Thomas Jefferson Green (February 14, 1802 – December 12, 1863) was an American politician who served in the legislatures of three different U.S. states and also of Texas, which was not yet a state.

Biography

Born in

Warren County, North Carolina Warren County is a county located in the northeastern Piedmont region of the U.S. state of North Carolina, on the northern border with Virginia, made famous for a landfill and birthplace of the environmental justice movement. As of the 2020 cen ...

in 1802, Green served in the

North Carolina Legislature The North Carolina General Assembly is the bicameral legislature of the State government of North Carolina. The legislature consists of two chambers: the Senate and the House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets in the North Carolina ...

in 1823, then moved to Florida and served in the

Florida Legislature The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. State of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Cons ...

and next moved to Texas in 1836. On March 19, he was commissioned as a brigadier general in the Texas volunteer army. To achieve this rank, he had to raise and transport a brigade of soldiers to Texas and secure a loan of $50,000 in support the Texas Revolution. After the revolution, Green served in both houses of the

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

of the

Texas Republic The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Me ...

. His first term in Texas began on October 3, 1836, when Green represented Bexar County in the First Texas Congress. He was elected to represent Brazoria County in the

Eighth Texas Congress Eighth is ordinal form of the number eight. Eighth may refer to: * One eighth, or ⅛, a fraction, one of eight equal parts of a whole * Eighth note (quaver), a musical note played for half the value of a quarter note (crotchet) * Octave, an int ...

. In the early 1840s, Thomas J. Green was a member of the Somervell Expedition and was second in command during the ill-fated Mier Expedition. These were military ventures into

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, in retaliation for predatory raids by Mexican forces. Green left Texas just before it was annexed to the United States. He moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

during the

gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...

and was elected to the first

California Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature, the lower house being the California State Assembly. The State Senate convenes, along with the State Assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Due ...

in 1850. There, he sponsored the bill which created the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

. He also became a major general in the California

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

. Finally, Green returned to his native

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

, where he died in 1863. He was the father of

Wharton Jackson Green Wharton Jackson Green (February 28, 1831 – August 6, 1910) was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina and an officer in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. Biography Born in St. Marks, Florida, Green was instructed ...

. His great uncle was

Nathaniel Macon Nathaniel Macon (December 17, 1757June 29, 1837) was an American politician who represented North Carolina in both houses of Congress. He was the fifth speaker of the House, serving from 1801 to 1807. He was a member of the United States House of ...

References

External links

Handbook of Texas
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Thomas Jefferson 1802 births 1863 deaths California state senators Members of the North Carolina General Assembly Members of the Florida House of Representatives Members of the Texas Legislature Republic of Texas Senators 19th-century American politicians People from Warren County, North Carolina