History of the Jews in the United States

The history of the Jews in the United States dates back to the 1600s and 1700s. Jewish communities have existed in the United States since colonial times, and Jewish individuals lived in various cities before the American Revolution. Early Jewish communities were primarily composed of Sephardi immigrants from Brazil, Amsterdam, or England, many of them fled from the Inquisition.

Private and civically unrecognized local, regional, and sometimes international networks were noted in these groups in order to facilitate marriage and business ties. This small and private colonial community largely existed as a community of undeclared and non-practicing Jews, a large number of them decided to marry non-Jews. Later on, the much larger community of Ashkenazi Jews which would populate New York, New Jersey, and other regions of what would become the United States altered these demographic trends.

Until the 1830s, the Jewish community of Charleston, South Carolina, was the largest in North America. In the late 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, many Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe. For example, many German Jews arrived in the middle of the 19th century, established clothing stores in towns across the country, formed Reform synagogues, and were active in banking in New York. Immigration of Eastern Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazi Jews, in 1880–1914, brought a new wave of Jewish immigration to New York City, including many who became active in socialism and labor movements, as well as Orthodox and Conservative Jews.