170-641: Beriah Magoffin (April 18, 1815 – February 28, 1885) was the 21st Governor of Kentucky , serving during the early part of the Civil War . Personally, Magoffin adhered to a states' rights position, including the right of a state to secede from the Union , and he sympathized with the Confederate cause. Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a position of neutrality in
340-434: A merit system that forbade the hiring or firing of state employees for political reasons; his successor, Bert Combs , pushed a new merit system through the legislature, protecting it from abolition by executive order. Despite the presence of the merit system, many governors have been criticized for abusing their appointment power. In 2005, Ernie Fletcher and several members of his administration were indicted for violating
510-522: A slave catcher during the war, and at its end he pressed the British to return the slaves to their masters. With the British certificates of freedom in their belongings, the black loyalists, including Washington's slave Harry, sailed with their white counterparts out of New York harbor to Nova Scotia . More than 3,000 were resettled in Nova Scotia, where they were eventually granted land and formed
680-535: A 1992 estimate—the office has been historically considered one of the most powerful state executive positions in the United States . Additionally, the governor is given wide discretion in awarding state contracts, further augmenting his influence. In the second half of the 20th century, attempts were made to curb the use of the governor's appointment power for political patronage . During his second term in office, Happy Chandler issued an executive order creating
850-616: A bill forfeiting the citizenship of anyone who fought for or aided the Confederacy, but in March 1862, his veto of the bill was overridden. Magoffin also opposed the military rule of Brigadier General Jeremiah T. Boyle , who he believed was violating the civil rights of states' rights advocates, even if they did not advocate secession. Calls by the legislature for Magoffin's resignation had begun as early as September 30, 1861. On August 16, 1862, Magoffin declared his willingness to resign on
1020-650: A challenge to any person or persons to fight in single combat, with a citizen of this State, with a deadly weapon, either in or out of the State". This provision reflected the prevalence of duelling in the South at the time. The gubernatorial oath of office states: I do solemnly swear that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of this Commonwealth, and be faithful and true to
1190-413: A challenge to fight a duel with deadly weapons, nor have I acted as second in carrying a challenge, nor aided or assisted any person thus offending, so help me God." The governor's term has been for four years in all four state constitutions. The governor was not term-limited in the 1792 constitution, but in the 1799 constitution, the governor was made ineligible for re-election for seven years following
1360-678: A committee, of which he was chair, to investigate "the Diseases and Physical Peculiarities of the Negro Race". Their report, first delivered to the Medical Association in an address, was published in their journal in 1851, and then reprinted in part in the widely circulated DeBow's Review . Whether slavery was to be limited to the Southern states that already had it, or whether it was to be permitted in new states made from
1530-403: A convention to determine Kentucky's course in the Civil War . The Unionist majority in the legislature feared that the vote of the convention would be to take Kentucky out of the Union; consequently, they refused to call the convention. In response to President Abraham Lincoln 's call for troops on April 15, 1861, Magoffin defiantly declared by telegram , "I will send not a man nor a dollar for
1700-534: A famous speech in the Senate in 1837, declared that slavery was "instead of an evil, a good – a positive good". Calhoun supported his view with the following reasoning: in every civilized society one portion of the community must live on the labor of another; learning, science, and the arts are built upon leisure; the African slave, kindly treated by his master and mistress and looked after in his old age,
1870-553: A future date, sometimes with an intermediary status of unpaid indentured servant. Abolition was in many cases a gradual process. Some slaveowners, primarily in the Upper South , freed their slaves, and charitable groups bought and freed others. The Atlantic slave trade was outlawed by individual states beginning during the American Revolution. The import trade was banned by Congress in 1808 , although smuggling
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#17327796534622040-417: A handful, freed their slaves by personal decision, often providing for manumission in wills but sometimes filing deeds or court papers to free individuals. Numerous slaveholders who freed their slaves cited revolutionary ideals in their documents; others freed slaves as a promised reward for service. From 1790 to 1810, the proportion of blacks free in the United States increased from 8 to 13.5 percent, and in
2210-540: A hostile legislature, Magoffin agreed to resign as governor in 1862, provided he could choose his successor. Lieutenant governor Linn Boyd had died in office, and Magoffin refused to allow Speaker of the Senate John F. Fisk to succeed him as governor. Accordingly, Fisk resigned and the Kentucky Senate elected Magoffin's choice, James F. Robinson , as speaker. Magoffin then resigned, Robinson ascended to
2380-572: A hundred thousand (nearly one in five black slaves) left their homes ... betting on British victory", but Cassandra Pybus states that between 20,000 and 30,000 is a more realistic number of slaves who defected to the British side during the war. Many slaves took advantage of the disruption of war to escape from their plantations to British lines or to fade into the general population. Upon their first sight of British vessels, thousands of slaves in Maryland and Virginia fled from their owners. Throughout
2550-545: A movement began in the House of Representatives to hold a new election for governor. Leaders of the movement, including a young John C. Breckinridge , claimed that Slaughter was only the "acting governor" until a new governor was elected. The call for a new election failed in the House in 1815, but was approved by the House in 1817 only to fail in the Senate. Slaughter served out the rest of Madison's term and in so doing, established
2720-422: A public question from there forward". After the new country's independence was secure, slavery was a topic of contention at the 1787 Constitutional Convention . Many of Founding Fathers of the United States were plantation owners who owned large numbers of enslaved laborers; the original Constitution preserved their right to own slaves, and they further gained a political advantage in owning slaves. Although
2890-550: A punishment for crime is still legal in the United States. By the time of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the status of enslaved people had been institutionalized as a racial caste associated with African ancestry. During and immediately following the Revolution, abolitionist laws were passed in most Northern states and a movement developed to abolish slavery. The role of slavery under
3060-481: A significantly higher number and proportion of enslaved people in the population overall, as its commodity crops were labor-intensive. Early on, enslaved people in the South worked primarily on farms and plantations growing indigo , rice and tobacco ( cotton did not become a major crop until after the 1790s). In 1720, about 65 percent of South Carolina's population was enslaved. Planters (defined by historians in
3230-422: A special election would be called to fill the office; the lieutenant governor would become the new governor and serve in the interim. In the 1891 constitution, the chain of succession was extended. It mandated that, if the Senate was not in session and therefore did not have an elected Speaker, the secretary of state, or in the event of his inability to qualify, the attorney general, would become acting governor in
3400-424: A specific plan for the upcoming legislative session; the contents of the address often shape the agenda of the session. The state's media outlets devote significant coverage to the governor's actions, and many strong governors have used the media to win support for their agendas and criticize political enemies. Candidates for the office of governor of Kentucky must be at least thirty years of age and have resided in
3570-405: A stronger. 4. The happiness of the governed is in no sense its object. 5. The temporal improvement or the eternal well-being of the governed is in no sense its object. The object of it has been distinctly stated in one sentence by Judge Ruffin ,— "The end is the profit of the master, his security, and the public safety." Slavery, then, is absolute despotism, of the most unmitigated form. In
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#17327796534623740-444: A ticket with Beverly L. Clarke , who was defeated by Know Nothing candidate Charles S. Morehead . Magoffin was elected Governor of Kentucky in the 1859 Kentucky gubernatorial election over Joshua Fry Bell , taking office on August 30. He supported states' rights and the institution of slavery . Although he believed in the right of states to secede from the union , he hoped to avoid this outcome by reaching an agreement between
