Persons of Interest: Thomas Hart Benton
One of the most interesting political figures of the first half of the nineteenth century was Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton. He once engaged in a gun fight with Andrew Jackson, only to let bygones be bygones and later become one of Old Hickory's strongest supporters. He was a fair weather supporter of James K. Polk, with whom he shared a vision of his nation's expansion, and his son-in-law became the first presidential candidate for the Republican Party.
Benton was born in Harts Mill, North Carolina on March 14, 1782. His father, named Jesse Benton, was a wealthy lawyer and landowner, who died in 1790 when Thomas was eight years old. Benton studied law at the University of North Carolina. In 1799 he was dismissed from school after admitting to stealing money from fellow students. According to one biographer, when Benton was leaving campus on the day he was expelled, he told the students who were cheering his departure, "I am leaving here now, but damn you, you will hear from me again."
Benton moved his family to a 40,000 acre plantation near Nashville, Tennessee. He continued his legal education and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1805, and in 1809 served a term as state senator. It was here that he came to the attention of Andrew Jackson. When the War of 1812 began, Jackson made Benton his aide-de-camp, with a commission as a lieutenant colonel. Benton was assigned to represent Jackson's interests to military officials in Washington D.C. This upset Benton because it denied him combat experience. In 1813 Benton engaged in a gun fight with Jackson in which Jackson was wounded. Their feud was the result of a duel in which Jackson had served as second for a man who shot Benton's brother.
After the war, in 1815, Benton moved to the newly opened Missouri Territory. Part of his motivation was to get out from under the shadow of Andrew Jackson so he could establish his own political profile. He settled in St. Louis, where he practiced law and edited the Missouri Enquirer, the second major newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was there in 1817 that he and opposing attorney Charles Lucas had a duel after an acrimonious court case which resulted in insults being traded between the two men. Benton shot Lucas through the throat and Benton was grazed in the knee. Amazingly, Benton later challenged Lucas to a rematch and Lucas was shot close to the heart and died.
In 1820, the Missouri Compromise made the Missouri territory into a state, and Benton was elected as one of its first senators. In the presidential election of 1824, Andrew Jackson received a plurality but not a majority of votes and lost to John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives. This served to effect a reconciliation between Benton and Jackson, who put their personal differences behind them and joined forces. Benton became the senatorial leader for the Democratic Party and led the fight in the senate against the Bank of the United States. Jackson was censured by the Senate in 1834 for canceling the Bank's charter. At the close of the Jackson presidency, Benton led a successful "expungement campaign" in 1837 to remove the censure motion from the official record.
Benton was a strong supporter of what was known as "hard money" (gold coin or "specie" as it was called), opposed to paper money "backed" by gold as in a "gold standard". He argued that paper currency favored eastern bankers at the expense of the small farmers and tradespeople of the West. He proposed a law requiring payment for federal land in hard currency only, but this proposal was defeated in Congress. Jackson later incorporated the proposal in an executive order, known as the Specie Circular. Benton earned the nickname "Old Bullion" for his position on currency.
Another issue that most concerned Benton was the territorial expansion. this was tied to his efforts against soft money, which were intended to discourage land speculation. Since the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, the Oregon territory had been jointly occupied by both the United States and the United Kingdom. Benton pushed for a settlement on the issue of who Oregon belonged to and what its border would be. The current border at the 49th parallel set by the Oregon Treaty in 1846 was his choice. He disagreed with those who advocated for setting the border at parallel 54, 40 minutes, whose slogan was "Fifty-four forty or fight".
Benton was the author of the first Homestead Acts, which encouraged settlement by giving land grants to anyone willing to work the soil. He pushed for greater exploration of the West. Benton's son-in-law, General John C. Frémont, had led numerous expeditions of exploration of the west, with Benton's support. He pushed hard for public support of the intercontinental railway and supported greater use of the telegraph for long-distance communication. He was also a staunch advocate of the disenfranchisement and displacement of Native Americans in favor of European settlers, another issue on which he saw eye to eye with Jackson.
