Samuel Bigger

Infobox Politician
name =Samuel Bigger


order3 =Seventh
office3 =Governor of Indiana
lieutenant3 = Samuel Hall
predecessor3 = David Wallace
successor3 = James Whitcomb
term_start3 =December 5, 1840
term_end3 =December 4, 1843
office1 =Indiana House of Representatives
term_start1 =December 5, 1834
term_end1 =December 4, 1835
office2 =Indiana Circuit Court Judge
term_start2 = 1835
term_end2 = 1840
religion = Presbyterian
party = Whig Party
birth_date= March 20 1802
birth_place= Franklin, Ohio
death_date= September 9 1845
death_place= Fort Wayne, Indiana

Samuel Bigger (March 20 1802ndash September 9 1845) was a Whig governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from December 9 1840 to December 6 1843.

Biography

Early life

He was born in Franklin, Ohio, the son of John Bigger, the Ohio House of Representatives Speaker of the House. Because of his father he regularly encountered many of the leading men of the frontier. [Woollen, p. 79] He attended a log cabin school in Ohio. As a boy, Bigger enjoyed reading books. At age eighteen he contracted a severe cold from which he nearly died. Because of the sickness he became constantly in poor health and his father decided he was unfit for manual labor on the farm and sent him to school where he could learn a profession. Bigger was enrolled as a student at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio in the 1820s where he studied law. [Woollen, p. 77]

Bigger moved to Liberty, Indiana in 1829 after completing school and began to practice law. He lived only a short time in Liberty before moving to Rushville where he began his public career. [Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana, By William Wesley Woollen, p. 77] He was partnered in his law office with Oliver H. Smith for a period of time, and later with James Whitcomb and Joseph A. Wright. [Memoirs of the Miami Valley, By John Calvin Hover, Pg 315]

Public Life

In 1834 Bigger was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives. He served one term until 1835. He was not a great orator, but became known for his simple and straightforward method of speaking. The same year he was appointed as a judge on the Indiana Circuit Court where he served until his election as governor. [Woollen, p. 78]

In 1840 Bigger was nominated to become the Whig Party candidate for Governor of Indiana. He defeated Tilghman Howard and became governor. He won by over 8,000 votes. [Memoirs of the Miami Valley, By John Calvin Hover, Pg 315] In 1841, at the request of the state legislature, Bigger completely rewrote the states code of laws. Finding the job time consuming he appointed an assistance, George H. Dunn, to help in the compilation. Bigger was well qualified for the job with his background as a lawyer. His new code of laws was passed almost immediately and overwhelming by the legislature in 1842.Woollen, p. 78]

His governorship was consumed with by the state's $13 million debt, which had been created a decade earlier. The state had reached the point where it could not even pay the interest on the debt, and bankruptcy was near. His administration focused on curtailing government spending in a vain attempt to pay down the debt. [Dunn, p. 726] His term also saw a solution to the state's debt problems. The state reached the point where it could no longer even make interest payments. James Lanier, a director of the Bank of Indiana was sent to London to negotiate with the state's bondholders. In exchange for cutting the bond value by 50%, the state would liquidate all the public works, transferring ownership of all railroads and canals, except the Wabash and Erie Canal to the bondholders. The act ruined the state's credit, but it allowed it escape the crippling debt which would have bankrupted the state before the year was over. [Dunn, p. 416] ["The History of the State of Indiana", By William Henry Smith, 719-720]

He failed to be reelected in 1843 and was defeated by James Whitcomb. Bigger, a Presbyterian, unintentionally insulted the Methodist Church, to which Whitcomb belonged during the debate on establishing Asbury University. Bigger said that the Methodist Church did not require educated preachers, but rather uneducated better suited it's members. The church then campaigned heavily against him, led mainly by Bishop Ames. Ames is quoted to have said "It is with the amen corner of the Methodist Church that defeated Governor Bigger, and I had a hand in that". [Woollen, p. 80]

Return to Private Life

After losing his bid for reelection Bigger moved to Fort Wayne where he resumed the practice of law. He died shortly thereafter on September 9, 1845 in Fort Wayne, aged 43, and was buried in that city's McCulloch Park. [Memoirs of the Miami Valley, By John Calvin Hover, Pg 315]

Memorials

* The U.S. 27 (Lafayette Street) bridge over the St. Marys River in downtown Fort Wayne was renamed the Governor Samuel Bigger Memorial Bridge by a Resolution of the Indiana General Assembly authored by State Representative Mitchell Harper.

References

ources

*cite book|title=Indiana and Indianans|author=Dunn, Jacob Piatt|publisher=American Historical Society|year=1919
*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/bigger.html Biography and Portrait from Indiana State Library]
* [http://www.countyhistory.com/doc.gov/010.htm Profile from County History.com]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=PCbZ8rS-84gC&pg=PA77&dq=samuel+bigger&sig=GBU_MK8EoLfXquYCqT0NSgovcE4#PPA80,M1 "Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana", By William Wesley Woollen]
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=n7DH3yKRmaEC&pg=PA315&dq=samuel+bigger "Memoirs of the Miami Valley", By John Calvin Hover]