3910-454: Is a moral and political evil. It is idle to expatiate on its disadvantages. I think it is a greater evil to the white than to the colored race. While my feelings are strongly enlisted in behalf of the latter, my sympathies are more deeply engaged for the former. The blacks are immeasurably better off here than in Africa, morally, physically, and socially. The painful discipline they are undergoing
4080-473: Is better off than the free laborers of Europe; and under the slave system conflicts between capital and labor are avoided. The advantages of slavery in this respect, he concluded, "will become more and more manifest, if left undisturbed by interference from without, as the country advances in wealth and numbers". South Carolina army officer, planter , and railroad executive James Gadsden called slavery "a social blessing" and abolitionists "the greatest curse of
4250-442: Is elected under our constitution for four years without legal opportunity, regardless of how acceptable his program has been, to put it before the public for approval or rejection. In practical application he must successfully run the legislative gauntlet during the first hurried ninety days he is in office if he is to adopt a program and have an administration worthy of history's harsh pen. The remaining general assembly two years hence
4420-438: Is empowered to enforce all laws of the state. The officeholder is given broad statutory authority to make appointments to the various cabinets and departments of the executive branch, limited somewhat by the adoption of a merit system for state employees in 1960. Because Kentucky's governor controls so many appointments to commissions, the office has been historically considered one of the most powerful state executive positions in
4590-528: Is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once before becoming ineligible for four years. Throughout the state's history, four men have served two non-consecutive terms as governor, and four others have served two consecutive terms, the most recent being current governor Andy Beshear , who was re-elected to a second term on November 7, 2023. Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states that hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years . The governor's powers are enumerated in
4760-575: Is held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The governor and lieutenant governor are inaugurated on the fifth Tuesday after their election. This was changed from the fourth Tuesday after the election by the 1850 constitution. Under Kentucky's first constitution (1792), the Speaker of the Kentucky Senate became acting governor upon the death, resignation, or removal of
4930-496: Is invariably plagued with vicissitudes common to ' lame duck ' tenures. The idea of removing the gubernatorial term limit was first proposed in the 1850 constitutional convention, but was vigorously opposed by some of the state's best known statesmen of the day, including Archibald Dixon , Garrett Davis , Benjamin Hardin , and Charles A. Wickliffe . Not until 1992 was an amendment to the state constitution passed to help ameliorate
5100-455: Is necessary for their further instruction as a race, and will prepare them, I hope, for better things. How long their servitude may be necessary is known and ordered by a merciful Providence. However, as the abolitionist movement's agitation increased and the area developed for plantations expanded, apologies for slavery became more faint in the South. Leaders then described slavery as a beneficial scheme of labor management. John C. Calhoun , in
5270-507: Is not applicable to cases of impeachment , and in cases of treason , a gubernatorial pardon is only effective until the end of the next session of the General Assembly, which can grant a full pardon for treason. The 1891 constitution further required that, with each application for a pardon, the governor file "a statement of the reasons for his decision thereon, which ... shall always be open to public inspection." This requirement
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5440-562: Is to serve as commander-in-chief of the state's militia and military forces. In 1799, a stipulation was added that the governor would not personally lead troops on the battlefield unless advised to do so by a resolution of the General Assembly . Such a case occurred in 1813 when Governor Isaac Shelby , a veteran of the Revolutionary War , was asked to lead a band of Kentucky troops to aid William Henry Harrison at
5610-657: The Battle of the Thames . For his service, Shelby received the Thanks of Congress and the Congressional Gold Medal . Among the other powers and responsibilities of the governor that appear in all four constitutions are the power to enforce all laws, the power to fill vacancies in elected offices until the next meeting of the General Assembly, and the power to remit fines and grant pardons . The power to pardon
5780-546: The Civil War , Magoffin's power was entirely checked by a hostile, pro- Union legislature. With the state's government in gridlock, Magoffin agreed to resign in exchange for being able to name his successor. Lieutenant Governor Linn Boyd had died in office, and the Speaker of the Senate, John F. Fisk, was not acceptable to Magoffin as a successor. Fisk resigned as Speaker, and the Senate elected Magoffin's choice, James Fisher Robinson as Speaker. Magoffin then resigned, Robinson
5950-741: The Confederacy . Shortly afterward, the Civil War began when Confederate forces attacked the U.S. Army's Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. During the war some jurisdictions abolished slavery and, due to Union measures such as the Confiscation Acts and the Emancipation Proclamation , the war effectively ended slavery in most places. After the Union victory, the Thirteenth Amendment to
6120-608: The Democratic Party , serving as a presidential elector in 1844, 1848, 1852, and 1856 and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848, 1856, 1860, and 1872. He served one term in the Kentucky Senate in 1850, but declined his party's nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851. In 1855 was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor , running on
6290-627: The Fugitive Slave Act , passage of amendments to the Fugitive Slave Act ensuring that any state that would not return a fugitive slave or obstructed a slave's return would compensate the owner of the slave, passage of a law requiring extradition of anyone indicted by a grand jury for enticing the escape of a slave, passage of an amendment to the constitution guaranteeing slavery in all current and future territories south of 36 degrees north latitude , passage of an amendment to
6460-552: The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 gave effect to the Fugitive Slave Clause. Salmon P. Chase considered the Fugitive Slave Acts unconstitutional because "The Fugitive Slave Clause was a compact among the states, not a grant of power to the federal government". In a section negotiated by James Madison of Virginia, Section 2 of Article I designated "other persons" (slaves) to be added to
6630-932: The Kentucky House of Representatives from 1867 to 1869. He died at home on February 28, 1885, and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Harrodsburg. In 1900, a monument was erected in the cemetery in Magoffin's honor. Magoffin County, Kentucky , was created in 1860 and also named in his honor. Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government in Kentucky . Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term
6800-494: The Mississippi state senate . Magoffin returned to Kentucky in 1839 due to an illness. He continued his legal practice in Harrodsburg, and was appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P. Letcher in 1840. On April 21, 1840, he married Anna Nelson Shelby. Shelby was the granddaughter of Kentucky's first and fifth governor, Isaac Shelby . Ten of the couple's children survived infancy. Magoffin became active in
6970-466: The National Register of Historic Places in 1972, is located at 704 Capitol Avenue in the state capital of Frankfort . It is the second building to serve as the official residence of the governor of Kentucky. The Kentucky Revised Statutes provide that "[t]he Governor shall have the use of the mansion and the furniture therein and premises, free of rent, but the purchase of furniture for
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7140-444: The United States . Additionally, the governor's influence has been augmented by wide discretion in awarding state contracts and significant influence over the legislature, although the latter has been waning since the mid-1970s. The history of the office of Governor is largely one of long periods of domination by a single party, though different parties were predominant in different eras. Federalists were rare among Kentuckians during
7310-621: The United States Congress acted on President Thomas Jefferson 's advice and, without controversy, made importing slaves from abroad a federal crime, effective the first day that the United States Constitution permitted this prohibition: January 1, 1808. During the Revolution and in the following years, all states north of Maryland ( the Mason–Dixon line ) took steps towards abolishing slavery. In 1777,
