The early Jewish communities in the South were made up primarily of Sephardic Jews who had immigrated from London and the Netherlands, where they had settled following expulsion from Spain and Portugal in the late 15th century.
In addition, the illiberal policy of the trustees of Georgia induced both Jews and Christians to leave that colony and to flock to South Carolina.
By 1800 there were about 2,000 Jews in South Carolina (overwhelmingly Sephardic and settled in Charleston), which was more than in any other U.S. state at that time,[2] and more than any other town, city, or place in North America.
[3] They reflected the social attitudes of their neighbors in the city; Congregation Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim in 1820 would not accept as converts any free people of color, thus rejecting the mixed-race children of Jewish men and African-American women.
[4] Charleston remained the unofficial capital of North American Jewry until about 1830,[5] when the increasing number of Ashkenazi German Jews emigrating to America settled largely in New Orleans, Richmond, Savannah, Baltimore, and the Northeast (particularly in Boston, New York City and Philadelphia).
Their numbers, added to by the later immigration of Ashkenazi Jews from eastern Europe to the Northeast and Midwest industrial cities, far surpassed the mostly Sephardic Jewish community in Charleston.
In 1779 a special corps of volunteer infantry was composed largely of Jews who resided on King St in the city of Charleston.
Major Benjamin Nones, a French Jew in Kazimierz Pułaski's regiment, distinguished himself during the siege of Charleston and won the praise of his commander for gallantry and daring.
In 1791 the congregation of Beth Elohim, then numbering fifty-three families, was incorporated by the legislature; and in 1794 its synagogue was consecrated at a ceremony attended by General William Moultrie and many of the chief dignitaries of the state.
Shortly after this period, Charleston attracted other Jews from New York, Virginia, and elsewhere, owing to its commercial opportunities and the welcome of the large Jewish community already established there.
In 1824 a large number of the members of Congregation Beth Elohim petitioned its trustees to shorten the service and to introduce the English language.
David Nuñez Carvalho was the first reader of the society; but the most influential man in the movement was Isaac Harby, a distinguished journalist and playwright.
The President refused to call the Board of Trustees to meet (as was required by the synagogue's constitution) because he knew they would admit new traditionalist, members and obtain control of the congregation.
The resulting case, State v. Ancke, has become known as an early example of U.S. courts refusing to intervene in complex religious questions.
Butler, delivering the opinion for the South Carolina Court of Appeals, ruled that the Board had violated the synagogue's constitution by meeting without the President's approval.