Breaking New Ground: The Untold Story of Early America’s Jewish Electoral Pioneers—1788 to 1920 Paperback – October 28, 2025

In Breaking New Ground, Harvard-trained attorney Mark Rutzick relies on seven years of historical research to reveal an entirely unknown chapter in Jewish American political history: the accomplishments of 1,896 Jewish Americans who won 5,245 elections to federal, state, and local offices between 1788 and 1920.Journey through the remarkable transformation of Jewish citizens in America-legally barred from holding office in the colonial era but winning thousands of elections in 47 U.S. states.In this book, you will:Learn how the U.S. became the first nation to allow Jews to seek and hold elective office.Explore the political achievements of these Jewish officeholders across the Nation, including serving in over 1,000 elite leadership positions.Dive into 300 biographical profiles of pioneering Jewish leaders–both individuals and families.Understand the carefully researched historical context through over 6,000 source citations.BREAKING NEW GROUND sheds light on a pivotal chapter in American history, where Jewish citizens rose from political exclusion to electoral success.Start your exploration of this fascinating history!---“Breaking New Ground is an ambitious, rewarding, and massive accomplishment. Painstakingly researched and organized, it tells the history of the American electorate and elections from the important but long-overlooked vantage point of Jewish local, state/territorial, and federal office holders. The book breaks new ground in our understanding of American Jews’ involvement in the government since almost the beginning.” ― Jonathan L. Friedmann, Ph.D., Director of the Jewish Museum of the American West and co-editor of Jewish Historical Societies: Navigating the Professional-Amateur Divide.“From the colonial era to the present day, Jews have played a significant role in American government and politics with many serving as important jurists, senators, governors and members of Congress and the state legislatures. Mark Rutzick offers a complete and fascinating accounting of the role of Jews in the first century and-a-half of American democracy.” ― Benjamin Ginsberg, Professor and Chair, Center for Advanced Governmental Studies, Johns Hopkins University and author of The New American Antisemitism: The Left, the Right and the Jews.“Mark Rutzick has assembled a truly impressive compendium of the Jews who chose to enter American politics during the first century and a half of our national existence. His book will be an essential and invaluable source for anyone interested in researching the role of Jews in public service in the United States. Mr. Rutzick is to be commended for having created this eminently readable and thorough reference work.” ― Gerard Leval, author of “Lobbying for Equality: Jacques Godard and the Struggle for Jewish Civil Rights During the French Revolution” (HUC Press).“This illuminating book is both a reference work and a set of historical profiles that highlight the surprising success of Jews in being elected to office in the first century of American self-governance without evident antisemitic blockage. It is an uplifting contrast to the depressing explosion of antisemitism in several realms of the 21st century. Perhaps some of the American history that Mark Rutzick has unearthed can inspire a better future.” ― Jeffrey A. Rosen, former Acting Attorney General of the United States and former Chair of the Virginia Commission to Combat Antisemitism. Read more