Samuel Price Carson

He was born at Carson House, Pleasant Gardens, in what is now McDowell County, North Carolina, and studied under private tutors in Pleasant Gardens.

He engaged in agricultural pursuits and was a member of the North Carolina Senate 1822-1824. Carson was elected as a Jacksonian to the Nineteenth and to the three succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1825 – March 3, 1833) but lost re-election in 1833. He was then again elected to the State senate in 1834 and served as a delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1835.

Robert Brank Vance was mortally wounded by Samuel Price Carson, who challenged him to a duel, fought at Saluda Gap, North Carolina, because of a derogatory remark made during the 1827 campaign.[1]

By 1836 he had moved to Texas, and was elected by his neighbors to the Convention of 1836 where he signed both the Texas Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the Republic of Texas. The convention also established an interim or acting government for the Republic, which was still at war in rebellion against Mexico. They considered him for president, but elected David G. Burnet instead, by six votes more than Carson received.[2] In a later vote they elected Carson the Secretary of State. President Burnet sent him to Washington, D.C. to lead a team to negotiate for recognition of and aid for Texas, then later named James Collinsworth to replace him as Secretary of State. When Carson learned of this from a newspaper he simply went home.[3]

Later, when borders were formalized, Carson's home was identified as part of Miller County, Arkansas. He died in Hot Springs, Arkansas, and is buried in the Government Cemetery there.

• Nineteenth United States Congress
• Twentieth United States Congress
• Twenty-first United States Congress
• Twenty-second United States Congress

• U.S. Congress Biographical Directory entry
• Samuel Price Carson from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Samuel Price Carson at Find a Grave