7480-510: The United States Constitution (1789) was the most contentious issue during its drafting. The Three-Fifths Clause of the Constitution gave slave states disproportionate political power, while the Fugitive Slave Clause ( Article IV, Section 2, Clause 3 ) provided that, if a slave escaped to another state, the other state could not prevent the return of the slave to the person claiming to be his or her owner. All Northern states had abolished slavery to some degree by 1805, sometimes with completion at
7650-473: The Upper South from less than one to nearly ten percent as a result of these actions. Starting in 1777, the rebels outlawed the importation of slaves state by state. They all acted to end the international trade, but, after the war, it was reopened in North Carolina (opened until 1794) and Georgia (opened until 1798) and South Carolina (opened until 1787, and then reopened again in 1803.) In 1807,
7820-660: The Vermont Republic , which was still unrecognized by the United States, passed a state constitution prohibiting slavery . The Pennsylvania Abolition Society , led in part by Benjamin Franklin , was founded in 1775, and Pennsylvania began gradual abolition in 1780. In 1783, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled in Commonwealth v. Jennison that slavery was unconstitutional under
7990-652: The cotton industry in the Deep South after the invention of the cotton gin greatly increased demand for slave labor, and the Southern states continued as slave societies. The U.S., divided into slave and free states , became ever more polarized over the issue of slavery. Driven by labor demands from new cotton plantations in the Deep South , the Upper South sold more than a million slaves who were taken to
8160-412: The state constitution . There have been four constitutions of Kentucky—adopted in 1792, 1799, 1850, and 1891, respectively—and each has enlarged the governor's authority. Among the powers assigned to the governor in the constitution are the ability to grant pardons , veto legislation, and call the legislature into session. The governor serves as commander-in-chief of the state's military forces and
8330-405: The upcoming election in which he faced a challenge from Democrat Steve Beshear . The House convened on the day appointed and adjourned an hour later without transacting any business. Unlike the U.S. President , the governor does not have the option of a pocket veto . If the governor does not make a decision to sign or veto a bill, it automatically becomes law after 10 days. In the event that
8500-620: The "Anti-Relief Party". While not formal political parties—members of both factions still considered themselves Democratic-Republicans—these factions defined the political dialogue of the 1820s in Kentucky. The debt relief issue began under Gabriel Slaughter, who identified with the Anti-Relief Party, but Slaughter's two immediate successors, John Adair and Joseph Desha , were members of the Relief Party. The struggle between
8670-419: The 1799 constitution and was returned to thirty years in the 1891 constitution. A prohibition against any person concurrently holding the office of governor and a federal office appears in the first three state constitutions, but is absent in the state's current charter. Additionally, the 1799 constitution barred a "minister of any religious society" from holding the office. This language was possibly aimed at
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#17327796534628840-468: The 19th century, proponents of slavery often defended the institution as a "necessary evil". At that time, it was feared that emancipation of black slaves would have more harmful social and economic consequences than the continuation of slavery. On April 22, 1820, Thomas Jefferson , one of the Founding Fathers of the United States , wrote in a letter to John Holmes , that with slavery, We have
9010-774: The Administrative Reorganization Act of 1934 to organize these boards and commissions into seventeen executive departments and seven independent agencies. The General Assembly passed this legislation, giving the executive branch some semblance of structure for the first time. Laffoon's successor, Happy Chandler , called a special legislative session in 1936 seeking passage of another reorganization act. This act abolished several commissions and organized those remaining into ten statutory departments: Finance, Revenue, Highways, Health, Welfare, Industrial Relations, Business Regulation, Conservation, Libraries and Archives, and Mines and Minerals. The Act also created
9180-788: The American Continental Army . Rhode Island started enlisting slaves in 1778, and promised compensation to owners whose slaves enlisted and survived to gain freedom. During the course of the war, about one-fifth of the Northern army was black. In 1781, Baron Closen, a German officer in the French Royal Deux-Ponts Regiment at the Battle of Yorktown , estimated the American army to be about one-quarter black. These men included both former slaves and free-born blacks. Thousands of free blacks in
9350-868: The British forces. Historians agree that the proclamation was chiefly designed for practical rather than moral reasons, and slaves owned by American Loyalists were unaffected by the proclamation. About 1,500 slaves owned by patriots escaped and joined Dunmore's forces. A total of 18 slaves fled George Washington 's plantation, one of whom, Harry, served in Dunmore's all-black loyalist regiment called "the Black Pioneers". Escapees who joined Dunmore had "Liberty to Slaves" stitched on to their jackets. Most died of disease before they could do any fighting, but three hundred of these freed slaves made it to freedom in Britain. Historian Jill Lepore writes that "between eighty and
9520-434: The British war effort. Such proclamations were repeatedly issued over the course of the conflict, which resulted in up to 100,000 American slaves fleeing to British lines. Self-emancipated slaves who reached British lines were organized into a variety of military units, which served in all theaters of the war. Formerly enslaved women and children, in lieu of military service, worked instead as laborers and domestic servants. At
9690-403: The Commonwealth of Kentucky so long as I continue to be a citizen thereof, and that I will faithfully execute, to the best of my ability, the office of Governor according to law; and I do further solemnly swear that since the adoption of the present Constitution, I, being a citizen of this state, have not fought a duel with deadly weapons within this state, nor out of it, nor have I sent or accepted
9860-597: The Deep South. The total slave population in the South eventually reached four million. As the U.S. expanded, the Southern states attempted to extend slavery into the new Western territories to allow proslavery forces to maintain power in Congress. The new territories acquired by the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican Cession were the subject of major political crises and compromises. Slavery
10030-647: The Executive Cabinet, consisting of the constitutional officers and the heads of each of the ten statutory departments. The efficiencies created by Chandler's reorganization allowed him to pay off more than three-quarters of the state's $ 28.5 million debt. Besides effecting the reorganization of the executive branch, the Reorganization Act of 1936 also explicitly empowered the governor to appoint executive department heads and establish, combine, or divide departments as necessary. Later statutes gave
10200-538: The National Republican Party (later to be called Whigs ) that formed in the 1820s, it is inaccurate to assume the Anti-Relief Party as a whole became National Republicans and the Relief Party became Democrats. The primary factor in determining which party Kentuckians aligned with was their faith in Whig Party founder and native son, Henry Clay . From the election of Thomas Metcalfe in 1828 to
10370-510: The North had to search for employment. George Fitzhugh used assumptions about white superiority to justify slavery, writing that, "the Negro is but a grown up child, and must be governed as a child." In The Universal Law of Slavery , Fitzhugh argues that slavery provides everything necessary for life and that the slave is unable to survive in a free world because he is lazy, and cannot compete with
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#173277965346210540-494: The North might well have lost. Slavery was a contentious issue in the writing and approval of the Constitution of the United States . The words "slave" and "slavery" did not appear in the Constitution as originally adopted, although several provisions clearly referred to slaves and slavery. Until the adoption of the 13th Amendment in 1865, the Constitution did not prohibit slavery. Section 9 of Article I forbade
10710-551: The Northern states fought in the state militias and Continental Army. In the South, both sides offered freedom to slaves who would perform military service. Roughly 20,000 slaves fought in the American Revolution. After the Revolutionary War broke out, the British realized they lacked the manpower necessary to prosecute the war. In response, British commanders began issuing proclamations to Patriot-owned slaves, offering freedom if they fled to British lines and assisted
