Benton

Benton, Thomas Hart, was born in North Carolina, U.S.A., in 1782, and settled as a lawyer in Tennessee, where he became a member of the legislature. In 1812 he served on General Jackson's staff, and afterwards started a paper at St. Louis. In 1820 he was elected senator for the new state of Missouri, and for thirty years played an active part in politics, opposing Calhoun, and supporting Jackson in his attacks on the United States Bank. He wrote a History of American Affairs from 1820 to 1850, and an Abridgment of the Debates in Conqress from 1789 to 1856. He died in 1858.