Judah Philip Benjamin, QC was an American lawyer and politician. He was a United States senator from Louisiana, a Cabinet officer of the Confederate States and, after his escape to the United Kingdom 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, c. 1856
Benjamin, c. 1860–1865
The original Confederate Cabinet, 1861. L-R: Judah P. Benjamin, Stephen Mallory, Christopher Memminger, Alexander Stephens, LeRoy Pope Walker, Jefferson Davis, John H. Reagan and Robert Toombs.
Benjamin on the 1864 Confederate $2 banknote.
Cabinet of the Confederate States of America
The Cabinet of the Confederate States of America, commonly called the Confederate cabinet or Cabinet of Jefferson Davis, was part of the executive branch of the federal government of the Confederate States that existed between 1861 and 1865. The members of the Cabinet were the vice president and heads of the federal executive departments.
Last meeting of the Confederate cabinet
President Davis' first cabinet (1861)
Image: Alexander Hamilton Stephens
Image: Robert Toombs Brady Handy