10880-583: The Northern states had passed laws outlawing slavery, either immediately or over time. In New York, the last slaves were freed in 1827 (celebrated with a big July 5 parade). Indentured servitude , which had been widespread in the colonies (half the population of Philadelphia had once been indentured servants ), dropped dramatically, and disappeared by 1800. However, there were still forcibly indentured servants in New Jersey in 1860. No Southern state abolished slavery, but some individual owners, more than
11050-564: The Republicans took control of the state senate for the first time in 1999, approval has become a much more contentious process. The General Assembly failed to pass a budget before the end of its session in both 2002 and 2004. In both cases, the state operated under an executive spending plan drafted by the governor until the legislature could re-convene and pass a budget. In 2005 the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that
11220-525: The Senate into session to elect a president, who would subsequently become governor. The first instance of gubernatorial succession in Kentucky's history occurred upon the death of Governor George Madison in 1816. Madison was extremely popular as a twice-wounded war hero. He died of tuberculosis just three weeks into his term. His lieutenant governor, Gabriel Slaughter , ascended to the governorship and immediately made two very unpopular appointments. These moves engendered much animosity toward Slaughter, and
11390-438: The South, losses of slaves were high, with many due to escapes. Slaves also escaped throughout New England and the mid-Atlantic, with many joining the British who had occupied New York. In the closing months of the war, the British evacuated freedmen and also removed slaves owned by loyalists. Around 15,000 black loyalists left with the British, most of them ending up as free people in England or its colonies. Washington hired
11560-507: The Union address), went into effect on January 1, 1808, the earliest date on which the importation of slaves could be prohibited under the Constitution. The delegates approved the Fugitive Slave Clause of the Constitution ( Article IV, section 2, clause 3 ), which prohibited states from freeing those "held to Service or Labour" (meaning slaves, indentures, and apprentices) who fled to them from another state and required that they be returned to their owners. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and
11730-507: The United States Constitution was ratified on December 6, 1865, prohibiting "slavery [and] involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime." During most of the British colonial period, slavery existed in all the colonies. People enslaved in the North typically worked as house servants, artisans, laborers and craftsmen, with the greater number in cities. Many men worked on the docks and in shipping. In 1703, more than 42 percent of New York City households held enslaved people in bondage,
11900-430: The United States was a variable thing, in "constant flux, driven by the violent pursuit of ever-larger profits." According to demographic calculations by J. David Hacker of the University of Minnesota, approximately four out of five of all of the slaves who ever lived in the United States or the territory that became the United States (beginning in 1619 and including all colonies that were eventually acquired or conquered by
12070-426: The United States) were born in or imported to the United States in the 19th century. Slaves were the labor force of the South, but slave ownership was also the foundation upon which American white supremacy was constructed. Historian Walter Johnson argues that "one of the many miraculous things a slave could do was make a household white...", meaning that the value of whiteness in America was in some ways measured by
12240-618: The United States. Located at 420 High Street in Frankfort, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. Political parties had developed in the United States before Kentucky became a state. Because most early Kentuckians were Virginians , they naturally allied with the Democratic-Republicans , the party of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison ; the latter was a cousin of George Madison,
12410-509: The United States. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property that could be bought, sold, or given away. Slavery lasted in about half of U.S. states until abolition in 1865, and issues concerning slavery seeped into every aspect of national politics, economics, and social custom. In the decades after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, many of slavery's economic and social functions were continued through segregation , sharecropping , and convict leasing . Involuntary servitude as
12580-474: The Upper South as those who held 20 or more slaves) used enslaved workers to cultivate commodity crops. They also worked in the artisanal trades on large plantations and in many Southern port cities. The later wave of settlers in the 18th century who settled along the Appalachian Mountains and backcountry were backwoods subsistence farmers , and they seldom held enslaved people. Beginning in
12750-399: The ability to purchase and maintain black slaves. Harriet Beecher Stowe described slavery in the United States in 1853: What, then, is American slavery, as we have seen it exhibited by law, and by the decision of Courts? Let us begin by stating what it is not: 1. It is not apprenticeship. 2. It is not guardianship. 3. It is in no sense a system for the education of a weaker race by
12920-435: The absence of any instruction, the electors held a runoff vote , wherein most of Todd's electors voted for Garrard, giving him a majority. The secretary of state certified Garrard's election, though Attorney General John Breckinridge questioned the legality of the second vote and Logan formally protested it. Ultimately, Breckinridge determined that he was not empowered by the state constitution to intervene, and Logan gave up
13090-450: The administrations of Brown's two immediate successors, Martha Layne Collins and Wallace Wilkinson , neither of whom was considered a strong executive. The governor is also the most visible state officer and is the center of political attention in the Commonwealth. The official host of the state when dignitaries visit, the governor frequently delivers addresses at various dedications and ceremonies, and appears on national television with
13260-453: The air, as to build either the one or the other, except on this mud-sill." Hammond believed that in every class one group must accomplish all the menial duties, because without them the leaders in society could not progress. He argued that the hired laborers of the North were slaves too: "The difference ... is, that our slaves are hired for life and well compensated; there is no starvation, no begging, no want of employment," while those in
13430-424: The assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the idea of a Government built upon it – when the "storm came and the wind blew, it fell". Our new [Confederate] Government is founded upon exactly the opposite ideas; its foundations are laid, its cornerstone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery, subordination to
13600-611: The attitudes of white Southerners, and the concentration of the black population in the South, were bringing the white and black populations to a state of equilibrium, and were a danger to both races. Because of the racial differences between master and slave, he believed that the latter could not be emancipated. In a letter to his wife dated December 27, 1856, in reaction to a message from President Franklin Pierce , Robert E. Lee wrote, There are few, I believe, in this enlightened age, who will not acknowledge that slavery as an institution
13770-605: The beginning of thirty years of true, two-party competition for the governorship in the state. Between 1895 and 1931, five Republicans and six Democrats held the office of governor. Since 1931, however, the Republicans have been unable to preserve this level of parity, and in that period only four of the twenty elected governors have been from the Republican party. Slavery in the United States The legal institution of human chattel slavery , comprising
13940-472: The capital had, since the last legislative session, "become dangerous from an enemy or from contagious diseases." This was an important provision in the early days of the Commonwealth, when epidemics like smallpox posed a danger to the populace. One notable example of an attempt to employ this power was in 1900 when Republican governor William S. Taylor attempted to adjourn the legislature and re-convene it in heavily Republican London, Kentucky following
14110-484: The challenge. The 1799 constitution changed the method of selecting the governor to direct election by majority vote and prescribed that, in the event of a tie vote, the governor would be chosen by lot in the Kentucky General Assembly. This provision has remained since 1799. After the development of the party system , it became commonplace for political parties to choose their nominees for
