Albert Jacob Cardozo (December 21, 1828 – November 8, 1885) was an American attorney and jurist in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. He is best known for his association with the nefarious

Tammany Hall Tammany Hall, also known as the Society of St. Tammany, the Sons of St. Tammany, or the Columbian Order, was an American political organization founded in 1786 and incorporated on May 12, 1789, as the Tammany Society. It became the main local ...

organization led by

Boss Tweed William Magear "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19t ...

Early background

Albert Jacob Cardozo was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, as the son of Ellen Hart and Michael H. Cardozo,

Sephardic Jews Sephardic Jews, also known as Sephardi Jews or Sephardim, and rarely as Iberian Peninsular Jews, are a Jewish diaspora population associated with the historic Jewish communities of the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal) and their descendant ...

of the Portuguese Jewish community. Sephardi Jews immigrated to the colonies in the 17th and 18th centuries from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The family returned to New York, where Albert Cardozo went to school and read the law; he passed the bar and began practicing law in New York in 1849.

Family

He married Rebecca Washington (née Nathan). Her parents, Sara Seixas and Isaac Mendes Seixas Nathan, were also Sephardic

Jews in New York City Jews comprise approximately 12% of New York City's population, making the Jewish community the largest in the world outside of Israel. , over 960,000 Jews lived in the five boroughs of New York City, and over 1.9million Jews lived in the New Yor ...

. Among their children was a daughter Nell and fraternal twins,

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

(future U.S. Supreme Court justice) and Emily, 11 years younger. After Rebecca died when the twins were young, Nell had a key role in rearing them.

Career

Cardozo became a justice in 1864 of the

Supreme Court of New York The Supreme Court of the State of New York is the superior court in the Judiciary of New York. It is vested with unlimited civil and criminal jurisdiction, although in many counties outside New York City it acts primarily as a court of civil ju ...

, that state's trial court. By 1866, Cardozo was working on behalf of Tammany Hall's

William M. Tweed William Magear "Boss" Tweed (April 3, 1823 – April 12, 1878) was an American politician most notable for being the political boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party's political machine that played a major role in the politics of 19th ...

ring. Without seeing the applicants, many of whom had questionable citizenship, Cardozo granted naturalization papers for up to 800 persons per day. He was implicated in a Tammany Hall judicial corruption scandal that was sparked by the

Erie Railway The Erie Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Northeastern United States, originally connecting Pavonia Terminal in Jersey City, New Jersey, with Lake Erie at Dunkirk, New York. The railroad expanded west to Chicago following its 1865 ...

takeover wars in 1868. The scandal led to the creation of the

Association of the Bar of the City of New York The Association of the Bar of the City of New York, commonly referred to as the New York City Bar Association (City Bar), founded in 1870, is a voluntary association of lawyers and law students. Since 1896, the organization has been headquartere ...

, and to Cardozo's resignation from the bench in 1872. Cardozo was also responsible for allowing

Jay Gould Jason Gould (; May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American railroad magnate and financial speculator who founded the Gould family, Gould business dynasty. He is generally identified as one of the Robber baron (industrialist), robber bar ...

of the Erie Railroad to escape most of the debt Gould accumulated while trying to corner the gold market in 1869. Cardozo did this as a favor for William M. Tweed. Albert Cardozo served as vice president and trustee of

Congregation Shearith Israel The Congregation Shearith Israel (), often called The Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue located at 2 West 70th Street, at Central Park West, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, New York, Unit ...

in New York City; both his and his wife's family had belonged to the congregation, established in the 17th century. Cardozo resumed the practice of law until his death.

Death

He died in New York City on November 8, 1885.

References

* American people of English-Jewish descent American people of Portuguese-Jewish descent New York Supreme Court justices New York (state) lawyers American Jews American lawyers 19th-century American Sephardic Jews 1828 births 1885 deaths Lawyers from Philadelphia Leaders of Tammany Hall 19th-century New York state court judges 19th-century American lawyers {{NewYork-state-judge-stub