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James Garrard

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James Garrard
James Garrard
In office
June 7, 1796 – September 5, 1804
Lieutenant Alexander Scott Bullitt (1800–1804)
Preceded by Isaac Shelby
Succeeded by Christopher Greenup
Born January 14, 1749(1749-01-14)
Stafford County, Virginia
Died January 9, 1822 (aged 72)
Bourbon County, Kentucky
Political party Democratic-Republican
Spouse Elizabeth Mountjoy
Residence Mount Lebanon
Profession Soldier, minister, farmer, lumber miller, distiller
Religion Baptist
Signature James Garrard's signature
Military service
Allegiance United States
Service/branch United States Army
Rank Colonel
Battles/wars Revolutionary War

James Garrard (January 14, 1749 – January 9, 1822) was an American soldier who served as the second Governor of Kentucky from 1796 to 1804. He was also a Baptist minister, but his secretary of state, Unitarian minister Henry Toulmin, influenced him to adopt Socinianism. The local Baptist association withdrew fellowship from Garrard for adopting and promoting this doctrine, which they considered heretical.

Garrard's election in 1796 highlighted a problem with how Kentucky elected her governors. Because of the confusion, Garrard advocated the calling of a constitutional convention, but he was denied the opportunity to be a delegate because of his anti-slavery views. The convention showed their respect for Garrard by exempting him from the constitution's prohibition against succeeding himself in office. His re-election in 1800 made him the only Kentucky governor to succeed himself in office until the Kentucky constitution was amended in 1992 to allow the governor to hold two consecutive terms. (Since then, only Paul Patton has done so.) Garrard County, which was formed during Garrard's first term, is named in his honor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

James Garrard was born the son of Colonel William and Mary (Naughty) Garrard on January 14, 1749 in Stafford County, Virginia.[1] His father was moderately wealthy, and the Stafford County courthouse was built on land owned by the Garrard family.[2] James Garrard was educated in the common schools of the area.[3]

On December 20, 1769, Garrard married Elizabeth Mountjoy.[4] The couple had twelve children, three of whom died in infancy.[1] All of Garrard's sons who survived to adulthood went on to serve in the Kentucky General Assembly, and all took part in the War of 1812.[5] A number of his grandsons served in the Civil War, including Union Generals Kenner Garrard and Theophilus T. Garrard.[6]

Both Garrard and his father served in the Revolutionary War.[2] As a captain of a schooner, he was captured by the British but later escaped.[7] He was promoted to colonel in the Stafford County militia and probably saw action during the 1781 British invasion of Virginia and at Gloucester during the Yorktown campaign.[7]

Following the revolution, Garrard surveyed many acres in Kentucky (then a county of Virginia) for family and friends, as well as 40,000 acres for himself.[2] He moved to Kentucky in 1782 and built his residence, Mount Lebanon, on Stoner Fork of the Licking River.[8][9] He opened a lumber mill and engaged in the distillation of whiskey.[3]

[edit] Religious life

Garrard was first associated with Hartwood Baptist Church in Fredericksburg, Virginia.[10] From the time of his arrival in Kentucky, he was active in starting churches in the area.[8] He was ordained as a minister, and in 1787, he helped organize Cooper's Run Baptist Church.[10][11] He became the first pastor of Cooper's Run, and ministered there for ten years.[11] In 1791, a committee composed of Garrard, Ambrose Dudley, and Augustine Eastin reported to the Elkhorn Baptist Association in favor of constitutionally forbidding slavery in the state of Kentucky.[10]

When he was elected governor in 1796, Garrard appointed his friend Henry Toulmin, as secretary of state.[12] Toulmin was a Unitarian minister and president of Transylvania University.[13] His daughter was married to Garrard's son Daniel.[13] Because of Toulmin's influence, Garrard began to adopt the tenets of Socinianism.[12] Garrard subsequently influenced Augustine Eastin, who succeeded him as pastor of Cooper's Run Church when he was elected governor.[12] Soon, the majority of the members of Cooper's Run Church adopted the beliefs held by Garrard and Eastin.[12]

In 1802, the Elkhorn Baptist Association attempted to convince Garrard and Eastin to abandon their beliefs, which the association considered heretical. Failing to do so, they withdrew fellowship from both men, despite their considerable influence.[14]

[edit] Political career

While still serving in the Revolutionary War, Garrard was elected to a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. Because many of the early settlers of Virginia were from England, there arose a significant effort to establish the Church of England as the state religion. Garrard played a key role in countering this effort by securing the passage of a bill securing universal religious liberty in the state.[15]

Garrard helped pass the legislation that created Bourbon County, where his home was located, in 1785.[16] The county court first convened in his house on May 15, 1786 and continued to meet there for many years.[4] In 1789, the Virginia legislature established the county seat under the name Hopewell, and Garrard was part of the committee chosen to survey the area for the city.[4] Upon this committee's recommendation, the city's name was changed to Paris in 1790.[4]

Of the ten conventions that led to the creation of the Kentucky Constitution, Garrard was a delegate to five – in May and August 1785, 1787, 1788, and 1792.[4] He helped author the document that was eventually ratified.[3] He was one of sixteen members of the convention that voted to strike the provisions for slavery from the constitution, but twenty-six members voted to retain the provisions, and slavery was thus enshrined into the state's first constitution.[17]