14280-536: The close of the Civil War until 1895, Kentuckians elected a series of Bourbon Democrats with Confederate sympathies as governor, including two men— James B. McCreary and Simon Bolivar Buckner —who had served in the Confederate States Army . The Democratic dominance was broken by William O'Connell Bradley , who was elected the state's first Republican governor in 1895. Bradley's election marked
14450-476: The colonial era were unevenly distributed: 14,867 lived in New England , where they were three percent of the population; 34,679 lived in the mid-Atlantic colonies , where they were six percent of the population; and 347,378 in the five Southern Colonies , where they were 31 percent of the population. The South developed an agricultural economy dependent on commodity crops . Its planters rapidly acquired
14620-455: The community of the black Nova Scotians . In the first two decades after the American Revolution, state legislatures and individuals took actions to free slaves. Northern states passed new constitutions that contained language about equal rights or specifically abolished slavery; some states, such as New York and New Jersey, where slavery was more widespread, passed laws by the end of the 18th century to abolish slavery incrementally. By 1804, all
14790-426: The condition that he be allowed to choose his successor. Because Lieutenant Governor Linn Boyd had died in office in 1859, Speaker of the Senate John F. Fisk was next in line for the governorship. Magoffin refused to accept Fisk as his successor, so Fisk resigned as speaker and the senate elevated Magoffin's choice, James F. Robinson , to speaker. Magoffin resigned as governor on August 18, 1862, and Robinson assumed
14960-577: The constitution guaranteeing all states the right of using the Mississippi River , and provide protection for southern states in the U.S. Senate from oppressive slavery legislation. After the slave state governors refused Magoffin's plan, he endorsed the Crittenden Compromise , authored by fellow Kentuckian John J. Crittenden . In January 1861, Magoffin called the state legislature into special session and asked them to call
15130-411: The construction of the present governor's mansion, the old governor's mansion became the official residence of the lieutenant governor. Lieutenant governor Steve Henry vacated the mansion in 2002 so it could be renovated; following the renovation, it became a state guest house and official entertainment space for the governor. For many years, the mansion was the oldest official residence still in use in
15300-430: The contentious 1899 gubernatorial election to William S. Taylor, but challenged the results. While the General Assembly was considering the challenge, Goebel was shot. Days later, the General Assembly decided in favor of Goebel, ousting Taylor from office and making Goebel governor. Goebel was sworn in on his sick bed and died two days later. His lieutenant governor, J. C. W. Beckham , succeeded him. 7 men have resigned
15470-460: The creation of a large number of commissions that reported to the governor: During the past century and a half, and especially in the later 20th century, it would have been impossible for state government to operate efficiently without a broadening of executive powers. Through the years the General Assembly has created a myriad of commissions and turned them over to the governor to exercise administrative oversight. ... All of these commissions extended
15640-548: The differences between the Constitution of the Confederate States and the United States Constitution , laid out the cause for the American Civil War, as he saw it, and defended slavery: The new [Confederate] Constitution has put at rest forever all the agitating questions relating to our peculiar institutions – African slavery as it exists among us – the proper status of
15810-596: The end of the war, freed slaves in British lines either evacuated to other British colonies or to Britain itself, were re-enslaved by the victorious Americans, or fled into the countryside. In early 1775, the royal governor of Virginia , Lord Dunmore , wrote to the Earl of Dartmouth of his intention to free slaves owned by American Patriots in case they staged a rebellion. On November 7, 1775, Dunmore issued Dunmore's Proclamation , which promised freedom to any slaves of American patriots who would leave their masters and join
15980-457: The enslaved of the early Republic were considered sentient property, were not permitted to vote, and had no rights to speak of, they were to be enumerated in population censuses and counted as three-fifths of a person for the purposes of representation in the national legislature, the U.S. Congress . The rebels began to offer freedom as an incentive to motivate slaves to fight on their side. Washington authorized slaves to be freed who fought with
16150-526: The enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans , was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South . Slavery was established throughout European colonization in the Americas . From 1526, during the early colonial period , it was practiced in what became Britain's colonies , including the Thirteen Colonies that formed
16320-417: The event of the death, resignation, or removal from office of the sitting governor and lieutenant governor. The secretary of state or attorney general would then be required to call the Senate into session to elect a Speaker, who would subsequently become governor. A 1992 amendment to the state constitution removed the provision under which the lieutenant governor became acting governor when the sitting governor
16490-553: The executive branch throughout 1973 to the extent that, by the end of the year, there were only three program cabinets (Development, Education and the Arts, and Consumer Protection and Regulation) and four additional departments (Human Resources, Justice, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, and Transportation). By 2002, the executive branch had again grown to fourteen cabinets, but had no additional departments. Shortly after his election in 2003, Governor Ernie Fletcher undertook
16660-467: The expiration of John L. Helm's term in 1851, only one Democrat held the office of governor: John Breathitt, who died a year and a half into his term and was succeeded in office by his lieutenant governor, James Turner Morehead , a National Republican. Following the collapse of the Whig Party in the early 1850s, many former Whigs joined the Know Nothing , or American Party, and Charles S. Morehead
16830-458: The expiration of his term. The provision did not apply to then-sitting governor James Garrard, who was re-elected in 1799. In the 1850 constitution, the period of ineligibility following the expiration of the governor's term was shortened to four years, and it remained so in the 1891 constitution. In 1953, Governor Lawrence Wetherby lamented the challenges presented by the term limit coupled with biennial legislative sessions: A Kentucky governor
17000-469: The federal government from prohibiting the importation of slaves, described as "such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit", for twenty years after the Constitution's ratification (until January 1, 1808). The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 , passed by Congress and signed into law by President Thomas Jefferson (who had called for its enactment in his 1806 State of
17170-563: The governor and state senators were chosen by electors, in a manner similar to the operation of the United States Electoral College . In the 1795 gubernatorial election , Benjamin Logan received 21 electoral votes, James Garrard received 17, Thomas Todd received 14, and John Brown received 1. The constitution did not specify whether election required a plurality or a majority of the electoral votes cast; in
17340-427: The governor by 1972, and duplication of services between departments had created inefficiencies. On January 1, 1973, a plan that Ford had issued in late 1972 took effect, consolidating the departments reporting to him into six program cabinets: Consumer Protection and Regulation, Development, Education and the Arts, Human Resources, Safety and Justice, and Transportation. Ford continued merging departments and reorganizing
17510-449: The governor had no authority to expend funds without legislative approval, and that if legislators failed to pass a budget in the future, only expenditures explicitly authorized in the state constitution could be made. Although the Kentucky constitution designates the governor as the head of the executive branch of state government, it does not specify the means of carrying out that role. Empowered to nominate all constitutional officers by
17680-481: The governor the power to appoint advisory committees on reorganization, appoint deputy heads of divisions, transfer employees and change their responsibilities within the executive branch, and establish general rules of conduct for executive branch members. In the 35 years between the time of Chandler's reorganization and the election of Wendell H. Ford as governor in 1971, the executive branch had again become unwieldy. 60 departments and 210 boards reported directly to
17850-404: The governor to adjourn the General Assembly for a period of up to four months if the two houses cannot agree on a time to adjourn appears in all four constitutions. The governor is also empowered to convene the General Assembly "on extraordinary occasions". Since the 1799 constitution, the governor has been permitted to call the legislature into session somewhere other than the state capital if
