David Wallace (governor)

Infobox Governor
name= David Wallace


caption=
order=6^th
office= Governor of Indiana
term_start= December 6, 1837
term_end= December 9, 1840
lieutenant= David Hillis
predecessor= Noah Noble
successor= Samuel Bigger
orde1r=6^th
office1= Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
term_start1= 1834
term_end1= 1837
predecessor1= John H. Thompson
successor1= David Hillis
office2= Indiana House of Representatives
term_start2= 1828
term_end2= 1831
predecessor2=
successor2=
office3= United States Congressman from Indiana
term_start3= March 4, 1841
term_end3= March 3, 1843
predecessor3=
successor3= William J. Brown
birth_date= September 12, 1799
birth_place= Lewistown, Pennsylvania
death_date= September 4, 1859
death_place= Indianapolis, Indiana
spouse= Esther French Test & Zerelda Gray Sanders
profession= soldier, attorney, politician, judge
party= Whig
religion=
footnotes=

David Wallace (September 12, 1799 – September 4, 1859) was a Whig governor of the U.S. state of Indiana.

Biography

Early life

Wallace was born in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. Wallace's older brother, William H. Wallace, was appointed as the fourth governor of the Washington Territory and first governor of the Idaho Territory in 1863. His family moved to Ohio and settlement near Cincinnati while he was a young boy. He attended school there and later secured entrance into West Point Academy with the help of William Henry Harrison, who was then a congressman. He graduated from the Academy in 1821 and served as a lieutenant of artillery and resigned his commission after about a year in the service. He later served as a captain and colonel in the 7th Regiment, Indiana Militia. His early interaction with Harrison formed a bond between the two, and he continued as his adrent supporter throughout his life. [Woollen, p. 70]

When Wallace left the army he returned to his family who have moved to Brookville, Indiana. There he began to study law in the office of Miles C. Eggleston, and was admitted to the bar the in 1823. Wallace was married to Esther French Test on November 10 1824 in Lewistown, Pennsylvania. [http://www.ben-hur.com/Wallace_genealogy.pdf] They had four children together, one of whom was Lew Wallace, author of the novel "" and Governor of the New Mexico Territory. After the death of his first wife, David married Zerelda Gray Sanders in 1836 and together they had six children.

Public Life

In 1828, Wallace was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives, where he served until 1831, when he was elected lieutenant governor on the Whig ticket with Noah Noble. He and Noble were reelected in 1834 and served until 1837 when Wallace was elected as Indiana's sixth governor. Wallace ran on the internal improvement platform and won, having defeated John Dumont, also a Whig candidate. [Woollen, p. 70]

Wallace's term as governor was marred by the Panic of 1837 and the years of economic uncertainty which followed. Indiana had been enjoying a period of internal improvements of roads and canals, but nearly all such projects ended during this financial crisis. The Treaty of Chicago—signed in 1833 with the Potawatomi—led to their forceable removal from their lands. Wallace ordered General and U.S. Senator John Tipton to remove a band of 859 Potawatomi from the vicinity of Plymouth, Indiana, and send them to the Kansas Territory. More than 40 Potawatomi died from disease and the stress of the two-month march in what became known as the "Trail of Death".

During his term, Wallace also set the date Indiana would observe Thanksgiving. On November 4, 1839, he issued an executive order making November 28 Thanksgiving Day. Wallace claimed to have done so at the request of representatives from different state churches. [Dunn, 442]

By the end of his term, the impending financial disaster caused by the internal improvements was becoming apparent in the state. Seeking to break away from failing projects, the Whigs moved against projects and nominated Samuel Bigger to run for governor, denying Wallace and his pro-internal improvement position a spot on the platform, and he returned to his law practice.Woollen, p. 71]

Following his term as governor, Wallace was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1841 from the Indianapolis district, defeating Nathan B. Palmer. During his term in Congress he supported federal spending on the development of the telegraph, for which he was ridiculed by his opponents. [Woollen, p. 75] He failed in his attempt for reelection in 1843, and was defeated by William J. Brown who won by 1,085 votes. Following the defeat, Wallace returned to Indiana where he became chairman of the state's Whig party in 1846. He served as a member of the state's constitutional convention in 1850–1851. His name is only mentioned nine time in the convention records and, unlike the other former governors who attended, did not play a major role in the convention. He became a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Marion County from 1856 until his death.

Wallace died suddenly, without having been ill, on September 4, 1859 in Indianapolis, Indiana and is buried in Crown Hill Cemetery.

Notes

ources

*cite book|author=Dunn, Jacob Piatt|title=Indiana and Indianans|year=1919|publisher=American Historical Society
*cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PCbZ8rS-84gC|title=Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana|author=Woollen, William Wesley|publisher=Ayer Publishing|year=1975|isbn=0405068964

ee also

*List of Governors of Indiana

External links

* [http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/wallace.html Biography from Indiana State Library]
* [http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=W000076 Profile from Directory of the United States Congress]
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7956 Find-A-Grave profile for David Wallace]