12/30/1844: Anson Jones throws Duff Green out of Texas

[Craig Tx]

On this day in 1844, President Anson Jones expelled Duff Green from the Republic of Texas.

Green, a native of Kentucky and a political ally of John C. Calhoun, was appointed United States consul at Galveston in 1844, with additional duties of carrying messages to Mexico in the interest of acquiring Texas, New Mexico, and California for the United States. During the absence of U.S. chargé d'affaires Andrew J. Donelson, Green tried to secure passage of a bill by the Texas Congress establishing the Texas Land Company and the Del Norte Company. These companies, aided by a Texas army and Indians from the United States, were to occupy and claim for Texas the northern provinces of Mexico. Green offered Jones stock in the proposed companies if he would support the plan. When Jones refused, Green allegedly threatened to start a revolution and overthrow the Jones administration. Jones gave Green his passport and barred him from Texas as a consular official. The incident did not seriously impair the friendly relations existing between Texas and the United States. After the Mexican War Green promoted coal, iron, and railway development projects in the South. He died in Georgia in 1875.