18020-399: The governor was out of the state. Whenever the lieutenant governor became the new governor, the Senate was to elect one of its members to act as Speaker; that individual then became next in the line of gubernatorial succession. A provision of the 1850 constitution added that, if the governor's term had more than two years remaining at the time of his death, resignation, or removal from office,
18190-581: The governorship until 1851, with John Breathitt being the only Democrat elected during that period. With the collapse of the Whig Party in the 1850s, Democrats took control of the governorship for the duration of the Third Party System , with Charles S. Morehead of the Know Nothing Party being the only exception. The election of Republican William O'Connell Bradley in 1895 began the only period of true two-party competition for
18360-511: The governorship, and Fisk was re-elected as Speaker of the Senate. After the war, he encouraged acceptance of the Union victory and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment . He died February 28, 1885. Magoffin County, Kentucky , was named in his honor. Beriah Magoffin was born on April 18, 1815, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky . He was the son of Beriah and Jane (McAfee) Magoffin. His father was an immigrant from County Down , Ireland, and his mother
18530-401: The governorship; from Bradley's election through 1931, five Republicans and six Democrats held the office of governor of Kentucky. Since 1931, only four Republicans have served as governor of Kentucky, and no Republican governor has ever been re-elected; the most recent past governor, Matt Bevin , lost re-election. In all four Kentucky constitutions , the first power enumerated to the governor
18700-400: The historian James Oliver Horton noted, prominent slaveholder politicians and the commodity crops of the South had a strong influence on United States politics and economy. Horton said, in the 72 years between the election of George Washington and the election of Abraham Lincoln, 50 of those years [had] a slaveholder as president of the United States , and, for that whole period of time, there
18870-454: The influence of the governor into every phase of human life in the commonwealth, well beyond the limitations of executive power envisioned by delegates to the constitutional convention in 1891. By 1934, the executive branch consisted of sixty-nine boards, commissions, and agencies in addition to the constitutional officers, although the members of these commissions were often the constitutional officers themselves. Governor Ruby Laffoon proposed
19040-463: The intelligent European white race. He states that "The negro slaves of the South are the happiest, and in some sense, the freest people in the world." Without the South, "He (slave) would become an insufferable burden to society" and "Society has the right to prevent this, and can only do so by subjecting him to domestic slavery." On March 21, 1861, Alexander Stephens , Vice President of the Confederacy, delivered his Cornerstone Speech . He explained
19210-443: The last major reorganization of the executive branch to date, reducing the number of cabinets to nine—Justice and Public Safety, Education and Workforce Development, Environmental and Public Protection, Transportation, Economic Development, Health and Family Services, Finance and Administration, Tourism, Arts and Heritage, and Personnel. Because the governor controls so many appointments to commissions—approximately 2,000 according to
19380-415: The last quarter of the 20th century, particularly during the administration of Governor John Y. Brown Jr. from 1979 to 1983. Brown was much less engaged in legislative affairs than his predecessors; he did not seek to influence the selection of the legislature's leadership, and he left on vacation during one of the two legislative sessions of his term. The trend toward a coequal legislature continued under
19550-410: The leaders of their political parties at the state level, Kentucky governors usually control the party's delegations to state and national party conventions. Though given few powers with regard to the legislature, Kentucky governors can exercise a great deal of influence over the General Assembly, often hand-selecting the leadership of both chambers. A move toward a more independent legislature began in
19720-505: The leading statesmen at the time of the formation of the old Constitution were, that the enslavement of the African was in violation of the laws of nature; that it was wrong in principle, socially, morally and politically. It was an evil they knew not well how to deal with; but the general opinion of the men of that day was, that, somehow or other, in the order of Providence, the institution would be evanescent and pass away ... Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon
19890-417: The legislature adjourns to prevent the return of a bill by veto, the bill becomes law three days after the commencement of the next legislative session unless the governor explicitly vetoes it. (With the federal pocket veto, the bill is considered vetoed after ten days if the legislature adjourns.) The 1799 constitution contained, for the first time, the power of the governor to veto legislation; this power
20060-501: The legislature conduct any business during the called session. In 2007, Republican governor Ernie Fletcher called the Assembly into session to consider a long list of items. The Democratically controlled House of Representatives maintained that none of the items were urgent enough that they could not wait until the regular session convened; they claimed that Fletcher was calling the session only to boost his sagging poll numbers before
20230-422: The legislature; unlike in most states where a supermajority is required to override a veto. Although setting the state budget is a legislative function in many states, Kentucky governors are required by statute to present a proposed biennial budget to the General Assembly for approval shortly after the beginning of its even-year sessions. The governor's budget has often been approved with few changes, but since
20400-479: The mansion shall be upon the recommendation of the secretary of the Finance and Administration Cabinet". The state's first governor's mansion was constructed during the gubernatorial tenure of James Garrard. According to tradition, future governors Thomas Metcalfe (a stonemason) and Robert P. Letcher (who worked at his father's brickyard ) participated in the construction of the first governor's mansion. After
20570-411: The merit system in their hiring practices; the charges were later dropped as part of an agreement with the prosecutor, Attorney General Greg Stumbo . In The Kentucky Encyclopedia , Eastern Kentucky University professor Paul Blanchard writes that "Many observers consider the governor's informal powers—those derived from tradition, custom, and precedent—as important as the formal powers." Frequently
20740-421: The military. The Federalist Party had died out nationally by 1820, but new party divisions were soon to form in Kentucky. The Panic of 1819 left many Kentuckians deeply in debt and without a means of repaying their creditors. Two factions grew up around the issue of debt relief. Those who favored laws favorable to debtors were dubbed the "Relief Party" and those who favored laws protecting creditors were called
20910-421: The nation". Gadsden was in favor of South Carolina's secession in 1850, and was a leader in efforts to split California into two states, one slave and one free . Other Southern writers who also began to portray slavery as a positive good were James Henry Hammond and George Fitzhugh . They presented several arguments to defend the practice of slavery in the South. Hammond, like Calhoun, believed that slavery
21080-438: The negro in our form of civilization. This was the immediate cause of the late rupture and present revolution. Jefferson, in his forecast, had anticipated this, as the "rock upon which the old Union would split." He was right. What was conjecture with him, is now a realized fact. But whether he fully comprehended the great truth upon which that rock stood and stands, may be doubted. The prevailing ideas entertained by him and most of
21250-428: The office of governor before the end of their terms— John J. Crittenden , Beriah Magoffin , John W. Stevenson , Augustus O. Stanley , Happy Chandler, Earle C. Clements , and Wendell H. Ford. 6 resigned to accept a higher office: Crittenden was appointed Attorney General of the United States and the other 5 were elected to the U.S. Senate . Only Beriah Magoffin resigned under duress. A Confederate sympathizer during
21420-494: The office of governor for the remainder of Magoffin's term. After the war, Magoffin returned to his legal practice and engaged in agricultural pursuits in Harrodsburg. A series of land speculation ventures near Chicago, Illinois made him very wealthy. He encouraged his fellow Kentuckians to accept the results of the war. He advocated for civil rights for blacks and urged passage of the Thirteenth Amendment . In his last act of public service, Magoffin represented Mercer County in
