American politician
Mirabeau B. Lamar
|
---|
|
|
|
In office
December 10, 1838 ? December 13, 1841
|
Vice President
| David G. Burnet
|
---|
Preceded by
| Sam Houston
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Sam Houston
|
---|
|
In office
October 22, 1836 ? December 10, 1838
|
President
| Sam Houston
|
---|
Preceded by
| Lorenzo de Zavala
(interim)
|
---|
Succeeded by
| David G. Burnet
|
---|
|
In office
February 8, 1858 ? May 20, 1859
|
President
| James Buchanan
|
---|
Preceded by
| John H. Wheeler
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Alexander Dimitry
|
---|
|
In office
September 14, 1858 ? May 20, 1859
|
President
| James Buchanan
|
---|
Preceded by
| Solon Borland
|
---|
Succeeded by
| Alexander Dimitry
|
---|
|
|
Born
| (
1798-08-16
)
August 16, 1798
Louisville
,
Georgia
, U.S.
|
---|
Died
| December 19, 1859
(1859-12-19)
(aged 61)
Richmond
,
Texas
, U.S.
|
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Resting place
| Morton Cemetery,
Richmond, Texas
29°35′09″N
95°45′48″W
/
29.5858°N 95.7633°W
/
29.5858; -95.7633
|
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Nationality
| American
,
Texian
|
---|
Political party
| Democratic-Republican Party
Democratic Party
|
---|
Spouse(s)
| Tabitha Jordan Lamar (1826-1830; her death)
Henrietta Maffitt (m.1851)
|
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Relations
| Lucius Q. C. Lamar
(brother)
Lucius Q. C. Lamar II
(nephew)
John Basil Lamar
(cousin)
|
---|
Children
| Rebecca Ann Lamar (born c. 1827)
Loretto Evalina Lamar
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Signature
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|
Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar
(August 16, 1798 ? December 19, 1859) was an American
attorney
, politician, poet, and leading political figure during the
Texas Republic
era. He was elected as the second
president of the Republic of Texas
after
Sam Houston
. He was known for waging war against bands of
Cherokee
and
Comanche
peoples to push them out of Texas, and for establishing a fund to support public education.
Early life
[
edit
]
Lamar was born in 1798 in
Louisville, Georgia
, as the second eldest of nine siblings, growing up at Fairfield, his father's cotton
plantation
near
Milledgeville
, then the state capital.
[1]
His family was descended from
French Huguenot
Thomas Lamar, who had settled in
Maryland
in 1660. His parents, John and Rebecca (Lamar) Lamar, who were
first cousins
through Thomas' sons John and Thomas,
[1]
had allowed his mother's brother Zachariah to name their sons; he named them after his favorite historical heroes.
[2]
The elder brother,
Lucius
, was named for the Roman statesman
Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus
; the younger, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar for French heroes
Napoleon Bonaparte
and
Honore Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau
. The family had connections with other families throughout Georgia and
the South
.
[3]
[4]
Confederate
politician
John Basil Lamar
was a first cousin to Lamar.
[5]
As a child, Lamar loved to read and educated himself through books. Although he was accepted to
Princeton University
(then called the College of New Jersey), he chose not to attend. He started work as a merchant and then ran a newspaper, but both of those enterprises failed.
In 1823, Lamar's family connections helped him to gain a position as the private secretary to the newly elected Georgia Governor
George M. Troup
. In this position, Lamar issued press releases and toured the state, giving speeches on behalf of the governor. On one of his trips, he met Tabitha Burwell Jordan, whom he married in 1826.
[6]
They had a daughter together.
[7]
When Troup lost his re-election bid in 1828, Lamar moved with his family to
Columbus, Georgia
, where he established the
Columbus Enquirer
.
[8]
This venture was much more successful than his previous business attempts. In 1830, his wife Tabitha died of
tuberculosis
.
[9]
Lamar was deeply affected and took time to recover his drive. He withdrew his name from consideration for re-election to the
Georgia Senate
, in which he had served one term.
After traveling, Lamar began to study law. He was admitted to the
bar
in 1833 and ran an unsuccessful campaign for a seat in the
U.S. Congress
.
