Isaac De Pinto
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Isaac de Pinto (10 April 1717 – 13 August 1787) was a Dutch merchant and banker of Portuguese
Sephardic Jewish Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...
origin who was one of the main
investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future Return on capital, return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of pr ...
s in the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
, as well as a
scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
and philosophe who concentrated on
Jewish emancipation Jewish emancipation was the process in various nations in Europe of eliminating Jewish disabilities, to which European Jews were then subject, and the recognition of Jews as entitled to equality and citizenship rights. It included efforts withi ...
and
national debt A country's gross government debt (also called public debt or sovereign debt) is the financial liabilities of the government sector. Changes in government debt over time reflect primarily borrowing due to past government deficits. A deficit occ ...
. Pinto published mainly in French and once in Portuguese. According to historian Richard Popkin, Pinto "was one of the very few Jews of the eighteenth century, before
Moses Mendelssohn Moses Mendelssohn (6 September 1729 – 4 January 1786) was a German-Jewish philosopher and theologian. His writings and ideas on Jews and the Jewish religion and identity were a central element in the development of the ''Haskalah'', or 'J ...
, able to operate and express himself in the mainstreams of European culture."


Life

Pinto had his
brit milah The ''brit milah'' (, , ; "Covenant (religion), covenant of circumcision") or ''bris'' (, ) is Religion and circumcision, the ceremony of circumcision in Judaism and Samaritanism, during which the foreskin is surgically removed. According to t ...
on 18 April 1717; this likely means he was born on 10 April and received his
Bar Mitzvah A ''bar mitzvah'' () or ''bat mitzvah'' () is a coming of age ritual in Judaism. According to Halakha, Jewish law, before children reach a certain age, the parents are responsible for their child's actions. Once Jewish children reach that age ...
in 1730. On 29 December 1734, the 17-year-old Pinto was married to Rachel Nuñes Henriques; the couple never had any children. In 1748, Pinto helped
William IV of Orange William IV (Willem Karel Hendrik Friso; 1 September 1711 – 22 October 1751) was Prince of Orange from birth and the first hereditary stadtholder of all the Dutch Republic, United Provinces of the Netherlands from 1747 until his death in 1751. D ...
, sending or lending him money to defeat the French at
Bergen op Zoom Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the Brabantian dialect, local dialect) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southwestern Netherlands. It is located in the Province ...
. In return he asked for the removal of measures against
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
merchants A merchant is a person who trades in goods produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Merchants have been known for as long as humans have engaged in trade and commerce. Merchants and merchant networks operated i ...
forbidding them to sell clothes, gherkins or fish on the street. He proposed opening the
guilds A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradespeople belonging to a professional association. They so ...
to Jews, and sending the poorest to Surinam. In 1750, he was appointed president of the
Dutch East India Company The United East India Company ( ; VOC ), commonly known as the Dutch East India Company, was a chartered company, chartered trading company and one of the first joint-stock companies in the world. Established on 20 March 1602 by the States Ge ...
by the
stadtholder In the Low Countries, a stadtholder ( ) was a steward, first appointed as a medieval official and ultimately functioning as a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and ...
. In 1755 he was visited by
Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...
, travelling incognito through the Netherlands; together they visited Gerrit Braamcamp. Pinto was a man of broad learning, but he did not begin to write until nearly forty-five, when he acquired a reputation by defending his co-religionists against Voltaire. His first known published work is the ''Patriotic Tribute'' from 1747-1748, which consists of three essays in which De Pinto reflects on the public finances of the eighteenth century Dutch Republic. In 1762, he published his ''Essai sur le Luxe'' at Amsterdam. In the same year, Pinto published ''Apologie pour la Nation Juive, ou Réflexions Critiques'' and sent a manuscript copy of this work directly to
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
. Antoine Guenée reproduced the ''Apologie'' at the head of his ''Lettres de Quelques Juifs Portugais, Allemands et Polonais, à M. de Voltaire''. In 1761, Isaac and his brother Aron went
bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the de ...
, potentially as a result of raising loans of around 6 million guilders for the British government in either 1759 or 1761; his brother sold his house on Nieuwe Herengracht. Pinto moved to Paris, where he met with James Cockburn, Lord Hertford, Mattheus Lestevenon,
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...
John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford (30 September 17105 January 1771) was a British Whigs (British political party), Whig statesman and peer who served as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1757 to 1761. A leading member of the Whig party durin ...
and
Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a prominent figure during th ...
. Then he moved to The Hague and lived in a mansion at Lange Voorhout; he and his family were invited to the palace when the young
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
and his sister Nannerl performed. In 1767, he went to London, meeting with
Lord Bute John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute (; 25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), styled Lord Mount Stuart between 1713 and 1723, was a British Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Mini ...
and receiving a pension for his advice on the
Treaty of Paris (1763) The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Kingdom of France, France and Spanish Empire, Spain, with Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal in agree ...
, as the British had gained influence over the French in India through his suggestion. In 1768, Pinto sent a letter to Diderot on ''Du Jeu de Cartes''. His ''Traité de la Circulation et du Crédit'', in which he convinced many people that England was not on the verge of bankruptcy, was published in Amsterdam in 1771. Pinto opposed Raynal after the publication of Raynal's book on global colonization ''L'Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des Européens dans les deux Indes'' (The Philosophical and Political History of the Two Indies). He disagreed with Hume, Vivant de Mezague and Mirabeau. His treatise was twice reprinted, besides being translated into English by Philip Francis (politician) and into German by Carl August von Struensee, the Prussian minister of finance. His ''Précis des Arguments Contre les Matérialistes'' was published at The Hague in 1774. He seems also to have had
Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (, , ; born Jean-Paul Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes ...
pushed from the stairs and ordered to leave his house.J.S. Wijler (1923) Isaac de Pinto, Sa vie et ses oeuvres, p. 20 In 1776, he wrote against the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
; he did, however, approve of the
Boston Tea Party The Boston Tea Party was a seminal American protest, political and Mercantilism, mercantile protest on December 16, 1773, during the American Revolution. Initiated by Sons of Liberty activists in Boston in Province of Massachusetts Bay, colo ...
. Around 1780, he wrote against an alliance of the Dutch Republic with France, although this alliance was later realized in the
Treaty of Fontainebleau (1785) The Treaty of Fontainebleau was signed on November 8, 1785 in Fontainebleau between Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, ruler of the Habsburg monarchy, and the States-General of the United Provinces. Based on the terms of the accord, the United Provinc ...
.


