David Levy Yulee

David Levy Yulee
Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives from the Florida Territory
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1845
Preceded by	Charles Downing
Succeeded by	statehood achieved
United States Senator from Florida
In office July 1, 1845 – March 3, 1851
Preceded by	Office instituted
Succeeded by	Stephen Mallory
In office March 4, 1855 – January 21, 1861
Preceded by	Jackson Morton
Succeeded by	Thomas W. Osborn
Personal details
Born	David Levy June 12, 1810 Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies[1][2]
Died	October 10, 1886 (aged 76) New York City, New York, United States[3][4]
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Nannie C. Wickliffe Yulee
Profession	Politician, Lawyer
Religion	Judaism, conversion to Christianity

David Levy Yulee (born David Levy; June 12, 1810 – October 10, 1886) was an American politician and attorney of Moroccan-Jewish origins from Florida, a territorial delegate to Congress, and the first Jewish^[5] member of the United States Senate. He founded the Florida Railroad Company and served as president of several other companies, earning the nickname of "Father of Florida Railroads."^[6] In 2000 he was recognized as that year's "Great Floridian" by the state.

Levy added Yulee to his name, the name of one of his Moroccan ancestors, soon after his 1846 marriage to the daughter of ex-Governor Charles A. Wickliffe of Kentucky. Though Yulee became Christian and raised his children as Christians, he was subject to antisemitism throughout his career. Yulee supported slavery and secession. He was imprisoned for nine months after the war as a prisoner of state at Fort Pulaski before being pardoned. He then returned to railroad building.^[7]

Early life and education

Born David Levy in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas, his father Moses Elias Levy was a Moroccan Sephardi Jew who made a fortune in lumber. His mother was also Sephardi; her ancestors had gone from Spain to the Netherlands and England. Some had later gone to the Caribbean as English colonists during the British occupation of the Danish West Indies, now the United States Virgin Islands. His father Moses Levy was a first cousin and business partner of Phillip Benjamin, the father of future Confederate Secretary of State Judah P. Benjamin.^[8]

After the family immigrated to the United States, Moses Levy bought 50,000 acres (200 km²) of land near present-day Jacksonville, Florida Territory. He wanted to establish a "New Jerusalem" for Jewish settlers. The parents sent their son to a boy's academy and college in Norfolk, Virginia. David Levy studied law in St. Augustine, was admitted to the bar in 1832 and practiced in St. Augustine.^[6][9][10]

David L. Yulee, photograph by Mathew Brady

Early political career

Yulee served in the territorial militia, including the Second Seminole War, and in 1834 was present at a conference with Seminole chiefs, including Osceola.

In 1836 he was elected to the Florida Territory's Legislative Council, and he served from 1837 to 1839. He was delegate to the territory's constitutional convention in 1838, and served as clerk of the legislature in 1841.

Florida businessman

Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site

In 1851 Yulee founded a 5,000-acre (20 km²) sugar cane plantation, built and maintained by slaves,^[11] along the Homosassa River. The remains of his plantation, which was destroyed during the Civil War, are now the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site. Yulee was also business partners with John William Pearson at Orange Springs, Florida but he abandoned his idea of building a railroad in the area due to the upcoming Civil War.^[12]

While living in Fernandina, Yulee began to develop a railroad across Florida. He had planned since 1837 to build a state-owned system. He became the first Southerner to use state grants under the Florida Internal Improvement Act of 1855, passed to encourage the development of infrastructure. He made extensive use of the act to secure federal and state land grants "as a basis of credit" to acquire land and build railroad networks, on the back of slave labor^[11] through the Florida wilderness.^[10]

Issuing public stock, Yulee chartered the Florida Railroad in 1853. He planned its eastern and western terminals at deep-water ports, Fernandina (Port of Fernandina) on Amelia Island on the Atlantic side, and Cedar Key on the Gulf of Mexico, to provide for connection to ocean-going shipping. His company began construction in 1855. On March 1, 1861, the first train arrived from the east in Cedar Key, just weeks before the beginning of the Civil War.

Later political career

Yulee was elected in 1841 as the delegate from the Florida Territory to the US House of Representatives and served four years.^[13] He worked to gain statehood for the territory and to protect the expansion of slavery in new states.

In 1845, after Florida was admitted as a state, the legislature elected him as a Democrat to the United States Senate, the first Jew to win a seat in the Senate, and he served until 1851.^[14] In 1855 he was again elected to the Senate, and he served until withdrawing in 1861 in order to support the Confederacy at the start of the American Civil War.

Yulee's inflammatory pro-slavery rhetoric in the Senate earned him the nickname "Florida Fire Eater".^[15] During his Senate career he served as chairman of the Committee on Private Land Claims (1845-1849) and the Committee on Naval Affairs (1849-1851).

