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| Arthur Hertzberg While North America was a British colony , its Jewish community numbered about 2 , 000 . Most of these Jews lived in the cities , such as Charleston , Philadelphia , and New York , engaged in commerce , and belonged to the middle class . In this initial stage , the Jews in America were a very small group , one that hardly attracted any attention , and the increasing need within the new society in North America for businessmen , particularly those who opened small businesses , prevented conspicuous manifestations of anti-Semitism . In 1789 , when the new country was founded on a constitutional basis , no debate arose in the Constitutional Convention as to the question of granting full equality to the Jews . It was self-understood that such a minority would not pose a problem . In the first decades of the new country until the 1840 s , the number of Jews remained almost negligible , not exceeding 6 , 000 . At that time it was accepted that wealthy Jews - whose numbers ...
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