Legacy

Various authors, both contemporary and later, commented on Pinto's writings. One of them,
Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...
, derisively referred to Pinto - whom he regarded as a major exponent of the free-market liberalism he criticized - as the "
Pindar Pindar (; ; ; ) was an Greek lyric, Ancient Greek lyric poet from Thebes, Greece, Thebes. Of the Western canon, canonical nine lyric poets of ancient Greece, his work is the best preserved. Quintilian wrote, "Of the nine lyric poets, Pindar i ...
of the Amsterdam stock exchange" for his glorification of the Dutch financial system.


References


Sources

* * Didot, Nouvelle Biographie Générale, p. 282; * Barbier, Dictionnaire des Anonymes; * Dictionnaire d'Economie Politicale, ii.; * Hay, M.E. (ed.) (2025), Isaac de Pinto's Patriotic Tribute. Three Essays on Dutch Public Finances () * Quérard, La France Littéraire, in Allgemeine Litteraturzeitung, 1787, No. 273. * Nijenhuis, I.J.A.(1992) Een joodse "philosophe". Isaac de Pinto (1717-1787) en de ontwikkeling van de politieke economie in de Europese Verlichting.


External links


Pinto manuscript held at the University of London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinto, Isaac 1717 births 1787 deaths Dutch Sephardi Jews 18th-century Sephardi Jews 18th-century Dutch Jews Jewish Dutch writers Jewish merchants Businesspeople from Amsterdam Dutch East India Company people from Amsterdam Dutch people of Portuguese descent Dutch bankers Dutch merchants