[6]
Texas Revolution
[
edit
]
Lamar's brother Lucius committed
suicide
in 1834. A grief-stricken Lamar began traveling again to ease his sorrow. In the summer of 1835, he reached
Texas
, then part of Mexico. He decided to stay, where he was visiting his friend
James Fannin
. Fannin had recently settled there and was working as a
slave trader
in
Velasco
.
[6]
[9]
After a trip back to Georgia, Lamar returned to Texas. Learning of a battle for independence, he traveled with his horse and sword to join Sam Houston's army in spring 1836, and distinguished himself with bravery at the
Battle of San Jacinto
.
[6]
On the eve of the battle, Lamar courageously rescued two surrounded Texians, an act that drew a salute from the Mexican lines. One of those rescued was
Thomas Jefferson Rusk
, later appointed as Texas Secretary of War.
[10]
Lamar was promoted that night from private to colonel and given command of the cavalry during the battle the following day.
Houston noted in his battle report: "Our cavalry, 61 in number, commanded by Mirabeau B. Lamar, (whose gallant and daring conduct on the previous day, had attracted the admiration of his comrades and called him to that station), placed on our right, completed our line."
[11]
After Texas achieved independence from
Mexico
, Lamar was appointed as the Secretary of War in the interim
Texian
government. In 1836, he was elected to the position of Vice President of Texas.
President of Texas
[
edit
]
Lamar, the unanimous choice as the nominee of the
Democratic Party
for the president to succeed Houston, was elected. He was inaugurated on December 1, 1838.
[12]
Houston talked for three hours in his farewell address, "which so unnerved Lamar that he was unable to read his inaugural speech."
[12]
It was given by his aide, Algernon P. Thompson.
[12]
Lamar's vice president was
David G. Burnet
.
Several weeks later, in his first formal address to the
Texas Congress
, Lamar urged that the
Cherokee
and
Comanche
tribes be driven from their lands in Texas, even if the tribes had to be destroyed. He proposed to create a national bank and to secure a loan from either the United States or
Europe
. Finally, he stated his opposition to potential annexation to the United States and desire to gain recognition of the Republic of Texas by European nations.
[12]
He ordered attacks against the
Indian
tribes. In 1839, Texian troops drove the Cherokee bands from the state. Houston's friend,
Chief Bowles
, was killed in battle, and Houston was furious with Lamar. The government conducted a similar campaign against the Comanche. Although losing many lives, the Comanche resisted leaving the area.
[12]
Lamar believed the
"total extinction" of the Indian tribes
was necessary to make the lands available to whites.
[13]
He drove the Indians out at the
Battle of the Neches
, where 500 Texans attacked 800 American Indians of several different tribes. Of these 800, between 400 and 500 were women, children, and elders. The Texians and Rangers who attacked the tribes were fully armed, while the Indians had an estimated 16?24 rifles and pistols. Before the attack, Duwali, Gatunwali, Big Mush, and other chiefs and leaders asked for time to gather their crops, then they would go in peace, but Lamar would not wait.
[
citation needed
]
. Lamar ordered Secretary of War
Albert Sidney Johnston
and General
Thomas J. Rusk
to run them out of Texas.
Lamar appointed a commission to select a permanent site for the capital of the Republic. After two months of debate, they recommended the small town of Waterloo, along the
Colorado River
toward the center of the state. The town was renamed
Austin
after the pioneer
Stephen F. Austin
. By October 1839, all of the records and employees were relocated there from
Houston
.
[12]
That same year, Lamar founded the
Texas State Library
.
[12]
During his administration, Lamar sent three separate agents to Mexico to negotiate a peace settlement, all of which failed. Lamar failed to gain official recognition for Texas from
Great Britain
,
France
, and
Belgium
; it always eluded the would-be nation. He did succeed in getting the three nations to send observers, who would provisionally investigate the issue.
[14]
He did not succeed in getting loans approved from them. To fill the treasury, he authorized issuance of a large amount of Republic of Texas paper money, known as
Redbacks
. The paper money was virtually worthless. Spending doubled during Lamar's term, and combined with the worthless currency, caused financial difficulties for the government.
