Sam Houston sworn in as President of Republic of Texas

October 22nd, 1836 — In a ceremony marked by the simplicity of a frontier republic yet resonant with the gravity of nationhood, General Sam Houston was that afternoon sworn in as the first duly elected President of the Republic of Texas. The oath was administered at precisely 4 o’clock in the Hall of the House of Representatives by Speaker Ira Ingram, before a joint session of the newly convened Congress and a throng of citizens who had journeyed from every corner of the fledging republic.

Only hours earlier, at 10 AM, Hon. David G. Burnet, President ad interim under the provisional government established by the Constitutional Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos in March, delivered his resignation to Congress. The resolution, accepting it, and fixing the inauguration for that very day passed both houses. A joint committee repaired to General Houston’s quarters to inform him of the action, allowing the President-elect four hours to prepare for the highest office in the land.

Yet the man who led the Texian Army to victory at San Jacinto on the 21st of April 1836 required no polished manuscript. Rising before the assembly in his familiar fringed hunting shirt, President Houston delivered an extemporaneous address that has already been pronounced by those present as the finest oration ever heard on Texas soil. (A full transcript will appear in our next edition.)

The election held on the first Monday in September was without parallel – the first national contest in Texas history — was in every respect a tribute to the man rather than the faction. Three candidates stood before the people: Gen. Sam Houston - 4,374 votes, Hon. Henry Smith - 743 votes , and Hon. Stephen F. Austin — 587 votes. Total ballots cast: 5,704 — a figure that comprehends nearly the whole adult male population entitled to vote under the new Constitution.

General Houston entered the canvass only 12 days before the polls opened, yielding at last to the persistence that swept every settlement from Nacogdoches to San Antonio. His friends had been plying him, but he declined until the clamor became irresistible. “The office sought the man,” declared one veteran of San Jacinto who rode 50 miles to cast his ballot.

The campaign itself was waged by horseback and stump speech, for Texas boasted of no railroad, no daily press, no telegraph. Orators traversed the Brazos and Colorado bottoms, addressing gatherings beneath live-oaks and in log courthouses. Bitter words were exchanged, charges of speculation, of secret bargaining with Mexico, of personal ambition but when the returns were counted, party spirit had melted before the name of Houston. Men who had supported Smith or Austin in the spring primaries rode through the night to vote for the victor of San Jacinto.

The parallel to the first presidential election of the United States in 1789 is striking: in both, the people ignored platform and faction to choose the acknowledged leader of the revolution. George Washington received every electoral vote; Sam Houston received five-sixths of the vote.

Elected on the same ticket was Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar of Columbus, who took office as Vice President and President of the Senate. Mr. Lamar, a Georgian by birth and a poet by inclination, polled a majority second only to Houston’s.

In a gesture that has silenced the few remaining malcontents, President Houston tendered cabinet posts to his late rivals: Hon. Stephen F. Austin - Secretary of State and Hon. Henry Smith - Secretary of the Treasury. Thus, the administration begins with a cabinet drawn from every shade of opinion, proving the President’s oft-repeated declaration that “Texas needs men, not factions.”

On October 3rd, the First Congress of the Republic assembled in the town of Columbia, having been designated temporary capital by the Constitutional Convention. Ira Ingram of Matagorda was chosen Speaker of the House; Richard Ellis of Pecan Point presided over the Senate. Fourteen senators and 29 representatives, a legislature smaller than many a county delegation in the United States of the day, began the work of framing revenue laws, organizing courts, and providing for the public defense.

No topic elicited louder cheers during the inaugural than President Houston’s reference to the referendum held concurrently with the election. By a vote of 5,119 to 91, the people of Texas declared their desire for annexation to the United States.

The President’s words on this head deserve quotation in full:

“In our recent election the important subject of annexation to the United States of America was submitted to the consideration of the people. They have expressed their feelings and their wishes on that momentous subject. They have, with an unanimity unparalleled, declared that they will be reunited to the great republican family of the north. This appeal is made by willing people. Will our friends disregard it? They have already bestowed upon us their warmest sympathies. Their manly and generous feelings have been enlisted on our behalf. We are cheered by the hope that they will receive us to participate in their civil, political, and religious rights, and hail us welcome into the great family of freedom.”

Delegates bearing the annexation ordinance departed for Washington City. The American Congress was engrossed with its own electoral contest between Mr. Van Buren and General Harrison but promised to act before spring.