There stands a neoclassical bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton, complete with toga and sandals, in Lafayette Park. I recently put the compass of my iPhone in a line from the Benton statue’s nose. West 270 degrees bang on. There’s a reason for this.
The busy early years
Thomas Hart Benton (1782 – 1858), today is often confused with his famous artist grand-nephew of the same name. In his day, however, he truly was a larger-than-life character. Teddy Roosevelt emulated Benton, and wrote a long biography in 1887. In fact, Benton is singular in having two eventual presidents write admiring essays – the other being John F. Kennedy in Profiles In Courage.
Originally from North Carolina, Benton passed the bar in Tennessee and served a term as state senator there. He made his way to Missouri as a young and ambitious lawyer at the very time statehood for Missouri was imminent. He practiced law and edited the Missouri Enquirer in St Louis, then served as an aide to Andrew Jackson during the war of 1812. Benton developed a lifelong antipathy toward Great Britain, and a single-minded affinity for U.S. dominion over the American West.
A loyal Jacksonian Democrat, he also shared Old Hickory’s irascibility. Roosevelt wrote that Benton displayed an “aggressive patriotism” and “immense capacity for work,” but was “unfortunately deficient in the sense of humor.” For instance, during a trial in St Louis, he and opposition lawyer Charles Lucas accused each other of lying. They settled the issue twice by duel on Bloody Island, the second occasion proving fatal to Lucas. Jackson himself was not immune to Benton’s wrath, having been shot in the shoulder during a melee with Benton and his brother in 1813.
The young Benton, with his prodigious memory and appetite for literature, published the influential St. Louis Observer newspaper. There, he developed strong editorial opinions regarding the importance of the western United States and Missouri’s role in settling it. His popularity grew, and when, in 1821, Missouri became the 24th state in the Union, Benton went with David Barton as its first two Senators.
A lifetime in the Senate
Thomas Hart Benton was dedicated to a conviction that U.S possession of lands west to the Pacific Ocean was destiny. He made himself the prime mover toward this objective. An extreme bibliophile, and also a renowned, if erudite windbag, he quoted freely from Greek and Roman texts in the course of everyday conversation. Benton proved himself capable of holding down a twelve hour filibuster during his thirty years in the U.S. Senate. From his Capitol soapbox he continually argued for American expansion west. He believed that no great empire had ever risen without direct access to trade with the Orient. He also feared that the British were scheming to establish positions from Puget Sound and San Francisco Bay to secure those Asian trade routes first.
Benton’s daughter Jessie married an army explorer, John C. Fremont, who Benton secured government funding for. In three successive expeditions, Fremont staked western claims for the US, and opened Oregon and California to migration from the east.
“Old Bullion”, as Benton became known, was also a devout proponent of hard money; a dollar’s worth of gold backing each dollar note issued by the treasury. He felt soft paper money enabled eastern interests to speculate on western lands. He wanted that land purchased directly by those intending to live there. Benton became, like Jackson, a vocal advocate for clearing the path to expansion by dispossessing and displacing native Americans.
Slavery costs the Senator
The overriding issue, however, by the 1850’s was slavery. Benton, a slave owner himself, grew to oppose its expansion into the new West. He believed the political fight around slavery inhibited the pace of westward national migration. Benton publicly declared himself against all slavery in 1849, pitting himself against both his party and the prevailing sentiment in his state. His opposition to slavery was so nettling to some that Henry Foote, a fellow senator from Mississippi, attempted to shoot Benton during a Senate session in 1850.
His adversarial position on this issue cost him a senatorial sixth term in 1851. He tried, with little success, for the rest of his life to recapture his political power, He died of cancer in 1858, and was lionized in death. Biographer Eugene Violette wrote in 1916: “Notwithstanding his faults and shortcomings, Benton has been considered, from his day to this, as Missouri’s greatest citizen.”
His funeral and burial in St. Louis was a three day event, attended by thousands. After a long wake at Mercantile Library at Locust and Broadway, and a two hour sermon, the funeral party made a five block procession to a train taking Benton to Bellefontaine Cemetery.
Birth of a monument
In 1864, a commission was awarded to Harriet Hosmer for the purpose of creating a fitting monument to Benton.. As a result, the State of Missouri allotted $2,500 for this purpose, and Wayman Crow led the raising of $33,500 more by public subscription. The resulting 10’ tall bronze was installed in Lafayette Park in 1868, a decade after Benton’s death. A crowd of forty thousand turned out for the dedication of what became the first public monument west of the Mississippi. Thirty cannon shots marked the years of Benton’s service in the Senate.
“ There is the East, there is India.”
Thomas Hart Benton
This concise quote at the statue’s base references a speech extolling the virtues of a transcontinental rail system. Benton delivered it at the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, October 16, 1849, to the National Railroad Convention. It’s a tidy summary for the career of a man Roosevelt described as “fond of windy orations” to the point that he “fairly foamed at the mouth.” By turning away from England and the US East Coast, Benton looked far west, the better to exploit the treasures of the Far East.
Or, you could say the quote simply observes that the Earth is round. The very voice of westward expansion, Senator Benton himself never travelled west of St. Joseph, Missouri.
Note: Thomas Hart Benton found a place on the Delmar Loop walk of fame in 2014, in the same class as baseball’s Tim McCarver and comics artist Lee Falk (The Phantom, Mandrake The Magician). Fame takes many forms. His star, coincidentally, is near the door of the Chinese Noodle Cafe.
Credits
Thanks to my research sources:
Meacham, Jon; American Lion: Andrew Jackson In The White House; Random House; 2009
Roosevelt, Theodore; Thomas Hart Benton: 1887; Haskell House Publishing (20020
Sides, Hampton; Blood And Thunder; Doubleday; 2006
Violette, Eugene Morrow; A History Of Missouri; D.C. Heath And Co. 1918
https://shsmo.org/historicmissourians/name/b/bentonsenator/ State Historical Society Of Missouri
https://racstl.org/public-art/thomas-hart-benton/ Regional Arts Committee Of St Louis
http://www.civilwarmo.org/educators/resources/info-sheets/thomas-hart-benton ; 2011; An Exhibit Of The Missouri History Museum.
The marble statue of Benton (sans toga) pictured, resides in the U.S. Capitol Building’s Statuary Hall
This is just beautiful! I commend you!!!!!!!
Comments like yours keep me digging. Thanks, Cindy.