[12]
[14]
Lamar wanted the
Rio Grande
to be the western boundary of Texas. He wanted to send an
expedition
to
New Mexico
to conquer it, and convince the residents, still loyal to Mexico, to join the Republic. The Texas Congress refused to fund the expedition in 1839 and 1840. In June 1841, Lamar took $89,000 from the treasury and sent an expedition on his own initiative. It was questioned on constitutional grounds. Its members were arrested when they reached
Santa Fe
, and were told they would soon be released. Instead, under guard, they were marched to prison in
Mexico City
, and many died during the journey.
[14]
Lamar has been called "the Father of Texas Education" because of his provisions of land to support it. During his administration, he convinced the legislature to set aside three leagues of land in each county to be devoted to school development. He also allotted 50 leagues of land for the support of two universities, later developed as
Texas A&M University
(1876), under the
Morrill Act
, and
The University of Texas
(1883). Although no facilities were constructed during his term, he provided the base for a statewide public school system.
[12]
Government gave 18,000 acres of public land for public schools. He wanted education to be a priority to cultivate a knowledgeable citizenry.
In keeping with other slave societies in the South, Texas prohibited
free blacks
from schools. A public school system was not firmly established until after the
American Civil War
, when the
Reconstruction era
legislature created an endowment to finance a school system. In 1869, it passed a law to give the public school fund the proceeds from sale of public lands. The constitution of that year authorized the legislature to establish school districts and appoint directors.
Freedmen
's children were included in the system, despite much opposition.
[15]
When Lamar left office in 1841, Texas was almost $7 million in debt compared to $1.4 million when he was inaugurated in 1838. The majority of the debt was accrued from carrying out his policies.
[16]
[17]
Later years
[
edit
]
Houston was elected again as president after Lamar. The latter returned to service in the army, and distinguished himself in the
U.S. Army
at the
Battle of Monterrey
during the
Mexican?American War
. During this time, money was tight in Texas; Lamar borrowed money from his banker cousin
Gazaway Bugg Lamar
. Some of the letters on this subject between the two still exist.
[18]
In late 1847, he was assigned as a post commander at
Laredo
, but disliked the job, as he wanted more action.
[19]
Lamar was elected from Eagle Pass in the
Texas Legislature
for several years after
Texas was annexed
to the
United States
in 1845. In 1857, President
James Buchanan
appointed Lamar as the Minister to
Nicaragua
, and a few months later to
Costa Rica
. He served in
Managua
for 20 months before returning to Texas in October 1859 because of poor health. He died of a heart attack at his
Richmond
plantation on December 19, 1859.
[19]
Lamar's volume of collected poems,
Verse Memorials
, was published in 1857 (New York, W.P. Fetridge & Co., 224 pages).
Legacy
[
edit
]
- Lamar County
, in northeast Texas, and
Lamar
, a small unincorporated community in
Aransas County
on the Texas Gulf Coast, are named for him. Dallas and Houston have a prominent Lamar Street in their downtown areas. Lamar Boulevard, a major thoroughfare in central Austin, also carries his name, as do other streets in many older communities across Texas.
- Mirabeau B. Lamar is the namesake of
Lamar, Missouri
[20]
birthplace of
Harry S. Truman
.
- Lamar University
in
Beaumont
was named for him in 1932. It is the largest educational facility to be named for the former Texas President, and has an enrollment of over 17,000 students. The campus features a commemorative bust of Lamar.
- The defunct
Lamar University System
named all of its member institutions after him; these included the flagship
Lamar University
in
Beaumont
, and the member institutions
Lamar State College?Port Arthur
,
Lamar State College?Orange
(both two-year community colleges), and
Lamar Institute of Technology
.
[21]
- High schools are named for Lamar in
Houston
,
Arlington
, and
Rosenberg
.
- Middle schools are named for Lamar in
Temple
,
Austin
,
Dallas
,
Irving
,
Laredo
, and
Flower Mound
.
- Elementary schools are named for Lamar in
Amarillo
,
Corpus Christi
,
El Paso
,
San Antonio
,
Wichita Falls
, and
The Woodlands
, as are numerous other K?12 schools throughout the state.
- During the Second World War, a Liberty ship was named for him
SS
Mirabeau B. Lamar
.
