Alexandre Mouton (November 19, 1804 – February 12, 1885) was a

United States senator The United States Senate consists of 100 members, two from each of the 50 U.S. state, states. This list includes all senators serving in the 119th United States Congress. Party affiliation Independent Senators Angus King of Maine and Berni ...

and the 11th Governor of Louisiana.

Early life

He was born in

Attakapas The Atakapa Sturtevant, 659 or Atacapa were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who spoke the Atakapa language and historically lived along the Gulf of Mexico in what is now Texas and Louisiana. They included several distinct b ...

district (now

Lafayette Parish Lafayette Parish () is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. According to the 2020 U.S. census, the parish had a population of 241,753, up from 221,578 at the 2010 United States census. The parish seat and largest city is Lafayett ...

) into a wealthy plantation-owning

Acadian The Acadians (; , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, most descendants of Acadians live in either the Northern American region of Acadia, ...

family. He pursued classical studies and graduated from

Georgetown College Georgetown College is a private Christian liberal arts college in Georgetown, Kentucky. Chartered in 1829, Georgetown was the first Baptist college west of the Appalachian Mountains. The college offers over 40 undergraduate degrees and a Mas ...

. He studied law, was admitted to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar ** Chocolate bar * Protein bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a laye ...

in 1825, and commenced practice in Lafayette Parish. He married Zelia Rousseau, the granddaughter of Governor

Jacques Dupré Jacques Dupré (February 12, 1773 – September 14, 1846) was an Louisiana Creole people, Louisiana Creole politician who served as a Louisiana State Representative, State Senator and as the acting Governor of Louisiana from January 14, 1830 to ...

, in 1826; they had 5 children before her death in 1837, one of whom died in infancy. In 1842, he married Emma Kitchell Gardner; this marriage produced eight children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Political career

From 1827 to 1832 was a member of the

Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (; ) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 representatives, each of whom represents approximately 4 ...

, serving as speaker in 1831 - 1832. He was a

presidential elector In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

on the Democratic ticket in 1828, 1832, and 1836, and was an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1830 to the Twenty-second Congress. In 1836 he was again a member of the State house of representatives. Mouton was elected as a Democrat to the U.S. Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of

Alexander Porter Alexander Porter (June 24, 1785January 13, 1844) was an attorney, politician, and planter, who served as United States Senator from Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United ...

, was reelected to the full term, and served from January 12, 1837, until his resignation on March 1, 1842. While in the Senate he was chairman of the Committee on Agriculture (Twenty-sixth Congress). From 1843 to 1846, Mouton was governor of Louisiana. As governor, Mouton reduced expenditures and liquidated state assets to balance the budget and meet bond obligations without raising taxes. He sold state-owned steamboats, equipment and slaves used to remove the Red River Raft in 1834 under Governor Roman. As governor, he opposed all expenditures for

internal improvements Internal improvements is the term used historically in the United States for public works from the end of the American Revolution through much of the 19th century, mainly for the creation of a transportation infrastructure: roads, turnpikes, can ...

. He leased out state penitentiary labor and equipment. He supported the call for a constitutional convention, removal of property qualifications for suffrage and office holding, and the election of all local officials and most judges.

Civil War

He was president of the State

secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

convention in 1861 and an unsuccessful candidate to the

Confederate Senate The Confederate States Congress was both the provisional and permanent legislative assembly/legislature of the Confederate States of America that existed from February 1861 to April/June 1865, during the American Civil War. Its actions were, ...

. Actively involved in railroads, he was president of the Southwestern Railroad Convention. He was an active supporter of the Confederacy, devoting a large amount of his wealth to the cause. His son

Alfred Mouton Jean-Jacques-Alfred-Alexandre "Alfred" Mouton (February 18, 1829 – April 8, 1864) was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. Although trained at West Point, he soon resigned his commission to become a civil engineer and then a ...

became a general and died at the

Battle of Mansfield The Battle of Mansfield, also known as the Battle of Sabine Crossroads, on April 8, 1864, in Louisiana formed part of the Red River Campaign during the American Civil War, when Union forces were attempting to occupy the Louisiana state capit ...

. His daughter married Confederate Major General

Franklin Gardner Franklin Kitchell GardnerMiddle name Kitchell from his father, miswritten Franklin K. Gardner on his gravestone. (January 29, 1823 – April 29, 1873) was a Confederate major general in the American Civil War, noted for his service at the Siege o ...

, whose older sister became his own second wife.

Death

He died near Vermillionville (now Lafayette) in 1885. He is buried in the cemetery at St. John's Cathedral.

References

Congressional Bioguide's Guide to Research Collections for Alexander MoutonNational Governors Association

External links

Painting of Governor Mouton's homeState of Louisiana - BiographyCemetery Memorial
by La-Cemeteries {{DEFAULTSORT:Mouton, Alexandre 1804 births 1885 deaths Cajun people Democratic Party governors of Louisiana Speakers of the Louisiana House of Representatives Democratic Party members of the Louisiana House of Representatives 1828 United States presidential electors 1832 United States presidential electors 1836 United States presidential electors American Roman Catholics Georgetown University alumni Democratic Party United States senators from Louisiana Louisiana Jacksonians 19th-century United States senators 19th-century members of the Louisiana State Legislature