wrote a letter to Mexican President Mariano Arista urging him to reject Webster's proposed treaty, prompting Webster to seek an indictment against Levy for violating the Logan Act. Federal prosecutors were forced to dismiss the case after Arista refused to hand over the original copy of the letter, depriving them of the evidence they needed to convict Levy. Levy was among the founders of the Washington Hebrew Congregation (WHC) in Washington DC and served as its fifth president from 1857 to 1858. Levy and other members of Washington Hebrew Congregation were so well politically connected that they secured from the U.S. Congress an "Act for the Benefit of the Hebrew Congregation in the City of Washington". The act guaranteed for WHC the same rights and immunities accorded to other religious bodies in the District of Columbia. President Franklin Pierce signed the act into law on June 2, 1856, and it is the only Act of Congress that serves as a charter for a Jewish Congregation in the United States. See also Jonas Phillips References Marc Leepson, Saving Monticello: The Levy Family's Epic Quest to Rescue the House that Jefferson Built (University of Virginia Press, paperback, 2003) Melvin I. Urofsky, The Levy Family and Monticello, 1834-1923: Saving Thomas Jefferson's House, Monticello: Thomas Jefferson Foundation, 2001 Duda, Jeremy (2017-06-13). "A Foreign Affair". History Today. 1807 births 1883 deaths Military personnel from Philadelphia American people of German-Jewish descent American people of Sephardic-Jewish descent Jewish-American history