Thomas Hart Benton

author

Thomas Hart Benton

1782–1858

A fierce, long-serving U.S. senator known as “Old Bullion,” he became one of the best-known political voices of the early American West. His career mixed frontier drama, hard-money politics, and a powerful belief in national expansion.

3 Audiobooks

Thomas Hart Benton's Remarks to the Senate on the Expunging Resolution

Thomas Hart Benton's Remarks to the Senate on the Expunging Resolution

by Thomas Hart Benton

Thirty Years' View (Vol. 1 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850

Thirty Years' View (Vol. 1 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850

by Thomas Hart Benton

Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850

Thirty Years' View (Vol. 2 of 2) or, A History of the Working of the American Government for Thirty Years, from 1820 to 1850

by Thomas Hart Benton

About the author

Born in North Carolina in 1782, he trained as a lawyer, served in the War of 1812, and went on to become one of Missouri’s first and most influential senators. He served in the U.S. Senate for three decades, from 1821 to 1851, and was widely recognized for his forceful personality and commanding presence in public life.

Benton was a leading Democratic politician and a strong advocate of westward expansion, helping shape debates about the future of the United States as it pushed beyond the Mississippi. He was nicknamed “Old Bullion” for his support of hard currency, and he also wrote extensively, including his large historical work Thirty Years' View, which drew on his long experience in national politics.

His life was closely tied to many of the era’s biggest figures and conflicts, from a famous early clash with Andrew Jackson to his later connection by marriage to explorer John C. Frémont. He died in Washington, D.C., in 1858, leaving behind a reputation as one of the defining political voices of antebellum America.