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John Baptiste Charles Lucas (August 14, 1758 – August 17, 1842) was a French-born member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania. After meetingBenjamin Franklin, Lucas was so inspired—and so impatient with class injustices in France—that he sailed to America. Armed with aletter of introduction from Franklin, Lucas was made a federalland grant judge byThomas Jefferson, then elected to theU.S. House of Representatives. He eventually resigned and moved toSt. Louis, reportedly in part because he and his wife, Anne, missed French society.[1][2]
Lucas was born inPont-Audemer,Normandy,France. He attended theHonfleur andParis Law Schools, and graduated from the law department of theUniversity of Caen in 1782. He practiced law in France until 1784, when he immigrated to the United States and settled nearPittsburgh,Pennsylvania. He engaged in agricultural pursuits.
Lucas was a member of thePennsylvania House of Representatives from 1792 to 1798. He served as judge of theCourt of Common Pleas in 1794.
In the early 1800s, newly-elected PresidentThomas Jefferson appointed Lucas to a secret mission toSt. Louis andNew Orleans. Lucas reported directly to the president on the sentiments of the Spaniards in those cities toward the United States, in preparation for Jefferson's efforts at westward expansion.[3]
With strong support from President Jefferson,[3] Lucas was elected as aRepublican to theEighth andNinth Congresses and served until his resignation in 1805, before the assembling of the Ninth Congress. He moved to St. Louis (then part of theLouisiana Territory), having been appointed district judge for theDistrict of Louisiana (which becameMissouri Territory in 1812), and served from 1805 until 1820, when he resigned. He also served as commissioner of land claims of northern Louisiana from 1805 to 1812. He then resumed agricultural pursuits.
While in Missouri, Lucas donated land in downtown St. Louis in 1816 for a courthouse (known as theOld St. Louis County Courthouse) that is now part of theGateway Arch National Park. When the courthouse was abandoned in 1930 as the court functions relocated to larger quarters, his descendants fought unsuccessfully to get the courthouse back. TheGateway Arch frames the view of the courthouse from theMississippi River.
Lucas died near St. Louis in 1842. He was buried atCalvary Cemetery. Five of Lucas' sons were to die violently, includingCharles Lucas, who was killed in a duel withSenator Thomas Hart Benton. A grandson,Henry Van Noye Lucas, owned a major leaguebaseball franchise in St. Louis in the late 19th century.
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| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromPennsylvania's 11th congressional district 1803–1805 | Succeeded by |
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