The Foreign Service Journal, September 2022

52 SEPTEMBER 2022 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL The Short Diplomatic Career of Mordecai Manuel Noah Luciano Mangiafico, an FSO from 1970 to 1991, is the author of two books, Contemporary American Immigrants (Praeger, 1988) and Italy’s Most Wanted (Potomac Books, 2007). He has also contrib- uted articles to The Foreign Service Journal and the literary journal Open Letters Monthly , among other periodicals. I n August 1810, a 25-year-old American Jew named Mordecai Manuel Noah, then traveling about as a peddler in upstate New York, wrote to U.S. Secretary of State Robert Smith seeking an appointment. He was interested in being a consular agent in Lower Canada to protect the interests of U.S. citizens trad- ing in the area. The letter was accompanied by a petition in favor of the appointment addressed to President James Madison and signed by 27 U.S. citi- zens. Secretary Smith turned Noah down, but advised him to seek a consular post in Europe. On April 2, 1811, Smith was replaced by James Monroe, and Noah returned to the charge, writing to Secretary of State Monroe that his appointment to a post would “prove to foreign powers that our government is not regulated in the appointment of their officers by religious distinction,” thus stressing his religious identity for advantage. His quest was successful, and on June 4, 1811, he was offered the new post of consul to Riga (Latvia), then part of the Russian Empire. Noah accepted the post and was confirmed, but he delayed departure until, with the start of the War of 1812, he was unable to travel to Riga. By then he had moved to Charleston and become involved in politics. During the 1812 presidential campaign, he strongly supported in newspaper articles the re-election of James Madison and the War of 1812 against the United Kingdom. Noah then traveled to Washington to lobby President Madison directly, and in March 1813, he was appointed consul to Tunis; but before going to his post, Noah was entrusted with a sensitive secret mission, outlined in the instructions Secretary Monroe gave him on April 13. He was to attempt ransoming 11 American captives enslaved by the ruler of Algiers for a maximum price of $3,000 per person. Monroe’s papers in the Library of Congress document that Monroe had instructed Noah to “for obvious reasons, not let [the attempt] be understood as proceeding from [the U.S.] government, but rather from the friends of the parties themselves.” FS HERITAGE In the 19th century, this ambitious American lived several lifetimes, including as a peddler, politician, publisher and even, albeit briefly, a U.S. diplomat. BY LUC I ANO MANG I AF I CO