Noah, Mordecai Manuel [key], 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.
See biography by I. Goldberg (1936).
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