admiral George Bydges Rodney razed the synagogue of St. Eustatius and exiled the entire male Jewish population from the island, breaking up some hundred families. Within nine months, however, the American Revolution was won. Had Admiral Rodney not spent his days plundering and persecuting the citizens of St. Eustatius, and instead used his naval power to pursue the French fleet of twenty-eight ships that ultimately helped block aid to the British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, the outcome of the war might have been different.

“From the very outset of American resistance to British rule, this speck of an island played a pivotal role in providing the means by which a ragged assembly of American patriots ultimately won victory over a well-established and well-equipped army. The success of the Revolution can be attributed in large measure to the activity of the traders of the tiny island of St. Eustatius.” —Samuel Kurinsky, Hebrew History Federation