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NICHOLAS PHILIP TRIST
Biography of a Disobedient Diplomat
by
Robert Arthur Brent A.B., M.A.
A Dissertation
Presented to the Graduate Faculty
of the University of Virginia .
in Candidacy for the Degree of
4
Doctor of Philosophy
1950
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UMI Number: DP15028
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Table of Contents
Preface.
Chapter I- Youth and Education............ ......1
Chapter II- West Point, Louisiana, and
Montlcello...........
Chapter Ill-Master of Montlcello............... ....39
Chapter IV- Mr. Trist G-oevS to Washington.......
Chapter V- Jackson’s Private Secretary.....
Chapter VI- A Cuban Interlude.................. ....95
Chapter VII- Mr. Trist Goes Back to Washington..
Chapter VIII-Mr. Trist Encounters General Scott. ....135
Chapter IX- Failure of Negotiations.and Recall. ___162
Chapter X- Mr. Trist Disobeys an Order....... ___18U
Chapter XI- Public Reaction to Treaty and
Evaluation of Mission........ .... 212
Chapter XII-Mr. Trist»s Later Life, 1848-18?h. .
Bibliography........ ........................... ___252
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Preface
Nicholas Phili'o Trist was born at the dawn of the nine
teenth century— a century that opened with the United
States still struggling to make a permanent place for
itself in the family of nations, and a century xfhich closed
with the United States in the vanguard of the powerful
states of the world.
Trist was a part of that metamorphosis, While his
own activities formed only a small part of the progress
of his country, he did what .he thought best to further
the interests of the American democracy, despite the
personal consequences to himself.
In Trist*s life are reflected many of the great e-
vents that dominated the American national scene during
the first half of the century. His exposure to the
philosophies and political beliefs of Thomas Jefferson,
followed later by intimate contact with Andrew Jackson,
certainly played a major part in shaping his own ideals.
When in later life he could reflect on the tragic per
sonal aftermath of his Mexican mission in 18^7-A'8, he
must have felt sure that Jefferson and Jackson would have
approved of his act of disobedience, even though that
act may have denied, to the United States a greater share
of Mexican land.
Nicholas Trist led a full, and at most times an in-
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in
teresting life, and for that reason alone this has been
a study which has not seemed without ooint. But when
in addition one may reflect that it was by Trist*s hand
that American title to Texas was guaranteed, and that
California and the Southwest were gained for his country,
his labors seem even more worthy of chronicling. Too,
an understanding of Trist may lead to a greater under
standing of our country during the period in which he
lived.
There have been some few sketches and articles on
Trist, but these accounts have ignored many of the im
portant collections of Trist letters. The forty-four
volumes of Trist*s correspondence in the Library of Con
gress, numbering about twenty thousand nieces have been
worked over several times, and certainly form the start
ing point from which any study of Trist must begin; but
in addition to that collection there exist about eight
thousand Trist letters in the University of Worth Carolina
Library, and smaller numbers at the libraries of the Vir
ginia Historical Society and the University of Virginia.
These latter collections have not been used in other
works on Trist, either published, or in progress.
The writer is grateful for the assistance and friendly
cooperation received from- the library staffs where re
search was done, and for the leads pointed out by members
of the history faculty at the University of Virginia. Drs.
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Edward Younger and Thomas Perkins Abernethy have been
of great assistance, and to Dr. Bernard Mayo, at whose
suggestion this work was first started, and without
whose constant heland guidance it would nover have been
completed, thanks are inadequate to describe this writer’s
gratitude.
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