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Jean Lafitte, the Jewish pirate who aided Andrew Jackson in the defense of New Orleans, occupied the island of Galveston intermittently from 1815 to 1817 as a spy for Spain who was dealing with Mexican Independentist Revolutionaries. During the war of 1812, Lafitte was offered a Commission by the Royal Navy, but rejected it because he loved Louisiana and hated the British.

Mordechai Manuel Noah was a Jewish playwrite and American diplomat who in 1825 purchased Grand Island (near Buffalo) as a refuge for Jews and established a settlement named Ararat (named after the mountain where Noah's ark settled). The endeavor ultimately was a failure. Noah was a prominent diplomat who as consul to Tunis successfully negotiated the release of enslaved Americans in Tunis and Algiers before being removed by Secretary of State James Monroe in 1815 on the grounds of his religion being a diplomatic obstacle (Noah would gain letters of support from Adams, Jefferson, and Madison).

What if Lafitte and Noah had cooperated and established a Jewish colony in Galveston in 1825 rather than Buffalo?

Galveston is about double the size of Grand Island and was a major smuggling center, meaning there'd be economic opportunities for Jews who locate there. Plus Lafitte's pirates would be able to protect the colony.
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