Thomas Hart Benton (politician)

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Thomas Hart Benton

Thomas Hart Benton (born March 14, 1782 on a farm near Hillsborough , North Carolina , † April 10, 1858 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician . He moved to Tennessee and became an attorney and member of the government. When the British-American War broke out , he brought together a volunteer regiment and since then has held the title of lieutenant colonel .

After the war, he settled in St. Louis , Missouri, as a lawyer in 1815 and founded the Democratic magazine Missouri Argus there in 1815 . Due to the success with which he advocated the admission of Missouri to the American Confederation, he was elected as a representative in the US Senate after the constitution of the new state in 1820 , to which he was a member until 1851.

He paid particular attention to the development of the west and already had the idea of ​​connecting the east and west coast of the United States with traffic routes. In particular, he campaigned for the expansion of the Santa Fe Trail from his home state Missouri to Santa Fe, which was initially still in Mexico . At the outbreak of the Mexican-American War , he persuaded President James K. Polk to take the decisive steps that led to the capture of New Mexico .

Although Benton, as a Senator from Missouri, represented a state in which slavery was allowed, he was in principle hostile to slavery , and the so-called Wilmot Proviso , which prohibited the spread of slavery to the territories newly acquired by the USA, found a proponent in him . Therefore, he was a main opponent of the Calhoun party , which wanted to introduce slavery in Kansas and Nebraska and generally worked towards loosening the union. With the greatest energy he opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act , but could not prevent its adoption, also disintegrated with his state and has not been elected to the Senate since 1850; his attempt to become governor of Missouri also failed. For this he was elected to the House of Representatives in 1852 .

When he lost this post in 1854, he devoted himself from then on to his literary occupations, especially the elaboration of his memories ( Thirty years' view of the senate , New York. 1855–56, 2 vols.). Thereupon he took on the difficult task of looking through the negotiations of the Congress from the foundation of the republic and of publishing them in compact form, but death prevented him from completing them.

The city of Bentonville in Arkansas is named after him.

literature

  • Thomas Hart Benton: Thirty Years View: A History of the Working of the American Government 1820 to 1850 Part Two ISBN 1419160443 (Engl.)

Web links

Commons : Thomas Hart Benton (politician)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
  • Thomas Hart Benton in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)