|
Wilkes County Historical
Markers
Source:
http://www.ncmarkers.com
ID:
M-2
Marker Text:
MONTFORT
STOKES 1762-1842
Governor,
1830-1832; U.S. Senator; Federal Indian Commissioner. Home stood 1 mi.
N.
Essay:
Montfort Stokes served in the U.S. Senate
prior to his term as governor, a post from which he resigned in 1832 to
accept President’s Andrew Jackson’s appointment as chairman of a
federal Indian commission. Stokes was born in Lunenburg County,
Virginia, on March 12, 1762, the eleventh child of planter David Stokes
and the former Sarah Montfort. He went to sea as a youth of thirteen,
and during the Revolution enlisted in the Continental Navy. Following
the Revolution, he settled briefly in Halifax and then in Salisbury,
where he read law under his brother John and began a lifelong and
politically important friendship with Andrew
Jackson. His first wife was Mary Irwin of Tarboro, whom he married
in 1790. His second wife, whom he married in 1796, was Rachel Montgomery
of Salisbury. Together, the two marriages produced eleven children.
From 1786 to 1790 and from 1799 to 1816,
he served, respectively, as assistant clerk, and clerk of the state
Senate. In 1804 he declined an opportunity to complete an unexpired term
in the United States Senate, and on numerous occasions was chosen a
presidential elector on the Republican ticket. Stokes moved to Wilkes
County about 1810, and during the War of 1812 held the rank of major
general in the state militia. In 1816 he was selected by the General
Assembly to fill the Senate seat vacated by ,James Turner’s, G-46]
resignation, after which he served in his own right until 1823. As a
senator, his committee work focused on the District of Columbia and on
postal and military affairs. Initially identified with the policies of
John C. Calhoun, he later embraced Jacksonian democracy. Conspicuously
more liberal than his Senate colleague from North Carolina, Nathaniel
Macon, he opposed the further extension of slavery in the Missouri
Compromise, and expressed his support for a constitutional amendment to
abolish slavery. In 1823 he was replaced in the Senate by former
governor John
Branch.
Returning to North Carolina, Stokes
chaired the reform convention of 1823, and in 1824 was defeated for the
governorship by Hutchins
G. Burton. In 1826-1827 and in 1829-1831, he represented Wilkes in
the upper and lower houses, respectively, of the General Assembly.
Stokes was elected to his first term as governor on December 17, 1830,
defeating Richard
Dobbs Spaight Jr. of New Bern. Despite strong opposition from the
eastern part of the state, he won election to a second the following
year.
As governor, Stokes was strongly
identified with the interests of western North Carolina, political and
constitutional reform, internal improvements, and a sound banking
system. Only secondarily did he lend his support to the tentative
efforts underway to provide for public education. During the widespread
hysteria following the Nat Turner uprising of 1831, he acted with
firmness and moderation to minimize violence. Against the backdrop of
national politics, Stokes was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson and a
vocal opponent of nullification. Repeatedly he denounced that doctrine
as inimical to the Union.
In November of 1832 Stokes resigned his
governorship to accept President Jackson’s appointment as chairman of
a federal commission charged with the resettlement of Indians from the
southeastern United States. Relocating to Fort Gibson in present-day
Oklahoma, he continued to work with Indian affairs for the remainder of
his life. Stokes died at Fort Gibson on November 4, 1842, and was buried
near the post.
References:
W. O. Foster, “The Career of Montfort Stokes in North Carolina,” North
Carolina Historical Review (July 1939): 237-272
Dumas Malone, ed., Dictionary of American Biography, XVIII (1936)
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography,
V, 454-455—sketch by Daniel M. McFarland
Robert Sobel and John Raimo, eds., Biographical Directory of the
Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, III (1978)
Montfort Stokes Papers, North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh
~~~~~
Location: NC 268 in Wilkesboro
County: Wilkes
Original Date Cast: 1938-P
~~~~~
Back
This page was last updated July 27, 2007.
|
