Thomas Bolling Robertson was third governor of the state of Louisiana, member of the U. S. House of Representatives. He represented the state of Louisiana.
Background
Thomas Bolling Robertson was born in February 27, 1779 near Petersburg, Virginia, United States. The son of William and Elizabeth (Bolling) Robertson. He was an elder brother of John Robertson the Virginia jurist and congressman, and of Wyndham Robertson, who was governor of Virginia.
Education
For a time he attended the College of William and Mary.
Career
In 1806 he was admitted to the bar and began the practice of law at Petersburg, but he soon removed to the territory of Orleans where he became territorial attorney-general. In 1807 President Jefferson appointed him secretary of the territory with the power of succession to the governorship in case of a vacancy. When the territory was admitted to the Union under the name of Louisiana in 1812, he was elected as the first representative to Congress from the new state, and he was three times reflected. While visiting France during his congressional career he wrote a series of letters which appeared in the Richmond Enquirer (September 30-December 23, 1815) and were also published in book form as Events in Paris (Philadelphia, 1816). Robertson resigned from Congress in April 1818, but ill health, of which he complained after his removal to Louisiana, did not long keep him out of politics. In 1820 he was elected governor of Louisiana, and he went about his new duties with somewhat fiery manifestations of republicanism, expressing sympathy in messages and pronouncements for the Greeks and Latin Americans in their struggles for independence and advocating the abolition of imprisonment for debt. He opposed the relinquishment by the United States of the claim to Texas in the treaty acquiring Florida, complained of the neglect of Louisiana coast defenses, and criticized the national land policy in Louisiana as interfering with land improvement and progress. His administration was marked by legislation for the benefit of parish schools and for highway improvement, especially on the Louisiana link of the road connecting New Orleans with Nashville, Tenn. Licenses were granted to six gambling houses for payment of $5000 fees for the benefit of Charity Hospital, New Orleans, and the College of Orleans. In 1824 Robertson resigned the governorship to accept from President Monroe the appointment to the United States district judgeship for Louisiana, and he resigned the judgeship in 1828, a few months before his death at White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, United States
Membership
Member of the U. S. House of Representatives
Personality
According to descriptions, he was tall and handsome. He was capable of using strong denunciatory language, and his comparatively short life was crowded with public activity and office-holding, to which he applied himself with energy and conviction.
Connections
He was married to Lelia Skipwith, daughter of a political friend, Fulwar Skipwith, governor of West Florida.