Antebellum Political Characters: Derbigny and Benjamin
In the last article I pointed out that many of the most influential elected officials in antebellum Louisiana were not native Louisianians. Today I want to look at two more "outsiders" who made contributions to Louisiana's history.
Pierre Auguste Bourguigon Derbigny
As you have guessed from his name, Pierre Derbigny was French and in 1828 he became the only France-born Frenchman ever elected governor of Louisiana. Derbigny was born in Laon, France, in 1769.
Pierre Derbigny lost the popular vote in the 1820 governor's race. He had already had a successful career in law and had been a state supreme court justice. Because of his interest in education he had led the movement to establish the College of Orleans, the first institution of higher learning in Louisiana.
He served as Louisiana Secretary of State from 1820 to 1828 when he won the governorship. Derbigny was affiliated with the National-Republican Party, an anti-Jackson group. His administration was short because he died in a carriage accident on October 6. 1829, in Gretna. But under his leadership the state had improved levees and waterways.
During the 1820s, feelings of sectionalism were increasing within the state. Derbigny's 1828 election was a victory for the French-speaking Catholic Creoles of the south over the English-speaking Protestant Anglos of the northern parishes. The feelings of sectionalism that began during this era remain today.
a.k.a., the Pooh-Bah of the Confederacy
Judah P. Benjamin's story is the adventure of a Jewish boy from the Virgin Islands who migrates to the United States, gets involved in politics and a Civil War, has to flee the country, serves the Queen of England and retires in Paris. His life is material for a mini-series.
Benjamin was born in 1811 and his family migrated to Savannah, Georgia in 1816. After he graduated from Yale, he moved to New Orleans. There he studied law and taught school. His political career began in 1842 when he was elected to the lower state house. He served in the constitutional convention of 1845. In 1853 he was elected to the U.S. Senate as a Whig. He was re-elected in 1859 as a Democrat. He served until February 4, 1861.
He resigned from the United States Senate to assume the office of Attorney General of the Confederate States of America. He served in this capacity until he was appointed the Confederate Secretary of War. Later he was appointed to Secretary of State.
After the war, Benjamin was suspected of assisting with the assassination of President Lincoln, so he fled to Great Britain in 1865.
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