21590-654: The office of governor via a nominating convention . Thomas Metcalfe was the first gubernatorial candidate chosen by a nominating convention; he was nominated by the National Republican Party at their convention in December 1827. Governor Ruby Laffoon, elected in 1931, was the last governor of Kentucky nominated by a convention. Laffoon's lieutenant governor , Happy Chandler, pushed the legislature to mandate party primaries , which they did in 1935. Party primaries remain required by law today. In 1992,
21760-602: The period of the First Party System , and Democratic Republicans won every gubernatorial election in the state until 1828. The Second Party System began when the Democratic-Republicans split into Jacksonian Democrats (the predecessor of the modern Democratic Party ) and National Republicans (later to become Whigs ). Beginning with the election of Thomas Metcalfe in 1828, the Whigs dominated
21930-474: The political power of Southern states, as three-fifths of the (non-voting) slave population was counted for congressional apportionment and in the Electoral College , although it did not strengthen Southern states as much as it would have had the Constitution provided for counting all persons, whether slave or free, equally. In addition, many parts of the country were tied to the Southern economy. As
22100-413: The precedent that the lieutenant governor would be the permanent successor to the governor upon the latter's death, resignation, or removal from office. Besides Madison, four other governors have died while in office— John Breathitt , James Clark , John L. Helm , and William Goebel. All died of natural causes except Goebel, who is the only governor of any U.S. state to have been assassinated. Goebel lost
22270-413: The present constitution. The governor's salary is set by law, and is equal to $ 60,000 times the increase in the consumer price index between January 1, 1984, and the beginning of the current calendar year. In 2014, the governor's salary was $ 186,730. The Kentucky Governor's Mansion is the official residence of the governor of Kentucky. The present Governor's Mansion, constructed in 1914 and listed on
22440-493: The second half of the 18th century, a debate emerged over the continued importation of African slaves to the American colonies. Many in the colonies, including the Southern slavocracy , opposed further importation of slaves due to fears that it would destabilize colonies and lead to further slave rebellions . In 1772, prominent Virginians submitted a petition to the Crown , requesting that the slave trade to Virginia be abolished; it
22610-422: The second-highest proportion of any city in the colonies, behind only Charleston, South Carolina . Enslaved people were also used as agricultural workers in farm communities, especially in the South , but also in upstate New York and Long Island , Connecticut , and New Jersey . By 1770, there were 397,924 blacks out of a population of 2.17 million in what would soon become the United States. The slaves of
22780-488: The shooting of William Goebel . Taylor claimed a state of insurrection existed in the capital, but defiant Democrats refused to heed the call to adjourn or to convene in London. The 1891 constitution added a provision that the governor must specify the reason for any specially called legislative session, and that no other business could be considered during the session. There is, however, no constitutional requirement that
22950-409: The sitting governor from office, until a new election could be held. The 1799 constitution created the office of lieutenant governor, who acted as Speaker of the Senate, but was not otherwise considered a member of that body. The lieutenant governor was to become governor in the event of the sitting governor's death, resignation, or removal from office and was to act in a gubernatorial capacity any time
23120-477: The sitting governor, James Garrard , who was an ordained Baptist minister and had frequently clashed with the legislature. The prohibition against ministers holding the office remained in the 1850 constitution, but was removed from the 1891 constitution. In the 1891 constitution, a section was included that forbade anyone from holding any state office—including the office of governor—who had "either directly or indirectly, give[n], accept[ed] or knowingly carr[ied]
23290-414: The situation by making the governor eligible to succeed himself one time before becoming ineligible for four years. Succession amendments had been proposed and defeated during the administrations of John Y. Brown Jr. and Wallace Wilkinson , but then-Governor Brereton Jones was able to see it passed because, unlike Brown and Wilkinson, he was willing to exempt the present incumbents, including himself, from
23460-401: The size of the United States, and it was established at the insistence of Cutler and Putnam as "free soil" – no slavery. This was to prove crucial a few decades later. Had those states been slave states, and their electoral votes gone to Abraham Lincoln's main opponent, Lincoln would not have become president. The Civil War would not have been fought. Even if it eventually had been,
23630-427: The southern and northern states. To that end, he wrote a circular letter to the governors of the slave states on December 9, 1860, detailing a plan to save the Union. Magoffin's plan was to unite the slave states around a set of minimum concessions to see if the North would accept them as an alternative to war. The concessions included a constitutional amendment repealing any state law that interfered with enforcement of
23800-437: The state constitution was amended to require candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to be nominated and elected as a ticket . Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states to hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years—commonly called an off-year election . Louisiana , Mississippi , Virginia , and New Jersey also hold off-year gubernatorial elections. The general election for governor and lieutenant governor
23970-448: The state for at least six years preceding the general election. The residency requirement was increased from two years to six years in the constitution of 1799 and all subsequent constitutions. The 1792 constitution—the state's first—also included an exception for candidates who had been absent from the state "on the public business of the United States or of this State." The age requirement was raised from thirty years to thirty-five years in
24140-494: The state thereafter. Impeached governors may also be subject to trial in the criminal or civil court system. No governor of Kentucky has been impeached. Each iteration of the Kentucky Constitution has provided that the governor receive a salary. Under the first three constitutions, the governor's salary could not be increased or reduced while he was in office; this provision was extended to all public officials in
24310-707: The state" and to uphold the state and federal constitutions, Unionists in the legislature did not trust Magoffin. In the state's special elections in June 1861, Unionist candidates swept nine of Kentucky's ten congressional districts and obtained two-thirds majorities in both houses of the General Assembly. From then on, they routinely overrode Magoffin's vetoes. In early September 1861, both federal and Confederate troops entered Kentucky. Magoffin declared both sides equally guilty of violating Kentucky's neutrality and demanded that both sides withdraw. A resolution calling for immediate withdrawal by both Union and Confederate forces
24480-530: The state's first constitution, that power of the office of the governor has been reduced in subsequent constitutions, as more of those offices became elective. Because the governor is not explicitly authorized by the constitution to conduct many of the functions necessary to administer the state government, the officeholder has had to rely on empowering legislation enacted by the General Assembly. With this in mind, Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark wrote in 2004 that extensive executive powers had been granted through
24650-487: The state's new 1780 constitution . New Hampshire began gradual emancipation in 1783, while Connecticut and Rhode Island followed suit in 1784. The New York Manumission Society , which was led by John Jay , Alexander Hamilton , and Aaron Burr , was founded in 1785. New York state began gradual emancipation in 1799, and New Jersey did the same in 1804. Shortly after the Revolution, the Northwest Territory
24820-471: The state's sixth governor. Political victories were few and far between for Federalists in Kentucky, and none of Kentucky's governors were members of the Federalist Party. Military service was the most important consideration for voters in Kentucky's early gubernatorial elections. John Breathitt, elected Kentucky's eleventh governor in 1832, was the first Kentucky governor not to have served in
24990-417: The state. Despite his southern sympathies, Magoffin denounced the actions of this convention. Magoffin and the legislature continued to clash throughout the remainder of 1861 and into 1862. They found agreement only on the most menial of legislation, such as a bill to allow the common schools to continue the sessions that had been interrupted by the outbreak of hostilities in 1861. He found particularly onerous
