42 Facts About Sam Houston

1. On May 9, 1840, Sam Houston, aged 47, married for a third time.

2. In late 1860, Sam Houston campaigned across his home state, calling on Texans to resist those who advocated for secession if Republican nominee Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election.

3. Sam Houston refused to endorse any of the remaining presidential candidates.

4. Sam Houston narrowly trailed Bell on the first ballot of the 1860 Constitutional Union Convention, but Bell clinched the nomination on the second ballot.

5. Sam Houston sought the presidential nomination at the Know Nothing party's 1856 national convention, but the party nominated former President Millard Fillmore.

6. Sam Houston was attracted to the Know Nothing's support for a Native American state, as well the party's unionist stance.

7. Sam Houston voted against the act, in part because he believed that Native Americans would lose much of their land as a result of the act.

8. Sam Houston sought the Democratic nomination in the 1852 presidential election, but he was unable to consolidate support outside of his home state.

9. Sam Houston supported the Compromise of 1850, a sectional compromise on slavery on the territories.

10. Unlike most of his Southern colleagues, Sam Houston voted for the Oregon Bill of 1848, which organized Oregon Territory as a free territory.

11. Sam Houston initially supported Polk's prosecution of the war, but differences between the two men emerged in 1847.

12. Sam Houston was the first person to serve as the governor of a state and then be elected to the US Senate by another state.

13. Sam Houston chose to align with the Democratic Party, which contained many of his old political allies, including President Polk.

14. Sam Houston continued to curry favor with Britain and France, partly in the hope that British and French influence in Texas would encourage the United States to annex Texas.

15. Sam Houston appointed Anson Jones as secretary of state, Asa Brigham as secretary of the treasury, George Washington Hockley as secretary of war, and George Whitfield Terrell as attorney general.

16. Sam Houston defeated Burnet in the 1841 Texas presidential election, winning a large majority of the vote.

17. Sam Houston was succeeded by Mirabeau B Lamar, who, along with Burnet, led a faction of Texas politicians opposed to Houston.

18. Sam Houston sought normalized relations with Mexico and, despite some resistance from the legislature, arranged the release of Santa Anna.

19. Sam Houston selected Thomas Jefferson Rusk as secretary of war, Smith as secretary of the treasury, Samuel Rhoads Fisher as secretary of the navy, James Collinsworth as attorney general, and Austin as secretary of state.

20. Sam Houston helped organize the Convention of 1836, where the Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico.

21. In November, Sam Houston joined with most other delegates in voting for a measure that demanded Texas statehood and the restoration of the 1824 Constitution of Mexico.

22. Sam Houston was elected to represent Nacogdoches at the Convention of 1833, which was called to petition Mexico for statehood.

23. Sam Houston crossed into Texas in December 1832, and shortly thereafter he was granted land in Texas.

24. Sam Houston was reunited with Ahuludegi's group of Cherokee in mid-1829.

25. In January 1829, Sam Houston married Eliza Allen, the daughter of wealthy plantation owner John Allen of Gallatin, Tennessee.

26. Sam Houston aided Jackson's successful campaign in the 1828 presidential election.

27. Sam Houston was appointed as the adjutant general of the Tennessee militia.

28. Sam Houston continued to act as a government liaison with the Cherokee, and in 1818 he helped some of the Cherokee resettle in Arkansas Territory.

29. In early 1817, Sam Houston was assigned to a clerical position in Nashville, serving under the adjutant general for the army's Southern Division.

30. Sam Houston was badly wounded in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the decisive battle in the Creek War.

31. Sam Houston quickly impressed the commander of the 39th Infantry Regiment, Thomas Hart Benton, and by the end of 1813 Houston had risen to the rank of third lieutenant.

32. Sam Houston formed a close relationship with Ahuludegi and learned the Cherokee language, becoming known as "Raven".

33. Sam Houston disliked farming and working in the family store, and at the age of sixteen he left his family to live with a Cherokee tribe led by Ahuludegi.

34. Sam Houston planned to sell the farm and move west to Tennessee, where land was less expensive, but he died in 1806.

35. Sam Houston was forced out of office in 1861 and died in 1863.

36. Sam Houston was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidential nomination of the American Party in the 1856 presidential election and the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election.

37. Sam Houston voted for the Compromise of 1850, which settled many of the territorial issues left over from the Mexican–American War and the annexation of Texas.

38. Sam Houston played a key role in the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845, and in 1846 he was elected to represent Texas in the United States Senate.

39. Sam Houston left office due to term limits in 1838, but won election to another term in the 1841 Texas presidential election.

40. Sam Houston served under General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812, and after the war he presided over the removal of many Cherokee from Tennessee.

41. Sam Houston served as the 6th Governor of Tennessee and the 7th governor of Texas.

42. Sam Houston was an American soldier and politician.