Judah Phillip Benjamin | |
|---|---|
 Benjamin, c. 1856 | |
| 3rd Confederate States Secretary of State | |
| In office March 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865 | |
| President | Jefferson Davis |
| Preceded by | William Browne (acting) |
| Succeeded by | Position abolished |
| 2nd Confederate States Secretary of War | |
| In office September 17, 1861 – March 24, 1862 | |
| President | Jefferson Davis |
| Preceded by | LeRoy Walker |
| Succeeded by | George Randolph |
| 1st Confederate States Attorney General | |
| In office February 25, 1861 – November 15, 1861 | |
| President | Jefferson Davis |
| Preceded by | Position established |
| Succeeded by | Wade Keyes (acting) |
| United States Senator from Louisiana | |
| In office March 4, 1853 – February 4, 1861 | |
| Preceded by | Solomon Downs |
| Succeeded by | John Harris (1868) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Judah Phillip Benjamin August 6, 1811 Christiansted, Danish West Indies |
| Died | May 6, 1884 (aged 72) Paris, Seine, France |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Political party | Whig (before 1856) Democratic (from 1856) |
| Spouse |
Natalie Bauché de St. Martin
(m. 1833) |
| Children | 1 |
| Education | Yale College Lincoln's Inn |
| Signature |  |
Judah Philip Benjamin QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) was an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to Britain at the end of the American Civil War, an English barrister. Benjamin was the first Jew to hold a Cabinet position in North America and the first to be elected to the United States Senate who had not renounced his faith.
Benjamin was born to Sephardic Jewish parents from London who had moved to Saint Croix in the Danish West Indies when it was occupied by Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. Seeking greater opportunities, his family immigrated to the United States, eventually settling in Charleston, South Carolina. Benjamin attended Yale College but left without graduating. He moved to New Orleans, where he read law and passed the bar.
He rose rapidly both at the bar and in politics, becoming a wealthy slaveholding planter who was elected to and served in both houses of the Louisiana legislature prior to his election by the legislature to the U.S. Senate in 1852.[1] There, he was a vocal advocate of slavery. After Louisiana seceded in 1861, Benjamin resigned as senator and returned to New Orleans. He soon moved to Richmond after Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed him as Attorney General. Benjamin had little to do in that position, but Davis was impressed by his competence and appointed him as Secretary of War. He was a firm supporter of Davis, who reciprocated that loyalty by promoting him to Secretary of State in March 1862, while Benjamin was being criticized for the Confederate defeat at Roanoke Island.
As Secretary of State, Benjamin attempted to gain official recognition for the Confederacy by France and the United Kingdom, but his efforts were ultimately unsuccessful. To preserve the Confederacy as military defeats made its situation increasingly desperate, he advocated freeing and arming the slaves, 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 the Union Army. Benjamin sailed to Britain, where he settled and became a barrister, again rising to the top of his profession before retiring in 1883. He died in Paris in the following year.
- ^ Weil, Julie Zauzmer (10 January 2022). "More than 1,800 congressmen once enslaved Black people. This is who they were, and how they shaped the nation". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2024. Database at "Congress slaveowners", The Washington Post, 13 January 2022, retrieved 29 April 2024