Judah Benjamin Letter

Judah Philip Benjamin (1811–1884) was an American lawyer and politician who played a significant role in both U.S. and Confederate history. Born to Sephardic Jewish parents in the Danish West Indies, his family later settled in Charleston, South Carolina. He attended Yale College but left without graduating, eventually moving to New Orleans, where he became a lawyer and slaveholding farmer.

Benjamin served in both houses of Louisiana's state legislature before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852, becoming the first openly Jewish senator who had not renounced his faith. A staunch advocate of slavery, he resigned from the Senate when Louisiana seceded in 1861 and joined the Confederate government. He held multiple high-ranking positions, serving as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and eventually Secretary of State under Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Despite his efforts to secure European recognition for the Confederacy, his diplomatic initiatives failed.

As the Civil War neared its end, Benjamin controversially proposed arming enslaved people to preserve the Confederacy. After the South’s defeat, he fled the U.S., escaping to Britain, where he became a barrister and achieved great professional success. He retired in 1883 and died in Paris the following year.