- In 1959 he was inducted into the
Georgia Newspaper Hall of Fame
for his journalistic work.
[22]
In popular culture
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"San Jacinto Museum of History - LAMAR, MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE (1798 AUG 16 - 1859 DEC 19)"
.
San Jacinto Museum of History
. Retrieved
2023-06-15
.
- ^
Christian, A.K. (1920).
"Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar"
.
The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
.
23
(3): 153?170.
JSTOR
27794561
.
- ^
Thomas Robson Hay, "Gazaway Bugg Lamar, "hi banker," he told him and Business Man"
,
The Georgia Historical Quarterly
Vol. 37, No. 2 (June 1953), pp. 89?128, via JSTOR; accessed 31 January 2018
- ^
Herbert Gambrell.
"Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte"
.
Handbook of Texas History Online
.
- ^
"John Basil Lamar Historical Marker"
.
The Historical Marker Database
. Retrieved
2023-06-15
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Hendrickson (1995), p. 35.
- ^
Herbert Gambrell.
"Lamar, Mirabeau Buonaparte"
.
Handbook of Texas History Online
.
- ^
"Prospectus for the Columbus Enquirer, 1828"
, Texas State Library, retrieved September 2008
- ^
a
b
"Mirabeau B. Lamar"
.
Giants of Texas History
. Texas State Library and Archives Commission
. Retrieved
5 March
2014
.
- ^
Thomas Lamar Coughlin,
Those Southern Lamars
p. 324
ISBN
0-7388-2410-0
- ^
Crane, William Carey,
Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston
, J.B. Lippincott & Co., 1885, p.88.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Hendrick son (1995), p. 37.
- ^
Anderson, Gary C.
The Conquest of Texas: Ethnic Cleansing in the Promised Land 1820?1875
, 2005, pg. 174,
ISBN
0-8061-3698-7
- ^
a
b
c
Hendrickson (1995), p. 38.
- ^
W.E.B. Du Bois,
Black Reconstruction in America, 1860?1880
, New York: Free Press, 1935/1998 edition, p.560
- ^
"Mirabeau B. Lamar"
.
Triumph and Tragedy: Presidents of the Republic of Texas
.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission
. Retrieved
9 January
2017
.
... To finance his ambitious schemes, he counted on loans from England and France that never came through. During his term of office, the Texas government collected about a million dollars in taxes and spent almost five million.
- ^
Encyclopedia Britannica
(1998).
"Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar"
. Retrieved
9 January
2017
.
Lamar's constant military campaigning against the Indians and his costly exploits into New Mexico nearly bankrupted Texas. When he left office in 1841, the republic's debt stood at more than $7,000,000.
- ^
Gulick, Charles Adams Jr,
The Papers of Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar,
A.C. Baldwin & Sons
- ^
a
b
Hendrickson (1995), p. 39.
- ^
Eaton, David Wolfe (1916).
How Missouri Counties, Towns and Streams Were Named ...
Vol. 10. Reprinted From The Missouri Historical Review. The State Historical Society of Missouri. p. 18.
- ^
Wooster, Ralph A. (April 18, 2018) [1976].
"Lamar University"
.
Handbook of Texas
Online
. Retrieved
November 23,
2023
.
- ^
Smyly, John (February 21, 1959).
"Ike Scored On Secret Fund Use"
.
Atlanta Constitution
. pp. 1, 5
. Retrieved
July 1,
2020
– via newspapers.com.
Further reading
[
edit
]
- Hendrickson, Kenneth E. (1995),
Chief Executives of Texas: From Stephen F. Austin to John B. Connally, Jr.,
ISBN
978-0-890966419
- McLaughlin, Thomas Lamar (2000),
Those Southern Lamar: the stories of five illustrious Lamar
,
ISBN
0-7388-2410-0
- Ramsay, Jack C. (1984),
Thunder Beyond the Brazos: Mirabeau B. Lamar, a Biography
, Eakins Press,
ISBN
978-0-89015-462-5
- Sieges, Stanley (1977),
The Poet President of Texas: The Life of Mirabeau B. Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas
, Austin: Jenkins Pub Co,
ISBN
978-0-8363-0153-3
External links
[
edit
]
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