November 1, 2011

The fourth governor of Arkansas, John Selden Roane was a lawyer, planter, and soldier. He is best known for his service in the Mexican War and his efforts to deal with the failure of the state’s banking system. As governor, Roane supported internal improvements, the establishment of a state college, and the recruitment of immigrants to Arkansas. On national issues, Roane sympathized with the Southern Radical Republicans, believing that the states were sovereign bodies, slaves were property, Congress had no right to restrict the taking of such property into the territories, and any state had the right to leave the Union.