Civil War

During the Civil War Yulee did not seek any elective or appointive office, though some sources erroneously state that he served in the Confederate Congress.^[9][16] After the war, Yulee was imprisoned in Fort Pulaski for nine months because of his presumed support for the Confederacy.^[6]

Reconstruction

After receiving a pardon and being released from confinement, Yulee rebuilt the Yulee Railroad, which had been destroyed by warfare. He served as president of the Florida Railroad Company from 1853 to 1866, as well as president of the Peninsular Railroad Company, Tropical Florida Railway Company, and Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad Company. His development of the railroads was his most important achievement and contribution to the state of Florida.^[10] He was called the "Father of Florida Railroads".^[6] His leadership helped bring increased economic development to the state, including the late nineteenth-century tourist trade.^[6] In 1870 Yulee hosted President Ulysses S. Grant in Fernandina.

Marriage and family

In 1846, Levy officially changed his name to David Levy Yulee (adding his father's Sephardic surname).^[10] That year he married Nannie C. Wickliffe, the daughter of Charles A. Wickliffe, the former governor of Kentucky and Postmaster General under President John Tyler. His wife was Christian, and they raised their children in her faith.^[6]

Death and legacy

Selling the Florida Railroad, Yulee retired with his wife to Washington, D.C. in 1880, where she had family.^[10] He died six years later while visiting in New York. Yulee was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington, D.C.^[6]

Yulee gravesite

Memorial inscription

• Both the town of Yulee, Florida^[17] and Levy County, Florida^[18] are named for him.
• In 2000, the Florida Department of State designated him as a Great Floridian in the Great Floridians 2000 Program. Award plaques in his honor were installed at both the Fernandina Chamber of Commerce and the Yulee Sugar Mill Ruins State Historic Site.^[14]

References

1. Kurt F. Stone, The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members, 2010, page 4
2. Roger Moore, Ron Kurtz, Amelia Island and Fernandina Beach, 2001, page 1873
3. Thomas William Herringshaw, Herringshaw's National Library of American Biography, 1914, page 524
4. John R. Nemmers, George A. Smathers Library, University of Florida, A Guide to the David Levy Yulee Papers: Biographical Note, March 2005
5. It is not clear if Yulee converted before his marriage to Nancy Christian Wickliffe or on his deathbed. Nor is the documentary evidence clear if he was seated in the U.S. before or after his reported conversion to Christianity. The more accurate description of Yulee would be to note that he was the first U.S. Senator of Jewish heritage
6. "Jewish Virtual Library: David Levy Yulee". Retrieved 2009-05-15.
7. David Levy Yulee Jewish Virtual Library
8. Mosaic: Jewish Life in Florida (Coral Gables, FL: MOSAIC, Inc., 1991): 9
9. Retrieved from the permanent collection of the Jewish Museum of Florida
10. John R. Nemmers, "A Guide to the David Levy Yulee Papers", University of Florida Smathers Libraries, Special and Area Studies Collections, March 2005, accessed 24 July 2011
11. Wiseman, Maury. "David Levy Yulee: Conflict and Continuity in Social Memory". Jacksonville University. Retrieved 2013-06-27.
12. Cook, David (December 6, 1987). "Orange Springs Once Thriving Resort". Ocala Star-Banner. Retrieved May 2, 2014.
13. It is not clear whether or when Levy was actually permitted to take his seat as a Delegate. This footnote appears as note 47, page 8, in Congressional Research Service document "Delegates to the U.S. Congress: History and Current Status" by Betsy Palmer: "U.S. Congress, House Committee on Elections, David Levy, 27th Cong., 1st sess., September 3, 1841, H.Rept. 10, p. 5. This case concerned whether David Levy, from the territory of Florida, was a citizen of the United States. The committee held that Mr. Levy was not a citizen, and, as such, could not serve as a Delegate."
14. "Great Floridians 2000 Program: Judah Philip Benjamin". Florida Department of State, Florida Heritage.
15. Republican Jews Alarmed at the Prospect of a Void in the House and Senate, by Jason Horowitz, in the New York Times; published July 12, 2014; retrieved July 13, 2014
16. Davis, Robt. W. (June 1, 1902). "Florida in Congress". Florida Magazine (Jacksonville, FL: G. D. Ackerly): 362. Note: All of Florida's Confederate Congress Senators and Representatives are listed here, and Yulee's name is not among them.
17. Hunn, Max (Aug 19, 1956). "Driving through Florida history". Ocala Star-Banner. p. 29. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
18. Publications of the Florida Historical Society. Florida Historical Society. 1908. p. 32.

External links

• Works by or about David Levy Yulee at Internet Archive
• Detailed biography at Yulee Railroad Days website
• Guide to the David L. Yulee Papers at the University of Florida
• David Levy Yulee at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Biography at Jewish Virtual Library