Noah, Mordecai Manuel

Noah, Mordecai Manuel (môr`dĭkī, nō`ə), 1785–1851, American journalist and politician, b. Philadelphia. He became a journalist in Charleston, S.C., and gave ardent support to the War of 1812. As a special agent to Algiers, he helped secure (1813–15) the release of American prisoners held by Algerian pirates. He returned to the United States, held public offices in New York City, founded and edited many newspapers, including the New York Enquirer and the Evening Star, and wrote plays. His plays include She Would Be a Soldier (1819) and The Grecian Captive (1822). Becoming acutely conscious of the problems of the Jewish people, Noah unsuccessfully attempted to buy Grand Island in the Niagara River as a city of refuge for the Jews of the world.

Bibliography

See biography by I. Goldberg (1936).

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Noah, Mordecai Manuel (1785–1851) playwright, journalist; born in Philadelphia. He started out as a reporter in Harrisburg, Pa., and wrote several plays between 1802 and 1822. In 1813 he was sent to Tunis as consul to negotiate for the release of Americans held by pirates there. In 1817, he became editor of the National Advocate in New York. In 1825 he unsuccessfully tried to found a Jewish refuge on an island in the Niagara River. He was sheriff of New York (1822), surveyor of the Port of New York (1829), and an associate judge of the New York court of sessions (1841). He was founder and editor of several New York newspapers.