Joseph Marion Hernández becomes the first Hispanic person elected to Congress - September 30th, 1822

On this day in 1822, Joseph Marion Hernández became the first Hispanic member of the United States Congress.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class,
a show that uncovers a little bit more about history
every day. I'm Gay Bluesier, and today we're talking about
the first Hispanic person to serve at one of the

(00:23):
highest levels of American government. The day was September two.
Joseph Marion Hernandez became the first Hispanic member of the
United States Congress. In this role, he helped guide Florida's

(00:47):
transition from a Spanish colony to a US territory. He
was originally named jose Mariano Hernandez and was born in
sevent in the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida. His
parents were immigrants from the island of Minorca and had
originally traveled to Florida as indentured servants. In his youth,

(01:11):
Joseph worked with his father as a carpenter and later
attended school in both Georgia and Cuba. Over time, the
family would improve its fortunes and use their wealth to
buy property and numerous enslaved workers. Despite his family's humble origins,
much of Joseph's success, like that of so many others

(01:32):
of the era came at the expense of other people's freedom.
In eighteen fourteen, Hernandez doubled down on this lifestyle by
marrying Anna Hill Williams, a wealthy widow who owned a
thirty two hundred acre sugarcane plantation near present day Daytona Beach.

(01:52):
As the years went by, Hernandez continued to grow this
already vast property by acquiring a series of land grants
in exchange for his service to the Spanish military. Meanwhile,
on the other side of the battlefield, the United States
was busy trying everything it could to ouse the Spanish
and take control of the Florida territory. After multiple failed attempts,

(02:17):
the US finally succeeded during the First Seminal War in
eighteen eighteen. Joseph's exact movements during this time are uncertain,
but we do know he fought against American forces during
the war and exchanged for those large plots of land
I mentioned from the Spanish government. By the time the
US had won the war, Hernandez controlled more than twenty

(02:40):
five thousand acres in the region, and, amazingly, when Florida
officially changed hands in eighteen nineteen, Joseph was allowed to
pledge allegiance to the United States and keep his extensive
land holdings. He had effectively played both sides of the
conflict and still come out ahead. After casting his lot

(03:02):
with the new American regime, he changed his name from
jose Mariano to Joseph Marion. Once the Florida Territory had
been organized, it was allowed to elect a delegate to Congress,
although that delegate would not be able to vote like
other members. Florida's Legislative Council elected her Nandez as the

(03:24):
territory's representative, and he was approved by President James Monroe
on September two. For the next six months, Hernandez played
a crucial role in the transition from Spanish to American
government in the newly acquired territory. As mentioned before, her
Nandez was able to keep the property he owned prior

(03:46):
to the annexation, and in Congress he helped extend those
same property rights to other Floridians who had chosen to stay.
He also fought for infrastructure bills to build new roads, bridges,
and canal which would not only help unite the territory
but also boost its chances of becoming a full fledged state.

(04:08):
In the end, Hernandez lost his bid for reelection and
left Congress after less than a year on the job,
but his wish for Florida to attain statehood would eventually
come to pass in eighteen forty five, when it became
the twenty seven state in the Union. After his loss,
Hernandez shifted his focus to regional politics and was appointed

(04:30):
the presiding officer of the Territories Legislative Council, which was
the precursor to the Florida House of Representatives. During this time,
he also continued to manage his three plantations, which produced
cash crops like sugarcane and cotton. A decade later, war
once again broke out between white settlers and the Seminoles.

(04:53):
In eighteen thirty five, Hernandez rejoined the conflict, this time
on the side of the U. S. Army. During the war,
two of his plantations were destroyed by Seminoles and black
fugitives who had escaped enslavement. Hernandez later embarked on an
apparent mission of revenge that resulted in the ambush and

(05:14):
capture of the men who had planned the attack on
his property. A year later, he came under fire for
ignoring a truce with Seminal leaders. In eighteen thirty eight,
Hernandez retired from the army with the rank of brigadier
general after asking to be relieved from duty in light
of the financial losses the war had caused him. Seven

(05:39):
years later, Hernandez tried to break back into politics by
running for a Senate seat in the newly formed state
of Florida, but he was unsuccessful. Reports of his unsavory
conduct during the Second Seminal War had tarnished his political
reputation on the national stage, but there was still a

(05:59):
place for him in local politics. In eighteen forty eight,
Hernandez was elected mayor of his hometown of St. Augustine.
After completing his term, he retired to his family's estate
in Matenzas, Cuba, where he remained until his death on
June eighth, eighteen fifty seven, at age sixty nine. Hernandez

(06:23):
was a complicated figure, as attested by his house biography,
which reads, in part quote his complex life and career
as a slave owning Indian fighting politician cut from Jacksonian cloth,
embodied conflicting attitudes towards statehood representation, and territorial conquest and yeah,

(06:48):
that's putting it lightly. I'm Gabe Louzier and hopefully you
now know a little more about history today than you
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(07:10):
line at this day at I heart media dot com.
Thanks to Chandler May's for producing the show, and thank
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(07:34):
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