Posted by Eugene Volokh:
Judah P. Benjamin:
For complex reasons, I had occasion to look up the biography of this
fellow, who is generally said to be the first unambiguously Jewish
Senator in U.S. history. It turns out that it's [1]even more
fascinating than I'd heard:
By 1852, Benjamin's reputation as a eloquent speaker and subtle
legal mind was sufficient to win him selection by the [Louisiana]
state legislature to the U.S. Senate; he took office on March 4,
1853. During his first year as a Senator, he challenged another
young Senator, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi, to a duel over a
perceived insult on the Senate floor; Davis apologized, and the two
began a close friendship.
He quickly gained a reputation as one of the great orators of the
Senate, and in 1854 Franklin Pierce offered him nomination to a
seat on the Supreme Court, which he declined. He was a noted
advocate of the interests of the South, and his most famous
exchange on the Senate floor was related to both his religion and
the issue of slavery: Benjamin Wade of Ohio accused him of being an
"Israelite in Egyptian clothing," and he replied that, "It is true
that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten
Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and
lightnings of Mt. Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding
swine in the forests of Great Britain."
He was again selected to serve as Senator for the term beginning in
1859 . . . [and] resigned his seat on February 4, 1861, due to the
secession of Louisiana from the Union. . . .
Davis appointed Benjamin to be the first Attorney General of the
Confederacy on February 25, 1861, remarking later that he chose him
for the position because he "had a very high reputation as a
lawyer, and my acquaintance with him in the Senate had impressed me
with the lucidity of his intellect, his systematic habits, and
capacity for labor."
In September of the same year, he became the acting Secretary of
War, and in November he was confirmed in the post. He became a
lightning rod for popular discontent with the Confederacy's
military situation, and came to quarrel particularly with the
Confederate Generals P.G.T. Beauregard and Stonewall Jackson. The
criticism came to a head over the loss of Roanoke Island to the
Union without a fight in February 1862. Rather than publicly reveal
the pressing shortage of military manpower that had led to the
decision not to defend Roanoke, he accepted Congressional censure
for the action without protest and resigned his position. As a
reward for his loyalty, Davis appointed him Secretary of State in
March 1862. . . .
In the immediate aftermath of the end of the war, an unfounded
rumor, tinged with anti-Semitism, that Benjamin had masterminded
the assassination of Abraham Lincoln through his intelligence
apparatus became popular. Fearing that he could never receive a
fair trial in the atmosphere of the time, he burnt his papers and
fled to England under a false name.
In June 1866, he was called to the bar in England, the beginning of
a successful and lucrative second career as a barrister. In 1868,
he published Treatise on the Law of Sale of Personal Property,
which came to be regarded as one of the classics of its field. . .
.
I should say that I've never been big on deriving ethnic pride from
the successes of fellow Jews, just as I don't think people should feel
responsible for the misconduct of those who have shared their
ethnicity. If I had derived such pride, I wouldn't derive it from
Benjamin, because of his role in trying to maintain the slave-owning
regime. (I don't know enough about the man to know how much moral
condemnation he deserves, but I know enough to conclude that he
doesn't deserve much praise.) Still, it strikes me as a very
interesting story.
References
1. http://www.answers.com/topic/judah-p-benjamin
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