[edit] Governor of Kentucky

Four men were in contention to succeed Governor Isaac Shelby in 1796: Garrard, Benjamin Logan, Thomas Todd, and John Brown. Under the Kentucky Constitution, governors were chosen by electors in a system similar to the United States Electoral College. Logan received 21 electoral votes, Garrard 17, Todd 14, and Brown 1. The constitution made no provision for a candidate who received a plurality but not a majority of the vote. The electors decided to take a second ballot, in which Garrard won a majority.[3] The state attorney general, John Breckinridge, questioned the legitimacy of the second ballot, and Logan formally protested it.[18] Nonetheless, the secretary of state sent a certificate of election to Garrard, and Governor Shelby sent him a congratulatory letter.[18] In November 1796, the Kentucky Senate refused to reverse the decision, and Garrard assumed the governorship.[18]

A Democratic-Republican, Garrard supported the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798 and 1799, and denounced the Alien and Sedition Acts.[9] He arranged for the construction of the state's first governor's mansion and was the first to reside there.[3] He favored exempting jailers, tutors, printers, judges, ministers, and legislative leaders from service in the state militia.[19] He also encouraged reform of the state's penal system.[3] Known as a "spender", he called for the provision of public education and business subsidies to aid commerce.[3] A major accomplishment of his first term was the creation of the state's circuit court system.[8]

Garrard's contested election had highlighted a major shortcoming of the state's constitution. During his first term, he encouraged the calling of another constitutional convention. In addition to remedying the electoral issue, he hoped to curb slavery in the new document.[3] The extant constitution required a majority of the state's citizens to vote in favor a constitutional convention in two successive elections or that a two-thirds majority of the General Assembly do so once.[20] The question was put on the ballot in 1797, but failed to garner a majority.[20] In 1798, the General Assembly voted to call the convention by the required majority.[20] Delegates were elected in the spring of 1799, but Garrard was not among them, probably because of his anti-slavery views.[3][20] The delegates to the convention showed their respect to Garrard by exempting him from the new constitution's prohibition against serving two consecutive terms as governor.[3] The new constitution provided for direct election of the governor, abolishing the flawed elector system.[18]

Garrard was elected to a second term in 1800, again defeating Logan and Todd as well as newcomer Christopher Greenup.[3] Garrard appointed Greenup to the circuit court and Todd to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.[21] Garrard was the only Kentucky governor to serve a successive term until the state's constitution was amended in 1992. The major issue of Garrard's second term was the closing of the port of New Orleans by the Spanish.[19] Garrard encouraged President Thomas Jefferson to act.[19] He later lauded the Louisiana Purchase as a "noble achievement".[22]

During Garrard's second term, the General Assembly overrode his veto of a circuit court bill, marking the first time a Kentucky governor had a veto overridden and the only time Garrard's was overridden in his two terms.[3] In Garrard's eight years as governor, twenty-six new counties were created, including Garrard County, which was named in his honor.[3] The final months of Garrard's tenure were marred by a bitter struggle over naming a new registrar for the land office. Garrard had submitted six names to the Kentucky Senate before one was approved. The disagreement left Garrard bitter, and he retired from public service.[22]

Following his tenure as governor, Garrard returned to Mount Lebanon, his residence in Bourbon County, Kentucky. He died January 9, 1822 after several years of illness.[9] He is buried in the Garrard Family Burial Grounds at Ruddels Mills in Bourbon County. The Kentucky Legislature erected a memorial over his grave in 1823.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Encyclopedia of Kentucky, p. 71
  2. ^ a b c Billings, p. 58
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Harrison, p. 364
  4. ^ a b c d e Johnson, p. 271
  5. ^ Des Cognets, p. 14
  6. ^ Des Cognets, pp. 31, 62
  7. ^ a b Harry M. Ward. "Garrard, James". American National Biography Online, February 2000.
  8. ^ a b c NGA Bio
  9. ^ a b c Encyclopedia of Kentucky, p. 72
  10. ^ a b c Des Cognets, p. 9
  11. ^ a b Powell, p. 16
  12. ^ a b c d Collins, p. 110
  13. ^ a b Billings, p. 59
  14. ^ Collins, pp. 110–111
  15. ^ Johnson, pp. 270–271
  16. ^ Everman, p. 7
  17. ^ Centenary of Kentucky, pp. 58–59
  18. ^ a b c d Everman, p. 8
  19. ^ a b c Everman, p. 10
  20. ^ a b c d Allen, p. 74
  21. ^ Everman, p. 9
  22. ^ a b Everman, p. 11

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] Further reading

  • Everman, H.E. (1981). Governor James Garrard. Cooper's Run Press. 

[edit] External links

Political offices
Preceded by
Isaac Shelby		 Governor of Kentucky
1796–1804		 Succeeded by
Christopher Greenup
v • d • e
Governors of Kentucky
Shelby · Garrard · Greenup · Scott · Shelby · Madison · Slaughter · Adair · Desha · Metcalfe · J. Breathitt · J. Morehead · Clark · Wickliffe · Letcher · Owsley · Crittenden · Helm · Powell · C. Morehead · Magoffin · G.W. Johnson · Robinson · Hawes · Bramlette · Helm · Stevenson · Leslie · McCreary · Blackburn · Knott · Buckner · Brown · Bradley · Taylor · Goebel · Beckham · Willson · McCreary · Stanley · Black · Morrow · Fields · Sampson · Laffoon · Chandler · K. Johnson · Willis · Clements · Wetherby · Chandler · Combs · E. Breathitt · Nunn · Ford · Carroll · Brown Jr. · Collins · Wilkinson · Jones · Patton · Fletcher · Beshear
 State Seal of Kentucky
Italics indicate Confederate governors
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Garrard"
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