Robert Lucas (Governor)

Robert Lucas

Robert Lucas (born April 1, 1781 in Shepherdstown , Jefferson County , Virginia , †  February 7, 1853 ) was an American politician and governor of the state of Ohio .

Early years

Born in what is now West Virginia , Robert Lucas received a private school education with an emphasis on mathematics and land surveying. At the age of 19 he moved to Scioto County in what is now Ohio, which was then still part of the Northwest Territory . In 1803 he became a land surveyor in the service of his district. Among other things, he helped measure the border with neighboring Adams County .

Political rise

Lucas's political rise began in 1808 with his election to the Ohio House of Representatives . He stayed there until 1809. In the years 1831 to 1832 he was re-elected to this Chamber of Parliament. Between 1814 and 1822 and from 1824 to 1830 he was a member of the State Senate. During the war of 1812 he served intermittently in the Ohio militia, but also in the regular US Army. Even early on Lucas of the new Democratic Party of Andrew Jackson at. In 1832 he was chairman of the Democratic National Convention in Baltimore , on which President Jackson was nominated for a second term. In 1830 he lost in the gubernatorial election narrowly to the Nationalrepublikaner Duncan McArthur , but two years later he was then with almost 53 percent of the vote against Darius Lyman of the Anti-Masonic Party elected his state as the new governor.

Governor of ohio

Robert Lucas took up his new office on December 7, 1832. After a re-election in 1834, he was able to exercise it until December 12, 1836. During this time, the laws regarding the militia were revised. During his time as governor of Ohio, the so-called " Toledo War " took place with Michigan over a narrow strip of land between the two states, in which the city of Toledo is also located. After both governors, Stevens Mason for Michigan at the time , had already deployed militias on the border, Congress settled the conflict by awarding the Toledo Strip to Ohio, but compensating Michigan with territorial areas in the north of the state.

Territorial Governor of Iowa

After the end of his governorship, Lucas applied unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate . Robert Lucas ended his political career in 1841 after a three-year term as the first governor of the Iowa Territory . He was appointed to this office by President Martin Van Buren . He had little success in Iowa because he had to deal with a hostile Secretary of State and a strong opposition. Here, too, as before in Ohio, he was embroiled in a border conflict. This time it was about claims between the State of Missouri and the Iowa Territory. In 1844, Lucas was still a delegate to the Iowa Constituent Assembly. He spent his retirement in Iowa City. Lucas was married twice and had a total of seven children.

Web links

Commons : Robert Lucas  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Robert Lucas in the National Governors Association (English)
• Lucas in the Ohio History Connection Archives
• Robert Lucas in the database of Find a Grave (English)