Judah Philip Benjamin, QC (August 6, 1811 – May 6, 1884) is an American politician and lawyer who serves in cabinet level positions in the Confederate States of America, including Secretary of War and Secretary of State.
Born a British subject in the West Indies, he moves to the United States with his parents and becomes a citizen.
He later becomes a citizen of the Confederate States of America.
After the collapse of the Confederacy, Benjamin moves to England, where he establishes a second legal career.
In 1883, he retires and moves permanently to Paris, where his wife and daughter had lived for years.
He dies the following year.
During his career in U.S. politics, Benjamin is a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives; in 1852, he is elected by the state legislature to the US Senate from Louisiana, the second Jewish senator in U.S. history (after David Levy Yulee).
Following the formation of the Confederate States of America in 1861, he is appointed by President Jefferson Davis to three different Cabinet posts in his administration.
Benjamin is the first Jewish appointee to a Cabinet position in a North American government, and the first Jewish American to be seriously considered for nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court (he twice declines offers of nomination).
Following his relocation to the United Kingdom, he becomes a distinguished barrister and is selected in 1872 as Queen's Counsel.
