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THE RISE OF THOMAS H. BENTON IN
MISSOURI POLITICS
BY PERRY MC CANDLESS*
Attorney Thomas H. Benton was a stranger to the Territory of
Missouri when he moved to St. Louis in 1815. When the State of
Missouri was organized five years later, he was elected to the Senate
of the United States. Within another ten years he was the dominant
political figure of Missouri and one of the most important Jacksonian
Democrats of the Nation.
The Territory of Missouri, with its limited economic development and small population, seemingly should not have been a
particularly attractive place for an ambitious young lawyer. Immediate legal employment was available, however, in handling the
heavy litigation involving unsettled Spanish land grants, and a
lawyer could anticipate both fame and wealth from successful
handling of such cases. Also, American westward migration following the War of 1812 was resulting in a rapid population and economic
growth. Although an attorney by profession, Benton was more
interested in politics than in legal practice, and in this field there was
real opportunity. The rapidly growing Territory of Missouri would
soon be ready for statehood, and there was not an established and
accepted group of territorial political leaders.1
Since he was dependent upon his earnings, Benton's first concern
had to be his profession. In this he apparently was very successful,
and he was described by a traveling missionary, Timothy Flint, as
the leading lawyer of St. Louis in 1817. Benton might well have
become a great lawyer had not his real interest and attention been
directed toward politics.2
*Perry McCandless, born in Lincoln, Missouri, received his B.S. degree from Central
Missouri State Teachers College, M.A. from Southern Methodist University, and Ph.D. from the
University of Missouri. He is now assistant professor of social studies, Central Missouri State
College, Warrensburg, Mo.
'Thomas H. Benton, Thirty Years View (New York, D. Appleton Co., 1897), I, 102; Benton to
Gov. James P. Preston of Virginia, Nov. 14, 1819, Benton Papers, Missouri Historical Society,
St. Louis, Mo.; William Francis English, The Pioneer Lawyer and Jurist in Missouri (Columbia,
University of Missouri Studies, 1947), XXI, 35-6; Seventh Census of the United States, 1850 (Washington, R. Armstrong, Public Printer, 1853), p. 665; Henry S. Foote, The Bench and Bar of the
South and Southivest (St. Louis, Soule, Thomas, and Wentworth, 1876), p. 160.
2Timothy Flint, Recollections of the Last Ten Years . . . in the Valley of the Mississippi (Boston,
1826), p. 184; W.V.N. Bay, Reminiscences of the Bench and Bar of Missouri (St. Louis, F. H. Thomas
and Co., 1878), p. 3.
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Missouri Historical Review, Volume 50 Issue 1, October 1955 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Month | October |
| Year | 1955 |
| Publisher | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Publisher-Electronic | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Rights | Copyright The State Historical Society of Missouri, 2008 |
| ISSN | 0026-6581 |
