well, particularly in the trade of silver and gold, and in money-changing. This success, however, led to a backlash. English merchants accused the Jews of coin clipping, a method of shaving off precious metal from money and putting it back into circulation at face value. The English merchants accusations occurred many times. This resentment led to the coalition of a Legislative Council that represented English merchants and planters in 1691. For example, the Council petitioned to the Royal Government that the Jews were evading taxes. Some have found these accusations to be false or exaggerated because the Jews did not play a large role in the economics of Port Royal. In 1815, a fire nearly destroyed all of Port Royal. Many Jews left Port Royal for another Jamaican town called Kingston, where a new economy was flourishing with commercial success. The Jews in Kingston provided four Mayors, many Justices of Peace, members of Parliament, and countless builders, dentists, doctors, teachers, lawyers, and actors. The community of Ashkenazi Jews in Kingston were called "The English and German Congregation." In 1787, they built a synagogue called Shangare Yosher. There had been an Ashkenazi synagogue in the nineteenth century called Rodphei Zadek, but it was later united with a Sephardic congregation in 1850. By 1720, 18 percent of the population of Kingston was Jewish. For the most part, Jews practiced Orthodox rituals and customs. The Jewish population was also part of the slave owning class and owned Black slaves, who were sometimes bequeathed to their synagogues in their wills. Among the Jewish community's religious leaders during the early 1800s was the Rev. Dr. Isaac Lopez (1780-1854). Born in Curacao, he came to Kingston where he served the congregation there, assisted for a time by Abraham Pereira Mendes who was later called to be the minister of the Montego community. At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Jewish population began introducing Progressive Judaism into their rituals. Progressive Judaism had a combination of reform and conservative rituals. Since the Inquisition made its way to many parts of the New World, Jamaica offered a type of haven for the Jews. The Jews in Jamaica felt at peace with life even though they still faced certain restrictions such as not being able to vote or hold office. In 1826, however, free people of color were on track to gain equal rights to others in Jamaica, and