From the Annals of the Republic –  In 1838, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar was inaugurated as the second president of the Republic of Texas.  In 1837, Lamar had been promoting Texas in Georgia in his office as Vice-President.  Upon his return to Texas he discovered that his campaign for the presidency was already underway thanks to anti-Houston forces.  His election was all but assured when the two other candidates, Peter Grayson and James Collingsworth, both committed suicide.  The outgoing president, Sam Houston, was never one to miss the chance for a speech.  At the inauguration Houston gave a 3 hour “Farewell Address” while dressed in colonial costume and powdered wig.  Lamar was apparently ill, so his secretary Algernon P. Thompson, gave his inaugural address. Lamar’s inaugural speech declared the purposes of his administration to be awakening into vigorous activity the wealth, talent, and enterprises of the country and laying the foundations of higher institutions for moral and mental culture. Lamar’s term in office was a mixed bag at best.  He was a staunch opponent of annexation believing that Texas should expand westward to the Pacific.  His efforts to create a national bank failed, but he did succeed in his plan to move the capital to Austin.  He was a literary man and is best remembered for his support of public education.  His proposal to establish a system of education endowed by public land grants resulted in the act of January 26, 1839, which set aside land for public schools and two universities. Although it was decades before the school system was established, Lamar’s advocacy of the program earned for him the nickname “Father of Texas Education.”  His namesake is Lamar University in Beaumont and numerous other Texas schools are named after him.