Editing David Levy Yulee (section)

{{Short description|American politician (1810–1886)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name         = David Levy Yulee
|image        = David Levy Yulee - Brady-Handy.jpg
|caption      = Yulee ({{circa}} 1855–1865)
|jr/sr        = United States Senator
|state        = [[Florida]]
|term_start   = March 4, 1855
|term_end     = January 21, 1861
|predecessor  = [[Jackson Morton]]
|successor    = [[Thomas W. Osborn]] (in 1868)
|term_start1  = July 1, 1845
|term_end1    = March 3, 1851
|predecessor1 = Seat established
|successor1   = [[Stephen Mallory]]
|state2       = [[Florida Territory]]
|district2    = {{ushr|Florida Territory|AL|at-large}}
|term_start2  = March 4, 1841
|term_end2    = March 3, 1845<br>Delegate
|predecessor2 = [[Charles Downing]]
|successor2   = [[Edward Carrington Cabell|Edward Cabell]] (Representative)
|birth_name   = David Levy
|birth_date   = {{birth date|1810|6|12}}
|birth_place  = [[Charlotte Amalie, U.S. Virgin Islands|Charlotte Amalie]], [[Danish West Indies]] (now [[United States Virgin Islands|U.S. Virgin Islands]])
|death_date   = {{death date and age|1886|10|10|1810|6|12}}
|death_place  = [[New York City|New York City, New York]], U.S.
|resting_place = [[Oak Hill Cemetery (Washington, D.C.)|Oak Hill Cemetery]]<br />[[Washington, D.C.]], U.S.
|party        = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|spouse       = Nancy Wickliffe
|relatives     = [[Charles A. Wickliffe]] (father-in-law)
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}}

'''David Levy Yulee''' (born '''David Levy'''; June 12, 1810 – October 10, 1886) was an American politician and attorney who served as the [[United States Senate|senator]] from [[Florida]] immediately before the [[American Civil War]]. He also founded the [[Florida Railroad|Florida Railroad Company]] and served as president of several other rail companies, earning him the nickname of "Father of Florida Railroads."<ref name=jvl>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/yulee.html |title=Jewish Virtual Library: David Levy Yulee |access-date=2009-05-15}}</ref>

Yulee was born on the island of [[Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands|St. Thomas]], then under British control, to a [[Sephardic Jewish]] family; his father was a trader from [[Morocco]] and his mother, also of Sephardi descent, was born in [[Sint Eustatius]] and raised in St. Thomas.<ref>Kurt F. Stone, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ACTF56SnaykC&pg=PA4 ''The Jews of Capitol Hill: A Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members''], 2010, page 4</ref> The family moved to Florida when he was a child. He later served as Florida's territorial delegate to Congress.

Yulee was the first person of [[Jewish]] ancestry elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] as well as the first elected to the [[United States Senate]]. He added Yulee, the name of a Moroccan ancestor, 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,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Garraty |first1=John Arthur |last2=Carnes |first2=Mark Christopher |date=1999 |title=American National Biography |volume=24 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oe0pAQAAMAAJ&q=%22david+levy+yulee%22+converted+christian |location=New York, NY |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=201|isbn=9780195206357 }}</ref> became an [[Episcopalian]],<ref name="Allman">{{cite book|title=Finding Florida. The True History of the Sunshine State|last=Allman|first=T.D.|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|year=2013|isbn=9780802120762}}</ref>{{rp|187}} and raised his children as Christian,<ref>{{cite web |last=Edenfield |first=Gray |url=http://ameliamuseum.blogspot.com/2014/06/david-yulees-history.html |title=David Yulee's History |date=June 17, 2014 |work=From the Jailhouse |publisher=Amelia Island Museum of History |location=Fernandina Beach, FL}}</ref> he encountered [[Antisemitism in the United States|antisemitism]] throughout his career.<ref>{{cite book |last=McIver |first=Stuart B. |date=2008 |title=Touched by the Sun |volume=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7Ubhouh6g8C&pg=PA168 |location=Sarasota, FL |publisher=Pineapple Press |page=168 |isbn=978-1-56164-206-9}}</ref>

Yulee was in favor of slavery and the secession of Florida. His fortune came from a [[sugarcane]] plantation on the [[Homosassa River]], and his antebellum railroads were largely built by slave labor. After the [[United States Civil War|Civil War]], he was imprisoned at [[Fort Pulaski]] for nine months for aiding the escape of [[Confederate President]] [[Jefferson Davis]].<ref name="Federal Writers' Project 1939 348">{{citation |url=https://archive.org/details/floridaaguidetot012110mbp |title=Florida. A Guide to the Southernmost State |date=1939 |access-date=October 29, 2017 |place=New York |author=Federal Writers' Project |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=348}}</ref> After being pardoned by President [[Andrew Johnson]], he returned to his Florida railroad interests and other business ventures.<ref>[https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/yulee.html David Levy Yulee] Jewish Virtual Library</ref> In 2000, he was recognized as a "[[Great Floridian]]" by the state.