Sikhs and The Revolutionary Era

[Dave Sidhu]

Dear Friends,

I hope this email finds you all well.  As a Sikh who has studied
post-9/11 discrimination against this community and others, and as
someone fond of early American history, I am interested in exploring
the relationship between Sikhism and the Founding Fathers.  On the
surface, I believe there are many similarities to the formation and
ideals of these Sikh religion and the United States, but this topic
requires further and serious study.

Accordingly, I wanted to ask if anyone is aware of the Sikhs having
any knowledge of or interest in the founding of America during that
particular period in history?  Since Guru Gobind Singh died in 1704
and Maharaja Ranjit Singh was a child when the Declaration of
Independence was signed, I suppose my question can be narrowed to
whether any Sikh leaders or the Sikh people as a whole around
1776-1787 had knowledge of or interest in what was taking place in
America with respect to the establishment of a new nation separate
from Britain.

I have not come across anything of the sort, but thought some of you
may have a better sense of this.  Off-line replies appreciated.

Thanks!
Dave

--
Dawinder "Dave" S. Sidhu
* Founding Director, Discrimination and National Security Initiative,
an affiliate of the Pluralism Project
* Author, Civil Rights in Wartime: The Post-9/11 Sikh Experience
(forthcoming, Ashgate)
* http://www.ssrn.com/Author=688955