Finding the Four Presidents of the Republic of Texas (book Excerpt)

When it comes to finding the four presidents, there is some confusion. When you search for the lists, at times, you may find a list that has only three and another will have four. This is exactly why having boots on the ground helps clear up the confusion. When I began this journey, I saw the discrepancies in different sources and decided it was time to go out and see for myself. I wanted to be able to say with confidence what the correct history was and help make it clear for others. As you will see, I visited the places where each of the four presidents and their vice president lived and where they are currently buried. When it comes to the vice presidents, two of them were also presidents.

One of the lists from Wikipedia has the presidents as you will see below:

•  Sam Houston (1836–1838)

•  Mirabeau B. Lamar (1838–1841)

•  Sam Houston (second term, 1841–1844)

•  Anson Jones (1844–1846) 

Another list from Texas State Library and Archives Commission gives a list of four and it also has the vice presidents:

•      1st President David G. Burnet – Vice President: Lorenzo de Zavala (Mar. 16, 1836 – Oct. 22, 1836)

•        2nd President Sam Houston – Vice President: Mirabeau B. Lamar (Oct. 22, 1836 – Dec 10, 1838)

•    3rd President Mirabeau B. Lamar – Vice President: David G. Burnet (Dec. 10, 1838 – Dec. 13, 1841)

•   2nd Term, President Sam Houston – Vice President: Edward Burleson (Dec. 13, 1841 – Dec. 9, 1844)

•  4th President Anson Jones – Vice President: (Position vacant*) (Dec. 9, 1844 – Feb. 19, 1846)

Note: The office of Vice President was technically vacant under Anson Jones, as no new VP was elected following Burleson’s term, though some sources list Kenneth L. Anderson as Vice President-elect before his death in 1845.

If you find the correct list, it will show that there were four Presidents, but the first (David G. Burnet) was not elected by the citizens of Texas; rather he was selected by the 59 delegates who were present at the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence. “On March 17, 1836, during the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos, Burnet was appointed interim President of the newly declared Republic of Texas.”