Levy was granted the "freedom of the country" by the government of Peru for signal services rendered in the Peruvian Navy.
His older brother Uriah Phillips Levy became the first Jewish commodore in the United States Navy.
Like Uriah, Jefferson Monroe invested his personal funds (in the amount of hundreds of thousands of dollars) to restore and preserve the mansion and 218 acres (88 ha) of grounds.
Secretary of State Daniel Webster had been pressuring Mexico to accept a treaty that would allow a different group of American businessmen to build the railway.
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.