Robert Lucas (April 1, 1781February 7, 1853) was the 12th
governor of Ohio, serving from 1832 to 1836. He also served as the first governor of the
Iowa Territory from 1838 to 1841.
Early life
Lucas was born in 1781 in what was then Mecklenburg, Virginia (his birthplace's location in modern times is known as
Shepherdstown, West Virginia). He was the son of William Lucas and Susannah Barnes. Lucas came from a
Quaker family whose roots stretched back to 1679 in Pennsylvania, though the family had recently moved to Virginia.
Lucas' father, an
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
veteran, owned slaves and large amounts of land. According to family legend, Robert's uncle, Joseph Barnes, built a steam-powered boat long before
Fulton's invention. Robert received some early schooling in mathematics and surveying, skills that would prove invaluable to his future work.
[Parish 1907]
Around the age of nineteen, Lucas moved to the Scioto Valley of the Northwest Territory, now Ohio. He was preceded by other family members, including two older brothers and a cousin. One brother would later become a general, while his other brother and his cousin would become Ohio legislators. The family bought large parcels of land; eventually the nearby town of
Lucasville was named for them. For his skill in recruiting troops for the Army during the increasing hostilities between England, France, and the U.S., Robert Lucas was made Captain in 1807. He was elected to the
Ohio General Assembly for the first time in 1808 as a member of the
Ohio House of Representatives
The Ohio House of Representatives is the lower house of the Ohio General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Ohio; the other house of the bicameral legislature being the Ohio Senate.
The House of Representatives first met in ...
. He was married to Elizabeth Brown, his landlord's daughter, in 1810. Lucas and his wife had a daughter, Minerva, in 1811. Through complex political maneuvering, Lucas was made a Brigadier General in 1810.
War of 1812 and rise to power
Lucas served in the
War of 1812 and was famous for his resourcefulness and calm in an increasingly chaotic campaign. As one of his contemporaries stated, "As a spy he was productive and brave — as a soldier he had no superior."
Lucas rose to national prominence during the court-martial trial of General
William Hull. Hull was accused of incompetence in the loss of Detroit and the Michigan Territory to the British in June 1812, and the journals Lucas kept during the campaign were used as evidence to convict Hull.
Lucas' political career blossomed and in 1818 he was named Speaker of the
Ohio State Senate, he was succeeded in 1819 by
Allen Trimble, who would also go on to be Governor. He was the Ohio
Presidential elector
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...
in 1820 for
James Monroe. In 1822, he lost the State Senate election to his former brother-in-law and political rival, William Kendall. Shortly after, around 1824, Lucas built a large brick house two miles east of
Piketon, named
Friendly Grove
Friendly may refer to:
Places
* Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England
* Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States
* ...
, which became an epicenter of local political activity, and still stands today.
Lucas regained his State Senate seat in 1824, and actively campaigned for Andrew Jackson. He was an Ohio
Presidential elector
The United States Electoral College is the group of presidential electors required by the Constitution to form every four years for the sole purpose of appointing the president and vice president. Each state and the District of Columbia app ...
in 1828 for
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as ...
. Lucas again lost his senate seat in 1828 to Kendall, and Lucas was part of the electoral congress that elected Jackson President that year. Lucas won his senate seat back in 1829, in a special election after Kendall resigned; again, he was elected Senate speaker. In 1831, Lucas ran for the state assembly and lost, but he quickly rebounded.
Ohio Governor, 1832–1836
As an ardent Democrat, perhaps the highlight of his career was to serve as the chairman and president of the
1832 Democratic National Convention
The 1832 Democratic National Convention was held from May 21 to May 23, 1832, in Baltimore, Maryland. In the first presidential nominating convention ever held by the Democratic Party, incumbent President Andrew Jackson was nominated for a second ...
, the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
* Botswana Democratic Party
* Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*De ...
's first national convention. Lucas was also nominated the Democratic candidate for governor in 1832, and won after a vitriolic campaign.
