_2.jpg&w=384&q=75)
Thomas Hart Benton
Who was Thomas Hart Benton?
State Senator from Tennessee, Senator and U.S. Representative from Missouri (1782–1858)
Biographical data adapted from Wikipedia’s article on Thomas Hart Benton (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Biography
Thomas Hart Benton (March 14, 1782 – April 10, 1858), known as 'Old Bullion,' was an American politician, lawyer, soldier, and writer who was a United States Senator from Missouri for thirty years. Born in Hillsborough, North Carolina, he was a key legislative figure in the nineteenth century, influencing American policy on westward expansion, currency, and land distribution. As a member of the Democratic Party, Benton was a strong advocate for what became known as manifest destiny, more so than perhaps any other member of Congress at the time.
Expelled from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1799 for theft, Benton moved to the Tennessee frontier, where he set up a law practice and ran a plantation near Nashville. He served as a state senator in Tennessee and was an aide to General Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812, although they had a famous falling out in 1813. After the war, Benton moved to St. Louis, Missouri, and when Missouri joined the Union in 1821, he was elected as one of its first two U.S. Senators. He went on to serve five consecutive terms, becoming the first senator in U.S. history to achieve that.
In the Senate, Benton became a top figure in the Democratic Party and a trusted ally of President Andrew Jackson. He strongly supported Jackson during the Bank War, opposing the recharter of the Second Bank of the United States and advocating for hard money policies, earning his nickname 'Old Bullion.' He proposed a land payment law that inspired Jackson's Specie Circular of 1836, which required payment for government lands in gold and silver. When it came to territorial growth, Benton pushed for Texas's annexation, supported the 1846 Oregon Treaty that split the Oregon Country along the 49th parallel with Britain, and wrote an early version of the Homestead Act to encourage western settlement.
Even though he owned slaves, Benton increasingly opposed the expansion of slavery after the Mexican-American War. He was against the Compromise of 1850, seeing it as too favorable to pro-slavery interests. This stance hurt him politically in Missouri, and the state legislature did not return him to the Senate in 1851. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852 but lost his re-election bid in 1854. He later ran unsuccessfully for governor of Missouri in 1856. In his final years, Benton focused on writing, creating his memoir 'Thirty Years' View' and starting a work on the U.S. Constitution. He died in Washington, D.C., on April 10, 1858, having remained politically engaged nearly until his death.
Before Fame
Thomas Hart Benton was born on March 14, 1782, in Hillsborough, North Carolina, into a family with strong connections to American colonial society. His father, Jesse Benton, passed away when Thomas was young, which left the family struggling financially. He went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill but was expelled in 1799 after being caught stealing from other students, an incident that troubled his early reputation.
After being expelled, Benton briefly worked as a schoolteacher before studying law and becoming an attorney in Tennessee. He started his political career by winning a seat in the Tennessee state senate and formed a connection with Andrew Jackson, the leading political figure on the frontier. However, a violent dispute with Jackson in 1813 temporarily affected his future. Moving to the growing town of St. Louis, Missouri, after the War of 1812, gave him the new beginning he needed. Missouri's entry into the Union in 1821 allowed him to take the Senate seat that would shape his career.
Key Achievements
- First United States Senator to serve five consecutive terms, representing Missouri from 1821 to 1851
- Championed the 1846 Oregon Treaty, securing the division of the Oregon Country along the 49th parallel and adding vast territory to the United States
- Authored an early version of the Homestead Act, laying the groundwork for later legislation granting land to western settlers
- Played a central role in the Bank War as a Senate ally of President Jackson, advocating hard money policies that shaped the Specie Circular of 1836
- Authored 'Thirty Years' View,' a landmark political memoir documenting three decades of American legislative history
Did You Know?
- 01.Benton and Andrew Jackson engaged in a street brawl in Nashville in 1813, during which Jackson was shot and Benton's brother Jesse was wounded; the two men later reconciled and became close political allies.
- 02.Benton served exactly thirty years in the United States Senate, from 1821 to 1851, making him the first senator in American history to complete five full terms.
- 03.His nickname 'Old Bullion' came from his fierce advocacy for hard money, particularly gold and silver coin, and his sustained opposition to paper currency issued by the Bank of the United States.
- 04.Benton's daughter Jessie married the explorer John C. Frémont, and Benton used his Senate influence to promote several of Frémont's famous western expeditions.
- 05.During his final years, Benton wrote 'Thirty Years' View,' a two-volume memoir of Senate life from 1820 to 1850 that remains a primary historical source for the Jacksonian era.