Benton was skilled an orator in an era when the Senate was dominated by giants such as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun (who became known as the "great triumvirate"). Benton supported the annexation of Texas and argued for abrogation of the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty in which the United States relinquished claims to that territory. But he was opposed to the Mexican-American War as a means of acquiring additional territory and in this respect, he broke with Democratic President James K. Polk, another protege of Jackson's.
On February 28, 1844, Benton was present aboard the USS Princeton, when a cannon misfired on deck while giving a tour of the Potomac River. The resulting explosion killed more than seven people, including United States Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and United States Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gilmer, and wounded over twenty. Benton was one of the injured, but his injury was not serious and he did not any time away from the Senate.
Benton was Andrew Jackson's leader in the Senate, and continued this role for Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren. But when James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, Benton's views did not always accord with those of his party. On the one hand, Benton was a southerner and a slave owner, but he did not agree with fellow Democrats such as John C. Calhoun, who threatened secession. In 1849 as the Compromise of 1850 was on the horizon, Benton declared himself against the institution of slavery. This put him out of step with his party and popular opinion in his state. In April 1850, during the heated Senate floor debates over the proposed Compromise, Benton was nearly shot by Mississippi Senator Henry S. Foote, following a heated debate between Benton and Vice-President Millard Fillmore. Foote was wrestled to the senate floor and disarmed.
In 1851, Benton was denied a sixth term in the Senate by the Missouri legislature. His position on slavery issue rendered him unacceptable to his state legislature. In 1852 he successfully ran for the United States House of Representatives, but lost in his bid for re-election because of his opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, something npopular in his home state. He ran for Governor of Missouri in 1856, but also lost that election. That same year his son-in-law, John C. Frémont, ran for President on the Republican Party ticket. Benton would not abandon his party however and supported the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, who won the election.
In 1854, while out of politics, Benton published his autobiography, entitled "Thirty Years' View". He died in Washington D.C. on April 10, 1858. He is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Benton has been the subject of biographical study by two men who later became President. In 1887, Theodore Roosevelt published a biography of Benton, and Benton is also one of the eight senators profiled in John F. Kennedy's book entitled Profiles in Courage.
Benton was born in Harts Mill, North Carolina on March 14, 1782. His father, named Jesse Benton, was a wealthy lawyer and landowner, who died in 1790 when Thomas was eight years old. Benton studied law at the University of North Carolina. In 1799 he was dismissed from school after admitting to stealing money from fellow students. According to one biographer, when Benton was leaving campus on the day he was expelled, he told the students who were cheering his departure, "I am leaving here now, but damn you, you will hear from me again."
Benton moved his family to a 40,000 acre plantation near Nashville, Tennessee. He continued his legal education and was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1805, and in 1809 served a term as state senator. It was here that he came to the attention of Andrew Jackson. When the War of 1812 began, Jackson made Benton his aide-de-camp, with a commission as a lieutenant colonel. Benton was assigned to represent Jackson's interests to military officials in Washington D.C. This upset Benton because it denied him combat experience. In 1813 Benton engaged in a gun fight with Jackson in which Jackson was wounded. Their feud was the result of a duel in which Jackson had served as second for a man who shot Benton's brother.
After the war, in 1815, Benton moved to the newly opened Missouri Territory. Part of his motivation was to get out from under the shadow of Andrew Jackson so he could establish his own political profile. He settled in St. Louis, where he practiced law and edited the Missouri Enquirer, the second major newspaper west of the Mississippi River. It was there in 1817 that he and opposing attorney Charles Lucas had a duel after an acrimonious court case which resulted in insults being traded between the two men. Benton shot Lucas through the throat and Benton was grazed in the knee. Amazingly, Benton later challenged Lucas to a rematch and Lucas was shot close to the heart and died.
