Alexandre Mouton

Alexandre Mouton (November 19, 1804 – February 12, 1885) was a Cajun planter and politician who served as the first Democratic Governor of Louisiana from 1843 to 1846. He previously served in the Louisiana State Legislature, as U.S. Senator of Louisiana, and led the 1845 State constitutional convention which abolished property qualifications to vote or hold public office.^[1]

Mouton served as President of the Louisiana Secession Convention in 1861, declaring Louisiana a “free, sovereign, and independent power” before it joined the Confederate States of America two months later.^[1]

Alexandre Mouton was born in Attakapas district (now Lafayette Parish) to Marie Marthe Bordat and Jean Mouton, both descendants of Acadian exiles. His father was the founder of the town of Vermilionville. He attended local schools, graduated from Georgetown College, and also studied law under Charles Antoine and Edward Simon of St. Martinville. After being admitted to the bar in 1835, he began his law practice in Lafayette Parish.^[1]

He married Zelia Rousseau, the granddaughter of Governor Jacques Dupré, 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.^[2]

From 1827 to 1832 was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives, serving as speaker in 1831 - 1832. He was a presidential elector 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, 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).^[3]

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. 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.

He was president of the State secession convention in 1861 and an unsuccessful candidate to the Confederate Senate. 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 became a general and died at the Battle of Mansfield. His daughter married Confederate Major General Franklin Gardner, whose older sister became his own second wife.

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