Lucas County, Ohio, was established and named for the governor during his second term, in defiance of the
Michigan Territory
The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...
, which also claimed the land around the mouth of the
Maumee River
The Maumee River (pronounced ) ( sjw, Hotaawathiipi; mia, Taawaawa siipiiwi) is a river running in the United States Midwest from northeastern Indiana into northwestern Ohio and Lake Erie. It is formed at the confluence of the St. Joseph and ...
thus provoking the almost-bloodless
Toledo War.
Iowa Territorial Governor, 1838–1841
During his tenure running Iowa, he again showed his tendency towards conflict with other states, starting the
Honey War
The Honey War was a bloodless territorial dispute in 1839 between Iowa Territory and Missouri over their border.
The dispute over a strip running the entire length of the border, caused by unclear wording in the Missouri Constitution on bound ...
with Missouri. Technically, Lucas was not the first acting governor of the Iowa territory.
William B. Conway, appointed territorial secretary by
Martin Van Buren, arrived in Iowa six weeks before Lucas and thus assumed the duties of acting governor. Friction developed between Lucas and Conway over some of the decisions Conway made in Lucas' absence, and led to an acerbic relationship. Lucas was often at odds with the territorial legislature, his liberal use of absolute veto power and his condescending rebukes of legislators often made him the target of acrimonious exchanges. Conway complained to Van Buren that Lucas committed "vexatious, ungraceful, petulant, ill-natured and dogmatic interferences" with the legislature.
[Petersen 1952a:317–318] Van Buren and the U. S. Congress responded by limiting the territorial governor’s veto power and his ability to make appointments.
Lucas served for only a few years as territorial governor, from 1838–1841, and spent those years mostly in
Burlington, Iowa
Burlington is a city in, and the county seat of, Des Moines County, Iowa, Des Moines County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,982 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, a decline from the 26,839 population in 2000 United States ...
and
Muscatine, Iowa (then called Bloomington), as there were only provisional accommodations in Iowa City for the territorial legislature.
Death and legacy
Lucas was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City, Iowa.
Lucas' retirement house in
Iowa City,
Plum Grove, is maintained by the state as a monument to Lucas.
References
Bibliography
*Gilpin, Alec R. (1958) ''The War of 1812 in the Old Northwest.'' Michigan State University Press, Lansing, Michigan.
*Parish, John C. (1948) Iowa in the Days of Lucas. ''Palimpsest'' 29:13–18.
*Petersen, William J. (1948) Robert Lucas. ''Palimpsest'' 29:1–12.
*Petersen, William J. (1952) ''The Story of Iowa: The Progress of an American State.'' Lewis Historical Publishing, New York.
*Ryan, Daniel J. (1912) ''History of Ohio: The Rise and Progress of an American State.'' Vol. 3, Century History Co., New York.
*Shambaugh, Benjamin F. (editor) 1906 ''Executive Journal of Iowa 1838–1841: Governor Robert Lucas.'' State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.
*Swisher, Jacob A. (1948) Plum Grove. ''Palimpsest'' 29:19–32.
*
*Verchères de Boucherville, Thomas (1940)''War on the Detroit: The Chronicles of Thomas Verchères de Boucherville and the Capitulation by an Ohio Volunteer.'' Edited by Milo M. Quaife. Lakeside Press, Chicago.
*Wright, Luella M. (1944) Robert Lucas in Verse. ''Palimpsest'' 25:234–248.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Robert
1781 births
1853 deaths
American militia generals
Military personnel from West Virginia
American militiamen in the War of 1812
Governors of Iowa Territory
American people of English descent
Democratic Party governors of Ohio
Democratic Party members of the Ohio House of Representatives
Politicians from Iowa City, Iowa
People from Pike County, Ohio
People from Shepherdstown, West Virginia
People from West Virginia in the War of 1812
Presidents of the Ohio State Senate
Democratic Party Ohio state senators
Robert Lucas family
1820 United States presidential electors
1828 United States presidential electors
19th-century American politicians