View source for Andrew Jackson Hamilton

{{Short description|Governor of Texas from 1865 to 1866}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name                = Andrew Jackson Hamilton
| image               = Andrew Jackson Hamilton.jpg
| order               = 11th
| office              = Governor of Texas
| term_start          = June 17, 1865
| term_end            = August 9, 1866
| appointed           = [[Andrew Johnson]]
| lieutenant          = ''Vacant''
| predecessor         = [[Pendleton Murrah]]
| successor           = [[James W. Throckmorton]]
| state2              = [[Texas]]
| district2           = [[Texas's 2nd House of Representatives district|2nd]]
| term_start2         = March 4, 1859
| term_end2           = March 3, 1861
| predecessor2        = [[Guy M. Bryan]]
| successor2          = [[John C. Conner]]
| state_house3        = Texas
| district3           = [[Texas's 42nd House of Representatives district|42nd]]
| term_start3         = November 3, 1851
| term_end3           = November 7, 1853
| predecessor3        = R. E. Clements
| successor3          = William Francis Daniel
| office4             = [[Attorney General of Texas]]
| term_start4         = January 15, 1850
| term_end4           = August 5, 1850
| governor4           = [[Peter Hansborough Bell]]
| preceded4           = [[Henry Percy Brewster]]
| succeeded4          = [[Ebenezer Allen (Texas politician)|Ebenezer C. Allen]]
| birth_date          = {{birth date|1815|1|28}}
| birth_place         = [[Huntsville, Alabama]], U.S.
| death_date          = {{death date and age|1875|4|11|1815|1|28}}
| death_place         = [[Austin, Texas]], U.S.
| party               = [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] (until 1858)<br/>[[Independent Democrat]] (1858–1860)<br/>[[Southern Unionist|Unionist]] (1860–1866)<br/>[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] (1866–1869)
| spouse              = {{marriage|Mary Jane Bowen|1843}}
| profession          = Lawyer
| religion            = 
}}
[[File:Hamilton Homestead - Texas governors' wives (IA texasgovernorswi00jack) (page 66 crop).jpg|thumb|The Hamilton Homestead]]
'''Andrew Jackson Hamilton''' (January 28, 1815 – April 11, 1875) was an American politician and lawyer who served as the [[List of Governors of Texas|11th governor of Texas]] from 1865 to 1866 during [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]].<ref name="Hamilton">{{Handbook of Texas|id=fha33|name=HAMILTON, ANDREW JACKSON}}, retrieved 2008-12-20</ref>

==Early life==
Hamilton was born in [[Huntsville, Alabama]], on January 28, 1815. His education began in Alabama where he went to law school and was eventually admitted to the bar in [[Talladega, Alabama]]. In order to join his older brother [[Morgan Hamilton|Morgan]], Hamilton moved to Texas late in 1846 and opened his own law practice in [[La Grange, Texas]]. Three years later he left the city, moving to [[Austin, Texas]], to begin his political career.<ref name="Hamilton" />

==Political career==
In 1849 Hamilton was appointed as the acting state [[attorney general]] by [[Governors of Texas|Texas Governor]] [[Peter H. Bell]].<ref name="Hamilton" />

In 1850 he was elected to the [[Texas House of Representatives]] representing [[Travis County, Texas|Travis County]] as a [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]. He would only serve one term, leaving office in 1853. During this time he joined the "Opposition Clique", a faction of Southern politicians in the Democratic Party who opposed [[secession]] and the reopening of the [[History of slavery|slave trade]].<ref name="Hamilton" />

In 1858, Hamilton was elected to the [[United States House of Representatives]] as an [[Independent Democrat]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Greeley |first=Horace |author2=John F. Cleveland |title=A Political Text-book for 1860: Comprising a Brief View of Presidential Nominations and Elections, Including All the National Platforms Ever Yet Adopted: Also a History of the Struggle Respecting Slavery in the Territories, and of the Action of Congress as to the Freedom of the Public Lands ... |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tHs0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA244 |access-date=2008-12-17 |year=1860 |publisher=The Tribune Association |page=244}}</ref> representing the western district of Texas.  During this time, he served on a House committee formed late in 1860 to solve the growing sectional feud between the North and South.  He chose not to run for re-election in 1860, but, on his return to Texas in 1861, won a special election to the [[Texas Legislature|State Senate]].  Hamilton was later forced to resign this post after threats to his life for his pro-Union statements. He fled to [[Mexico]] in July 1862.<ref name="Hamilton" />

During the [[American Civil War]], Hamilton sided with the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. After fleeing to Mexico, he went on a tour of the [[Northeastern United States|Northeast]], giving speeches in New York, [[Boston]], and other Northern cities. He spoke out in favor of the Union and criticized the "slave power" of the South. Because of this, Hamilton was regarded as a hero by the North, though he was generally viewed as a traitor at home.

