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Nov 12, 2009
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History and GovernmentCongressional BiographiesTennessee / Texas

HOUSTON, Samuel

(1793—1863)

Senate Years of Service: 1846-1855; 1855-1859
Party: Democrat; American (Know-Nothing)

HOUSTON, Samuel, (father of Andrew Jackson Houston and cousin of David Hubbard), a Representative from Tennessee and a Senator from Texas; born at Timber Ridge Church, near Lexington, Va., March 2, 1793; moved about 1808 with his widowed mother to Blount County, Tenn.; attended Maryville Academy (now Maryville College), Maryville, Tenn.; employed as a clerk in a store in Kingston, Tenn.; enlisted as a private in the United States Infantry 1813; served under General Andrew Jackson in the Creek War, rose to lieutenant, and resigned from the Army in 1818; studied law, admitted to the bar in 1818, and commenced practice in Lebanon, Tenn.; district attorney in 1819; adjutant general of the State 1820; major general 1821; elected to the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Congresses (March 4, 1823-March 3, 1827); Governor of Tennessee 1827-1829, when he resigned; moved to the territory of the Cherokee Nation, now a part of Oklahoma, was a trader, and was made a member of the Cherokee Nation by action of the National Council; moved to Texas around 1835 and was a member of the convention at San Felipe de Austin, the purpose of which was to establish separate statehood for Texas; member of the constitutional convention in 1835; commander in chief of the Texas Army; successfully led the Texans against the Mexicans in the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836; first President of the Republic of Texas 1836-1838; member, Texas Congress 1838-1840; again President of the Republic 1841-1844; upon the admission of Texas as a State into the Union was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate; reelected in 1847 and 1853 and served from February 21, 1846, to March 3, 1859; chairman, Committee on Militia (Thirty-first through Thirty-fourth Congresses); Governor of Texas 1859-1861; deposed March 18, 1861, because he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States; died in Huntsville, Tex., July 26, 1863; interment in Oakwood Cemetery.


Bibliography

American National Biography ; Dictionary of American Biography ; Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest . New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993; Houston, Samuel. The Autobiography of Sam Houston . Edited by Donald Day and Harry Herbert Ullom. 1954. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980.

Bergeron, Paul H. “A Test for Jacksonians: Sam Houston on Trial.” East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications 38 (1966): 16-29.

Braider, Donald. Solitary Star: A Biography of Sam Houston . New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974.

Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest . Edited by Oscar Handlin. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993.

Cantrell, Gregg. “Sam Houston and the Know-Nothings: A Reappraisal.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 96 (January 1993): 327-43.

Corn, James F. “Sam Houston: The Raven.” Journal of Cherokee Studies 6 (Spring 1981): 34-49.

Creel, George. Sam Houston, Colossus in Buckskin . New York: Cosmopolitan Book Corp., 1928.

Crouch, Barry A. “ ‘Magnificent Barbarian’: Sam Houston Revisited.” Houston Review 15 (1993): 3-30.

Daniels, John David. “The Political Philosophy of Sam Houston.” Master’s thesis, University of North Texas, 1990.

Day, Donald, and Harry Herbert Ullom, eds. The Autobiography of Sam Houston . 1954. Reprint. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980.

De Bruhl, Marshall. Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston . New York: Random House, 1993.

Elliot, Sarah Barnwell. Sam Houston . Boston: Small, Maynard & Co., 1900.

Frantz, Joe B. “Texas Giant of Contradictions: Sam Houston.” American West 17 (July/August 1980): 4-12, 61-65.

Friend, Llerena. Sam Houston, the Great Designer . Austin: University of Texas Press, 1954.

Hopewell, Clifford. Sam Houston: Man of Destiny: A Biography . Austin: Eakin Press, 1987.

Houston, Sam. Ever Thine Truly: Love Letters from Sam Houston to Anna Raguet . Austin: Jenkins Garrett Press, 1975.

James, Marquis. The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston . 1929. Reprint. Atlanta: Cherokee Publishing Co., 1991.

Kennedy, John F. “Sam Houston.” In Profiles in Courage , pp. 100-117. 1956. Reprint. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1961.

Kreneck, Thomas H. “Sam Houston and the Jacksonian Frontier Personality.” Houston Review 8 (1986): 105-34.

___. “Sam Houston’s Quest For Personal Harmony: An Interpretation.” Ph.D. dissertation, Bowling Green State University, 1981.

Ratner, Lorman A. “Sam Houston: The Prodigal Son.” In Andrew Jackson and His Tennessee Lieutenants: A Study in Political Culture , pp. 99-107. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1997.

Roberts, Madge Thornall. Star of Destiny: The Private Life of Sam and Margaret Houston . Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993.

___, ed. The Personal Correspondence of Sam Houston . 4 vols. to date. Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1996 - .

Seymour, Flora Warren. Sam Houston, Patriot . New York: Century Co., 1930.

Shearer, Ernest C. “The Mercurial Sam Houston.” East Tennessee Historical Society’s Publications 35 (1963): 3-20.

Sibley, Marilyn McAdams. “James Hamilton, Jr. vs. Sam Houston: Repercussions of the Nullification Controversy.” Southwestern Historical Quarterly 89 (October 1985): 165-80.

Stenberg, Richard R. “The Texas Schemes of Jackson and Houston, 1829-1836.” Social Science Quarterly 50 (March 1970): 944-65.

Welch, June Rayfield. “Houston Was Out of Step with the South.” In The Texas Senator , pp. 76-82. Dallas: G.L.A. Press, 1978.

Williams, Amelia W., and Eugene Campbell Barker, eds. The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813-1863. 8 vols. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938-1943.

Williams, John Hoyt. Sam Houston: A Biography of the Father of Texas . New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.

Wiltshire, Susan Ford. “Sam Houston and the Iliad.” Tennessee Historical Quarterly 32 (Fall 1973): 249-54.

Winningham, Mrs. David. “Sam Houston and Slavery.” Texana 3 (Summer 1965): 93-104.

Wisehart, Marion Karl. Sam Houston: American Giant . Washington: R.B. Luce, 1962.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present

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