This "America" name has got to go, too, being derived from a White European Male Oppressor. Of course, in PC Land we all applaud George Washington getting trashed in favor of a real hero. But what about Judah P Benjamin, crudely dismissed as "another rich slave owner"? Should we accuse his critics of being "just antisemites"?
Politics & Politicians
Judah Philip Benjamin "Confederacy's Brilliant Statesman" August 6, 1811 - May 6, 1884
"It is a revolution," U.S. Sen. Judah Benjamin said, speaking in December 1860 of the South's determination to secede, "and it can no more be checked by human effort... than a prarie fire by a gardener's watering pot." Born to English-Jewish parents in British West Indies, Benjamin was raised in the U.S. Carolinas and entered Yale College at 14. He left at 17, before graduating, and moved to New Orleans, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1834. He became a law partner of his future Confederate ally, John Slidell. Benjamin's digest of Supreme Court decisions became a classic in law writings.
Benjamin was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1852 and 1858, but resigned in February 1861, shortly before his good friend Jefferson Davis appointed him attorney general of the new Confederate States of America. Considered the most brilliant member of the Confederate cabinet, Judah Benjamin was called "a master of law and the most accomplished statesman I have ever known," by Davis. In September 1861 he was appointed secretary of war, but his tenure there was brief and stormy. After the loss in February 1862 of Roanoke Island, with some 2,500 Confederate prisoners taken, Benjamin came under heavy criticism from other government leaders and the public. Davis replaced him with George Randolph and named Benjamin secretary of state, a post he held until the surrender of the Confederacy.
Benjamin stayed with Davis until the bitter end, which came in May 1865. He left the Confederate president's company at the Savannah River in Georgia on May 3. Disguised, he traveled to Florida and then sailed to the West Indies, eventually settling in England. He enrolled at Lincoln's Inn, London, as a barrister in 1866, and became Queen's Counsel for Lancashire County in 1872. He became so successful that by 1877, he would accept no case for for a fee less than 300 guineas ($1,500). Benjamin died on May 6, 1884, in Paris, where he and his wife were buried.
Fascinating Fact: Judah Benjamin had a broader viewpoint than most of the Confederate leaders. As secretary of state, he urged Jefferson Davis to emancipate the slaves so that Britain and France might support the South.
civilwar.bluegrass.net |