In late 1862, [[President of the United States|President]] [[Abraham Lincoln]] named Hamilton the Military Governor of Texas with the rank of [[brigadier general]] of [[United States Volunteers|volunteers]]. He spent the rest of the war holding this empty position in [[New Orleans]] after a Union attempt to capture [[South Texas]] failed in 1863.<ref name="Hamilton" />

==Governor of Texas==
On June 17, 1865, President [[Andrew Johnson]] named Hamilton as the provisional civilian governor of the state.<ref>Presidential Proclamation No. 42, 17 June 1865, {{USStat|13|765}}</ref> Hamilton held office for 14 months during the early stages of [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]. He was governor when the nation ratified the [[Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Thirteenth Amendment]] and granted [[economic freedom]] to the newly freed slaves, although Texas itself declined to ratify the amendment until 1870. Hamilton also faced problems such as [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] incursions, general lawlessness, and chaotic finances in the aftermath of the Civil War.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.utexas.edu/taro/tslac/40013/tsl-40013.html |title=Texas Governor Andrew Jackson Hamilton|access-date=2007-08-14|publisher=Texas State Archives}}</ref> When his plans at the Constitutional Convention of 1866 were not enacted, he rejected Johnson's plan for Reconstruction and aligned himself with the [[Radical Republicans]]. He spoke out in favor of black suffrage and in September 1866 organized the Southern Loyalists' Convention in [[Philadelphia]], where he criticized President Johnson.  He resigned in 1867 and went to work as a bankruptcy judge in New Orleans. Later that year he accepted a position as a justice of the [[Texas Supreme Court]]. Hamilton tried to regain the governorship in the election of 1869 but was defeated by [[Edmund J. Davis]].<ref name="Hamilton" />

==Post-governorship==
After leaving office, Hamilton switched to the regular [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican Party]]. He served on the Texas Constitutional Convention of 1868–69 and on the  Republican National Executive Committee. He reversed his views on black suffrage, withdrawing his support for it. After losing the Gubernatorial election in 1869, Hamilton served as the leader of Tax-Payers' Convention in 1871.<ref name="Hamilton" />

Andrew Jackson Hamilton died in [[Austin, Texas]], on April 11, 1875, of [[tuberculosis]]. He is buried at [[Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, TX)|Oakwood Cemetery]].

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{commons category|Andrew Jackson Hamilton}}
{{CongBio|H000103}} Retrieved on 2009-03-23
*{{Find a Grave|6988|access-date=2009-03-23}}

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{{s-bef|before=[[James W. Throckmorton]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] nominee for [[Governor of Texas]]|years=[[1869 Texas gubernatorial election|1869]]}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Richard Coke]]}}
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{{succession box | 
before=[[Henry P. Brewster]] | 
title=[[Texas Attorney General]]| 
years=January 15, 1850&ndash;August 5, 1850| 
after=[[Ebenezer Allen (Texas politician)|Ebenezer Allen]]}}
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{{US House succession box
| state=Texas
| district=2
| before=[[Guy M. Bryan]]
| after=''District eliminated''
| years=1859&ndash;1861
}}
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{{succession box |title=[[Governor of Texas]] | before=[[Pendleton Murrah]] | after=[[James W. Throckmorton]] | years=1865&ndash;1866}}
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{{Governors of Texas}}
{{Texas Attorney General}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Andrew Jackson}}
[[Category:1815 births]]
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[[Category:19th-century Texas state court judges]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:19th-century deaths from tuberculosis]]
[[Category:United States representatives from Texas]]
[[Category:Governors of Texas]]
[[Category:Justices of the Supreme Court of Texas]]
[[Category:Texas attorneys general]]
[[Category:Politicians from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:People of Texas in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Texas Unionists]]
[[Category:Radical Republicans]]
[[Category:Texas Republicans]]
[[Category:Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Austin, Texas)]]
[[Category:Southern Unionists in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Texas Democrats]]
[[Category:Texas independents]]
[[Category:Independent Democrat members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Democratic Party governors of Texas]]
[[Category:Lawyers from Huntsville, Alabama]]
[[Category:Tuberculosis deaths in Texas]]
[[Category:19th-century United States representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Texas Legislature]]