Ezekiel Hart, born May 15, 1767 at…

February 1808 CE

Ezekiel Hart, born May 15, 1767 at Trois-Rivières, Quebec to Dorothea Judah and Aaron Hart, a well-known and successful businessman in Lower Canada who had served in the British forces, had obtained part of his education in the United States.

In 1792, his father had involved him in his fur-trade activities.

On January 29, 1794 he had married Frances Lazarus, niece of the prominent New York City merchant Ephraim Hart, who, along with his brother Benjamin, had served as a colonel in the militia during the American War of Independence.

Ezekial Hart and his brothers Moses and Benjamin had established a brewery in Trois-Rivières, the M. and E. Hart Company, in 1796, in which Ezekiel had remained a partner for only a few years before entering the import and export trade, owning a general store, and acquiring property.

Inheriting the seigneury of Bécancour, he has purchased land at Trois-Rivières and Cap-de-la-Madeleine.

On April 11, 1807, Hart had won election to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada over three other candidates, obtaining 59 out of the 116 votes cast. (This is not the first time a Jew had run for election: Moses Hart, Ezekiel's older brother, had run unsuccessfully for a seat in William-Henry in 1796).

The election having taken place on the Jewish Sabbath, Hart had refused to take his oath of allegiance at that time, awaiting instead the opening of the session of the legislature in Quebec the following January.

Hart caused controversy when, being Jewish, he swears his oath on a Hebrew Bible, instead of on the Christian Bible, and with his head covered in preparation for taking his seat on January 29, 1808. (At this time, Jews are accustomed to swearing in courts of law in this manner.)

The next day, an objection is raised by the attorney general, Jonathan Sewell, seconded by Justice Pierre-Amable de Bonne, that the oath had not been taken in the manner required for sitting in the assembly—an oath of abjuration, which would have required Hart to swear "on the true faith of a Christian".

Sewell moves that the assembly pass a resolution to this effect, and that Hart be provided with a copy of the resolution, "to the end that he may thereupon pursue such further course in the premises as the law of Parliament may be found to require".

Shortly after, Thomas Coffin, the runner-up in the election in Trois-Rivières, petitions the assembly, calling for the removal of Hart because, as a Jew, he is "not capable of being elected to serve in the House of Assembly, or of taking the oaths requires, or sitting or voting in the Assembly," and asking that the election be considered null and void and that Coffin be given the seat for Trois-Rivières in his place.

Hart is a personal friend of many Quebec authorities, notably Sir James Henry Craig, Governor-General and Lieutenant Governor of Lower Canada; he is godfather to one of his children, Ira James.

Craig tries to protect Hart, but the legislature dismisses his efforts.

Hart petitions the legislature, saying that, while he believes that he was justified in the law in taking a seat by means of the oath used by Jews in the courts, he is willing to swear the oaths used for those elected to the assembly.

After some deliberation, however, on February 20, 1808, the assembly resolves by a vote of 35 to 5 that "Ezekiel Hart, Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote, in this House.” (Journals of the House of Assembly of Lower Canada. February 20, 1808. p. 144.)