Yulee, David Levy, 1810-1886

<p>Born David Levy on June 2, 1810, he spent the first few years of his life as a British subject on St. Thomas in the West Indies. His father, Moses Elias Levy, came to Spanish Florida after the War of 1812 and became a pioneer in its settlement. David was educated primarily in Virginia, and at age seventeen he moved to live on his father's plantation outside Micanopy, Florida. While there he made numerous trips to St. Augustine and cultivated the acquaintance of many Spanish and East Florida families, including some officials of the federal government. Through these contacts he met and studied law with Robert Raymond Reid, who was later governor of the state and a federal judge. After being admitted to the bar in 1832, he was successful at practicing law in St. Augustine. He began his public career by becoming a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1838 and clerk to the Territorial Legislature in 1841.</p>

<p>In 1841 Levy was elected democratic territorial delegate to the national House of Representatives and served in this capacity for four years. While in office he upheld the causes of the southern states, including slavery, and he fought for Florida's admittance to the Union. In 1845 Yulee was elected as Florida's first U.S. Senator, at the same time becoming the first Jew to serve in the Senate. He officially changed his name to David Levy Yulee in 1846, resuming the use of his family's original surname. He served two non-consecutive terms in the Senate, losing the 1850 election to Stephen Mallory but defeating Whig candidate, Thomas Brown, in 1854 to win a second term. While in the Senate he took strong stands to promote the building of iron ships and to improve the postal service, especially in his home state. Yulee also fought for the expansion of the number of slave states and territories in the Union, believing that without expansion the southern states would become static and lose political clout.</p>

<p>The establishment of the Florida railroad system is widely thought of as Yulee's greatest constructive achievement. He firmly believed that further economic development in the south would lead to white immigration, thus nullifying southern fears of that time of "Africanization" (a majority black population). Florida owes Yulee, more than any other single politician, for his efforts under the Internal Improvement Act of 1855, which made it possible for Florida's railroads to receive vital land grants. While Florida was still relatively unsettled, he utilized federal land grants as a basis for credit to build an extensive system of railroads through the wilderness. The railroad program favored by Yulee included a line from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico. This railroad was incorporated in 1853 as the Florida Railroad, with construction beginning in 1856 at Fernandina and reaching Cedar Key by 1861. Eventually mail and other delivery contracts were obtained, but the start of the Civil War put a stop to further productive plans. He was president of the Florida Railroad Company from 1853 to 1866, and president of the Peninsular Railroad Company, the Tropical Florida Railway Company, and the Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad Company. His work earned him the title of "father of Florida's railroads."</p>

<p>David Levy Yulee (born David Levy; June 12, 1810 – October 10, 1886) was an American politician and attorney. Born in St. Thomas, then under British control, he was of Sephardi Jewish ancestry: his father was from Morocco and his mother, also of Sephardi descent, was born in Sint Eustatius and raised in St. Thomas. The family moved to Florida when he was a child, and he grew up there on their extensive lands. He later served as Florida's territorial delegate to Congress. Yulee was the first person of Jewish ancestry to be elected and serve as a United States Senator, serving 1845–1851 and again 1855–1861. He founded the Florida Railroad Company and served as president of several other companies, earning the nickname of "Father of Florida Railroads." In 2000 he was recognized as a "Great Floridian" by the state.</p>

<p>Levy added Yulee, the name of one of his Moroccan ancestors, to his name soon after his 1846 marriage to Nancy Christian Wickliffe, daughter of ex-Governor Charles A. Wickliffe of Kentucky. Though Yulee converted to Christianity (Episcopalian) and raised their children as Christian, he encountered antisemitism throughout his career.</p>

<p>Yulee was in favor of slavery and the secession of Florida. After the Civil War, he was imprisoned at Fort Pulaski for nine months for having aided the escape of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. After being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, he returned to his Florida railroad interests and other business ventures.</p>

YULEE, David Levy, a Delegate and a Senator from Florida; born David Levy in St. Thomas, West Indies, June 12, 1810; at the age of nine was sent to the United States to Norfolk, Va. to attend a private school; studied law in St. Augustine, Fla.; admitted to the bar in 1836 and practiced in St. Augustine, Fla.; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1838; clerk to the Territorial legislature in 1841; elected as a Whig-Democrat, a Territorial delegate to the Twenty-seventh and Twenty-eighth Congresses (March 4, 1841-March 3, 1845); did not seek renomination, having become a candidate for the Senate; upon the admission of Florida as a State into the Union was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate and served from July 1, 1845, to March 3, 1851; unsuccessful candidate for reelection; chairman, Committee on Private Land Claims (Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Congresses), Committee on Naval Affairs (Thirty-first Congress); by an act of the Florida Legislature and at his request his name was changed to David Levy Yulee in 1846; again elected to the United States Senate in January 1855 and served from March 4, 1855, until his withdrawal January 21, 1861; chairman, Committee on Post Office and Post Roads (Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses); due to his support of the Confederacy, was a prisoner at Fort Pulaski in 1865; president of the Florida Railroad Company 1853-1866; president of Peninsular Railroad Company, Tropical Florida Railway Company, and Fernandina and Jacksonville Railroad Company; known as the "Father of Florida's railroads"; moved to Washington, D.C., in 1880; died in New York City, October 10, 1886; interment in Oak Hill Cemetery, Washington, D.C.