Gale Encyclopedia of American Law Volume 2 P4 fully illuminates today's leading cases, major statutes, legal terms and concepts, notable persons involved with the law, important documents and more. Legal issues are fully discussed in easy-to-understand language, including such high-profile topics as the Americans with Disabilities Act, capital punishment, domestic violence, gay and lesbian rights, physician-assisted suicide and thousands more. | 18 BENJAMIN JUDAH PHILIP Judah Philip Benjamin. PUBLIC DOMAIN. His real estate purchases were made possible by a growing and successful law practice. By 1834 he had secured his place in the local legal community through a joint publishing venture with Thomas Slidell. Their Digest of the Reported Decisions of the Superior Court of the Late Territory of Orleans and of the Supreme Court of Louisiana was widely used. Benjamin s national reputation as a lawyer was established by his participation in a case involving the brig Creole. His brief which reviewed the status of slavery under both international law and . domestic law was printed as a pamphlet and widely circulated. In this more liberal period of his life he believed and argued that slavery was against the laws of humans and nature. He would later reverse his position. Benjamin began his political career in 1842 when he was elected as the Whig candidate to the lower house of the Louisiana Legislature. He attended the Louisiana Constitutional Convention from 1844 to 1845. Benjamin s wife was not supportive of his interest in politics or tolerant of his absences. In 1845 after eleven years of marriage she moved to Paris. The couple rarely lived together again as husband and wife but they never divorced and Benjamin s lifelong devotion to his wife has been well documented. After his wife s departure Benjamin retreated to his plantation from 1845 to 1848 and began to experiment with sugar chemistry and processing. Ultimately he lost the plantation when a friend defaulted on a note that Benjamin had signed. Despite his business reversals Benjamin had great dreams about the future development of American commerce and found himself with a renewed commitment to political service. He shared a growing belief in the South that foreign commerce would strengthen the region and restore the balance of power lost by the compromise of 1850. In 1852 Benjamin ran as a whig party candidate for one of Louisiana s . Senate .
