Political Career
Appointed Governor of the Arkansas Territory on March 3, 1819, Miller resigned from the army, but did not leave New England for his governorship until September 1819. He traveled to Washington DC first, where he learned that he would also serve as the superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Arkansas Territory. He traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and acquired armaments for the territorial militia. He then traveled down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers with the armaments in tow, arriving at Arkansas Post on December 26, 1819, on a vessel flying flags reading “Arkansaw” and “I will try, sir!” Due to Miller’s tardiness, Robert Crittenden, the secretary of the territory, had been running the state and filling necessary appointments which were validated by the U.S. Congress. Miller focused his attentions on finding a suitable location for a territorial capital. A number of influential men, including Miller, in the territorial legislature had purchased lots in the Little Rock area, the bill moving the capital from Arkansas Post to Little Rock passed the territorial legislature.
As Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the territory, Miller dealt with the considerable debate over Quapaw, Cherokee, and Choctaw land claims and the desire for American whites to take the land for themselves. To make matters more confusing for Miller, warfare between the Cherokee and the Osage erupted within the territory in 1821. From the beginning of his term, it was clear that he did not plan to stay in Arkansas, as his wife remained in New Hampshire. Miller left the torrid Arkansas summer for cooler New Hampshire in April 1821, returning the following November. In his absences, Crittenden ran Arkansas and made decisions regarding the Native American problems. Finally, in June 1823, Miller left Arkansas and did not return at all that year. He held the post as Governor of the Arkansas Territory from 1819 to 1824.
In the fall of 1824, he was elected to the House of Representatives in New Hampshire but never took office. Instead he was appointed Collector of Customs in Salem, Massachusetts, a post he served in until 1849.
Read more about this topic: James Miller (general)
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