[note 1] He was instrumental in helping to end the Navy's practice of flogging, and during his half-century-long service prevailed against the antisemitism he faced among some of his fellow naval officers.

Uriah Levy was close to his maternal grandfather, Jonas Phillips, who had emigrated to the United States in 1756 from Germany, and fought with the Philadelphia militia in the American Revolution.

His maternal great-great grandfather, Dr. Samuel Ribeiro Nunes, a Portuguese physician, was among a group of 42 Sephardic Jews who escaped the Spanish Inquisition of the early 16th century and migrated to England, where they settled.

The Argus seized more than 20 vessels before being captured by a British warship on August 14, 1813; her captain was killed, and the crew, including Levy, surrendered and were taken prisoner.

During his imprisonment, Levy had difficulty obtaining a subsidy and parole because his status as a supernumerary was not recognised by the British Transport Board.

[8] Before the statue was set up in New York City Hall, Levy installed it in a building on Broadway and charged admission to view it.

From 1837 to 1839, his widowed mother Rachel Levy lived there until her death; she is buried along Mulberry Row, the main plantation street adjacent to the mansion.

[10] Upon his death in 1862, Levy left Monticello to the American people to be used as an agricultural school for the orphans of Navy warrant officers.

The Levy family's role in preserving Monticello was downplayed by the Thomas Jefferson Foundation through much of the 20th century, which Urofsky suggests was due to anti-Semitic views among some of its board and members.

[12] In 1985, the Thomas Jefferson Foundation restored the gravesite of Rachel Levy and honored descendants of the family in a ceremony at Monticello.

In another tribute to Jefferson, Levy commissioned a bronze statue of the President from the noted sculptor Pierre-Jean David d’Angers in Paris.

The statue depicts Jefferson holding a quill pen in his right hand and an etched copy of the Declaration of Independence in his left.

[9][14][15] According to biographer Marc Leepson,[16] Levy "was following an ancient, if obscure, Jewish tradition that obligates the closest unmarried male relative of a recently orphaned or widowed woman in financial difficulties to marry her."

(See also letter, levirate marriage) Levy died on March 26, 1862, and was buried in Beth Olam Cemetery, Ridgewood (Queens), associated with the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue.