Sam Houston's Background
Samuel "Sam" Houston (March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was
an American politician and soldier, best known for his role in bringing Texas
into the United States as a constituent state. His victory at the Battle
of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas
from Mexico
in one of the shortest decisive battles in modern history. He was
also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession
(which led to the outbreak of the American Civil War) and to refuse an oath of
allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office
by the Texas
secession convention.
Sam Houston, circa 1850
Houston was born at Timber Ridge Plantation in Rockbridge County, Virginia.
He was of Scots-Irish descent. After moving to Tennessee, he spent time with the Cherokee
Nation, into which he later was adopted as a citizen and into which he married.
He performed military service during the War of 1812 and successfully
participated in Tennessee
politics. In 1827, Houston
was elected Governor of Tennessee as a Jacksonian. In 1829, he resigned as
governor and relocated to the Arkansas
Territory.
In 1832, Houston was involved in an altercation with a
U.S. Congressman, followed by a high-profile trial. Shortly afterwards, he
moved west to Coahuila y Tejas, then a Mexican state, and became a leader of
the Texas Revolution.
After the war, Houston
became a key figure in Texas and was elected
as the first and third President of the Republic of Texas.
He supported annexation by the United States and he became a U.S. Senator upon achieving
it in 1845, and finally a governor of the State of Texas in 1859, whereby Houston became the
only person to have become the governor of two different U.S. states through
popular election, as well as the only state governor to have been a foreign head
of state.
As governor, he refused to swear
loyalty to the Confederacy when Texas seceded
from the Union in 1861 with the outbreak of
the American Civil War, and he was removed from office. To avoid bloodshed, he refused an offer of a
Union army to put down the Confederate rebellion. Instead, he
retired to Huntsville, Texas, where he died before the end of the
war.
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