Judah P. Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America. He was also the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith. He held the Cabinet positions of Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America.
About Judah P. Benjamin in brief
Judah Philip Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America. He was also the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith. He held the Cabinet positions of Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America. Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London, who had moved to St. Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. His parents were shopkeepers and migrated to the West Indies in search of better opportunities. Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar. He became a wealthy planter and slaveowner and was elected to and served in both houses of the Louisiana legislature prior to his election by the legislature to the US Senate in 1852. After Louisiana seceded in 1861, Benjamin resigned as senator. He soon moved to Richmond after Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him as Attorney General. He advocated freeing and arming the slaves late in the war, but his proposals were only partially accepted in the closing month of the war. When Davis fled the Confederate capital of Richmond in early 1865, Benjamin went with him. He left the presidential party and was successful in escaping from the mainland United States, but Davis was captured by Union troops. Benjamin sailed to Great Britain and became a barrister, again rising to the top of his profession before retiring in 1883. He died in Paris the following year.
His father was among the founders of the Reform congregation in Charleston, South Carolina, that included shorter services in English rather than in Hebrew. In 1813 the Benjamin family moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, where they had relatives. Around 1821 the family moved with his family to Charleston, which had the largest Jewish community in the U.S. and a reputation for religious tolerance. At the age of 14, in 1825, Benjamin entered Yale College, an popular institution among white Southerners; Vice President John C. Calhoun, a South Carolinian, was among its alumni. The extent of Judah Benjamin’s religious education is uncertain, but he was expelled from Yale in 1827 as he did not keep the Sabbath. The boy’s intelligence was noted by one of the others, one of whom offered him money to finance his education. He attended the well-regarded school where he was recognized for his intelligence. In Charleston, the Benjamins encountered hard times as normal trade was blocked by the British occupation. The Benjamin family was not financially successful there, and around 1821 moved with their family to South Carolina. The family was recognized among his father’s Reform congregation as the first among his family was among his friends to join the Hebrew Congregation in Charleston. In the early 1820s, Benjamin was a first cousin and business partner of Moses Elias Levy, who also immigrated to the American mainland. He later became a successful planter, but not a successful businessman.
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This page is based on the article Judah P. Benjamin published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 06, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
