Details
[CIVIL WAR]. BENJAMIN, Judah P. (1811-1884), Confederate Secretary of War. Autograph letter signed ("J.P. Benjamin") as Attorney General of the Confederacy, to John A. Washington, Montgomery, [AL], 6 April 1861. 1 2/3 pages, 4to, on rectos only on two-leaf Confederate States of America Department of Justice stationery, in very fine condition.
"IT WILL AID ME IN THE ARGUMENT OF THE CAUSE": BENJAMIN DISCUSSES A SUPREME COURT CASE SHORTLY AFTER SECESSION
A fine letter in which recently appointed Attorney General for the Confederacy, Judah P. Benjamin, discusses a pending case before the United States Supreme Court with John A. Washington, who would shortly be aide-de-camp to Robert E. Lee. Benjamin, a former U.S. Senator, who resigned in February 1861 to join the Confederacy, had an excellent legal mind and is considered by many historians to be the most brilliant member of the Confederate Cabinet. Here, just a few months after the Confederacy was formed and just six days before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Benjamin responds to Washington, the last descendant of George Washington to live at Mount Vernon: "It seems rather late in the day to acknowledge receipt of your favor of 6th February, but I am sure that in the midst of the revolution with which we are plunged and in which you know me to have been an actor, you will not attribute my delay to carelessness or neglect. My duties here have absorbed every hour, and I but now begin to breathe a little more freely." The Attorney General thanks Washington for some information regarding a case before the Supreme Court which likely relates to a secession issue: "I am glad to have received the paper you were good enough to enclose and because it will aid me in the argument of the cause, but as regards any thing to be done in changing the mind (?) in the Supreme Court, that is totally out of the question." Benjamin promptly informs Washington that it is unlikely that they can win the case: "It is your bill of exceptions that is before the court, and you have no right to say that it does not set forth the truth. If there was any mistake...about what the Judge's charge really was, it might have been corrected in the lower court, but the Sup. Court cannot listen to any suggestion on the subject from us, and would be complaining of our act, for all bills of exception in theory are drawn by the party who takes exception, and we are in view of the law supposed to have written out the whole bill ourselves & of course will not be heard to complain that we ourselves wrote it wrong, to our own prejudice. I shall be in Washington to argue the cause in proper time, but cannot yet study it, as the record has not yet been printed."
In the fall of 1861, Benjamin was made the Confederacy's Secretary of War and later served as Secretary of State. He was the first Jewish American to hold a cabinet post in North America. John A. Washington was killed five months after receiving this letter while serving with Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Cheat's Mountain (see lot #55).
"IT WILL AID ME IN THE ARGUMENT OF THE CAUSE": BENJAMIN DISCUSSES A SUPREME COURT CASE SHORTLY AFTER SECESSION
A fine letter in which recently appointed Attorney General for the Confederacy, Judah P. Benjamin, discusses a pending case before the United States Supreme Court with John A. Washington, who would shortly be aide-de-camp to Robert E. Lee. Benjamin, a former U.S. Senator, who resigned in February 1861 to join the Confederacy, had an excellent legal mind and is considered by many historians to be the most brilliant member of the Confederate Cabinet. Here, just a few months after the Confederacy was formed and just six days before the bombardment of Fort Sumter, Benjamin responds to Washington, the last descendant of George Washington to live at Mount Vernon: "It seems rather late in the day to acknowledge receipt of your favor of 6
In the fall of 1861, Benjamin was made the Confederacy's Secretary of War and later served as Secretary of State. He was the first Jewish American to hold a cabinet post in North America. John A. Washington was killed five months after receiving this letter while serving with Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Cheat's Mountain (see lot #55).