Antebellum Political Characters from Virginia: Robertson

Three of Louisiana's antebellum governors were born in Virginia. The first, William C. C. Claiborne, was previously profiled. Claiborne had been sent to Louisiana by President Thomas Jefferson to serve as territorial governor. The first of our other two governors from Virginia, Thomas Bolling Robertson, had been appointed by President Jefferson to be secretary of the Territory of Louisiana and served from 1807 to 1811.

Henry S. Johnson came to Louisiana in 1809 and became clerk of the second superior court of the Territory. Just two years later he became district judge of the parish court. In 1812 he served as a delegate to the first State constitutional convention.

Outsiders such as Robertson and Johnson were needed to fill offices in the early years as part of the United States. During French and Spanish rule, Louisianians had no experience in representative government, much less, U. S. government.

Thomas Bolling Robertson

Thomas Bolling Robertson was born in 1779 near Petersburg, Virginia, and was educated at William and Mary College, Williamsburg, Virginia. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1806. He established a practice in Petersburg. The following year, Robertson was appointed by President Jefferson to be secretary of the Territory of Louisiana, a post he filled until 1811.

When Louisiana became a state in 1812, Roberston was elected as Louisiana's first representative to the U.S. House of Representatives. Robertson served in Congress from April 30, 1812, to April 20, 1818, when he resigned and returned to Louisiana.

The politics in the early years of Louisiana as a state were dominated by the north-south division even more so than now. The northern parishes with the Florida parishes were more English, Scotch-Irish and Protestant than the southern parishes, which were more French, Spanish and Catholic. In the gubernatorial election of 1820 there were four candidates--two were "Anglo" and two were "Creole." Thomas Robertson was the highest vote-getter, followed by Creole candidate, Pierre Derbigny. The constitution of the time allowed for the legislature to choose the governor; allowing an election was merely a democratic "gesture." The legislature, even though it was dominated by southern Catholics, during this historical era consistently ratified the highest vote getter in the public election even when he was not their first choice. Therefore, Robertson became the governor in 1820.

The Louisiana Secretary of State web site describes Robertson's term of office this way:

Yet, Robertson intensified the ethnic conflict in Louisiana by deliberately favoring the Anglo-American faction over the Creoles in political and economic decisions.
The copyright of the article Antebellum Political Characters from Virginia: Robertson in Louisiana is owned by Kathryn Morse. Permission to republish Antebellum Political Characters from Virginia: Robertson in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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