Restricted Judah P. Benjamin - AWOL?

Robtweb1

2nd Lieutenant
Retired Moderator
Annual Winner
Joined
Apr 20, 2011
Location
Grand Junction, TN
Judah P. Benjamin was absent from the senate during the last part of 1860 pursuing a case in California as a private attorney. He was even gone when Lincoln was elected. How many more politicians, north or south, were AWOL at a time when they should all have been working to head off the crises?

Between June and December 1860, Benjamin was almost entirely absorbed in the case of United States v. Castillero, that was tried in San Francisco during the latter part of that period.[52] The case concerned a land grant by the former Mexican government of California. Castillero had leased part of his land to British mining companies, and when American authorities ruled the grant invalid, they hired Benjamin; he spent four months in San Francisco working on the case.[53][54] The trial began in October, and Benjamin gave an address lasting six days. The local correspondent for The New York Times wrote that Benjamin, "a distinguished stranger", drew the largest crowds to the courtroom and "the Senator is making this terribly tedious case interesting".[55] Benjamin sailed for New York once the case was submitted for decision in early November. The court's ruling, rendered in January 1861, was substantially for the company but, not satisfied, it appealed. It lost the case entirely to an adverse decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, three justices dissenting, the following year. Benjamin was by then a Confederate Cabinet officer, and could not argue the case. His co-counsel filed his brief with the court.[56]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judah_P._Benjamin
 
Back
Top