In 1820, the Missouri Compromise made the Missouri territory into a state, and Benton was elected as one of its first senators. In the presidential election of 1824, Andrew Jackson received a plurality but not a majority of votes and lost to John Quincy Adams in the House of Representatives. This served to effect a reconciliation between Benton and Jackson, who put their personal differences behind them and joined forces. Benton became the senatorial leader for the Democratic Party and led the fight in the senate against the Bank of the United States. Jackson was censured by the Senate in 1834 for canceling the Bank's charter. At the close of the Jackson presidency, Benton led a successful "expungement campaign" in 1837 to remove the censure motion from the official record.
Benton was a strong supporter of what was known as "hard money" (gold coin or "specie" as it was called), opposed to paper money "backed" by gold as in a "gold standard". He argued that paper currency favored eastern bankers at the expense of the small farmers and tradespeople of the West. He proposed a law requiring payment for federal land in hard currency only, but this proposal was defeated in Congress. Jackson later incorporated the proposal in an executive order, known as the Specie Circular. Benton earned the nickname "Old Bullion" for his position on currency.
Another issue that most concerned Benton was the territorial expansion. this was tied to his efforts against soft money, which were intended to discourage land speculation. Since the Anglo-American Convention of 1818, the Oregon territory had been jointly occupied by both the United States and the United Kingdom. Benton pushed for a settlement on the issue of who Oregon belonged to and what its border would be. The current border at the 49th parallel set by the Oregon Treaty in 1846 was his choice. He disagreed with those who advocated for setting the border at parallel 54, 40 minutes, whose slogan was "Fifty-four forty or fight".
Benton was the author of the first Homestead Acts, which encouraged settlement by giving land grants to anyone willing to work the soil. He pushed for greater exploration of the West. Benton's son-in-law, General John C. Frémont, had led numerous expeditions of exploration of the west, with Benton's support. He pushed hard for public support of the intercontinental railway and supported greater use of the telegraph for long-distance communication. He was also a staunch advocate of the disenfranchisement and displacement of Native Americans in favor of European settlers, another issue on which he saw eye to eye with Jackson.
Benton was skilled an orator in an era when the Senate was dominated by giants such as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun (who became known as the "great triumvirate"). Benton supported the annexation of Texas and argued for abrogation of the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty in which the United States relinquished claims to that territory. But he was opposed to the Mexican-American War as a means of acquiring additional territory and in this respect, he broke with Democratic President James K. Polk, another protege of Jackson's.
On February 28, 1844, Benton was present aboard the USS Princeton, when a cannon misfired on deck while giving a tour of the Potomac River. The resulting explosion killed more than seven people, including United States Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur and United States Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gilmer, and wounded over twenty. Benton was one of the injured, but his injury was not serious and he did not any time away from the Senate.
Benton was Andrew Jackson's leader in the Senate, and continued this role for Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren. But when James K. Polk was elected president in 1844, Benton's views did not always accord with those of his party. On the one hand, Benton was a southerner and a slave owner, but he did not agree with fellow Democrats such as John C. Calhoun, who threatened secession. In 1849 as the Compromise of 1850 was on the horizon, Benton declared himself against the institution of slavery. This put him out of step with his party and popular opinion in his state. In April 1850, during the heated Senate floor debates over the proposed Compromise, Benton was nearly shot by Mississippi Senator Henry S. Foote, following a heated debate between Benton and Vice-President Millard Fillmore. Foote was wrestled to the senate floor and disarmed.
In 1851, Benton was denied a sixth term in the Senate by the Missouri legislature. His position on slavery issue rendered him unacceptable to his state legislature. In 1852 he successfully ran for the United States House of Representatives, but lost in his bid for re-election because of his opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, something npopular in his home state. He ran for Governor of Missouri in 1856, but also lost that election. That same year his son-in-law, John C. Frémont, ran for President on the Republican Party ticket. Benton would not abandon his party however and supported the Democratic candidate, James Buchanan, who won the election.
In 1854, while out of politics, Benton published his autobiography, entitled "Thirty Years' View". He died in Washington D.C. on April 10, 1858. He is buried at Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. Benton has been the subject of biographical study by two men who later became President. In 1887, Theodore Roosevelt published a biography of Benton, and Benton is also one of the eight senators profiled in John F. Kennedy's book entitled Profiles in Courage.