25160-404: The succession provision. Paul E. Patton , with victories in the elections of 1995 and 1999, was the first governor to be elected to consecutive terms since the 1992 amendment. Another constitutional amendment, passed in November 2000, called for a 30-day legislative session to be held in odd-numbered years between the longer 60-day sessions held in even-numbered years. In the 1792 constitution,
25330-413: The superior race, is his natural and moral condition. This view of the "Negro race" was backed by pseudoscience . The leading researcher was Dr. Samuel A. Cartwright , a Southerner and the inventor of the mental illnesses of drapetomania (the desire of a slave to run away) and dysaesthesia aethiopica ("rascality"), both cured, according to him, by whipping. The Medical Association of Louisiana set up
25500-547: The total of the state's free population, at the rate of three-fifths of their total number, to establish the state's official population for the purposes of apportionment of congressional representation and federal taxation. The "Three-Fifths Compromise" was reached after a debate in which delegates from Southern (slaveholding) states argued that slaves should be counted in the census just as all other persons were while delegates from Northern (free) states countered that slaves should not be counted at all. The compromise strengthened
25670-583: The two parties culminated in the Old Court ;– New Court controversy , an attempt by the pro-relief legislature to abolish the Court of Appeals because the court overturned some debt relief measures as unconstitutional. The controversy ended with the restoration of the Old Court over Desha's veto in late 1826. Although many Old Court supporters—typically the state's wealthy aristocracy—gravitated to
25840-539: The war, Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing calls for aid from both the Union and Confederate governments. In special elections held in June 1861, Unionists captured nine of Kentucky's ten congressional seats and obtained two-thirds majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Despite Magoffin's strict adherence to the policy of neutrality, the Unionist legislature did not trust him and routinely overrode his vetoes. Unable to provide effective leadership due to
26010-404: The war. Instead, they approved a resolution of neutrality , and Magoffin proclaimed this position on May 20, 1861. Later that month, Magoffin sent a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis asking that he recognize and honor Kentucky's neutrality. In August, he sent an identical letter to President Lincoln. Although Magoffin pledged "to abide by the will of the majority of the people in
26180-462: The wicked purpose of subduing my sister Southern States." Encouraged by Magoffin's rebuff of Lincoln, Confederate Secretary of War LeRoy Pope Walker requested Kentucky troops for the southern cause a week later, but Magoffin similarly refused him. Magoffin called another special session of the legislature in May 1861. Again, the legislators refused to call a convention to determine the state's course in
26350-407: The winner of the annual Kentucky Derby . The state constitution requires the governor to address the legislature periodically regarding the state of the Commonwealth . This address, traditionally given annually, is often targeted directly at the state's citizens as much as, or more so than, the legislature. The governor can use the address to extol the accomplishments of his or her term and lay out
26520-585: The wolf by the ear, and we can neither hold him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self-preservation in the other. The French writer and traveler Alexis de Tocqueville , in his influential Democracy in America (1835), expressed opposition to slavery while observing its effects on American society. He felt that a multiracial society without slavery was untenable, as he believed that prejudice against blacks increased as they were granted more rights (for example, in Northern states). He believed that
26690-547: Was a legal practise and had become entrenched socially and economically in many societies. The ideals and principles promoted in the Enlightenment and the American Revolution helped to put slavery and the desire for its abolition on the political agenda. As historian Christopher L. Brown put it, slavery "had never been on the agenda in a serious way before", but the American Revolution "forced it to be
26860-408: Was common thereafter, at which point the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service (Coast Guard) began enforcing the law on the high seas. It has been estimated that before 1820 a majority of serving congressmen owned slaves, and that about 30 percent of congressmen who were born before 1840 (some of whom served into the 20th century) at some time in their lives, were owners of slaves. The rapid expansion of
27030-549: Was defeated in the legislature. Instead, the legislature passed a resolution ordering only the Confederate troops out of the state. Magoffin vetoed the resolution, but his veto was overridden, and he obediently issued the order for the Confederates to withdraw. In November 1861, a self-constituted convention of southern sympathizers met at Russellville, Kentucky , in order to form a provisional Confederate government for
27200-568: Was defended in the South as a "positive good" , and the largest religious denominations split over the slavery issue into regional organizations of the North and South. By 1850, the newly rich, cotton-growing South threatened to secede from the Union . Bloody fighting broke out over slavery in the Kansas Territory . When Abraham Lincoln won the 1860 election on a platform of halting the expansion of slavery, slave states seceded to form
27370-486: Was elected governor from that party in 1855. Sectarian tensions gripped the state in the lead-up to the Civil War, and while the majority of Kentuckians favored the preservation of the Union above all else, a self-constituted group of Confederate sympathizers met at Russellville and formed a Confederate government for the state . While this provisional government never displaced the elected government in Frankfort, two men served as Confederate governors of Kentucky. From
27540-429: Was elevated to governor, and Fisk was re-elected as Speaker of the Senate. All elected officials in Kentucky, including the governor, are subject to impeachment for "any misdemeanors in office". The articles of impeachment must be issued by the House of Representatives and the trial is conducted by the Senate. If convicted, the governor is subject to removal from office and may be prohibited from holding elected office in
27710-470: Was established, by Manasseh Cutler and Rufus Putnam (who had been George Washington's chief engineer). Both Cutler and Putnam came from Puritan New England. The Puritans strongly believed that slavery was morally wrong. Their influence on the issue of slavery was long-lasting, and this was provided significantly greater impetus by the Revolution. The Northwest Territory (which became Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and part of Minnesota) doubled
27880-431: Was first proposed by a delegate to the 1850 constitutional convention, but it was rejected at that time. Historically, power in Kentucky's executive has been split amongst a variety of elected positions—including Lieutenant Governor , Attorney General , Auditor of Public Accounts , Treasurer , and several commissioners—but in the late 20th century, political power has centralized in the office of Governor. The power of
28050-409: Was needed to build the rest of society. In a speech to the Senate on March 4, 1858, Hammond developed his "Mudsill Theory", defending his view on slavery by stating: "Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement. It constitutes the very mud-sill of society and of political government; and you might as well attempt to build a house in
28220-497: Was never a person elected to a second term who was not a slaveholder. The power of Southern states in Congress lasted until the Civil War , affecting national policies, legislation, and appointments. One result was that most of the justices appointed to the Supreme Court were slave owners. The planter elite dominated the Southern congressional delegations and the United States presidency for nearly fifty years. Slavery in
28390-407: Was out of the state. It also relieved the lieutenant governor of his duties in the Senate and created the office of President of the Kentucky Senate , chosen from among the state senators, who presides over the Senate. The amendment also modified the chain of succession again—it is now as follows: If the office devolves upon the attorney general or state auditor, that individual is required to call
28560-399: Was rejected. Rhode Island forbade the importation of slaves in 1774. The influential revolutionary Fairfax Resolves called for an end to the "wicked, cruel and unnatural" Atlantic slave trade. All of the colonies banned slave importations during the Revolutionary War. Slavery had existed for thousands of years, all around the world. In the United States and many parts of the world it
28730-424: Was substantially similar to, and probably based upon, that found in the 1792 New Hampshire Constitution and the 1798 Georgia Constitution . The 1891 constitution empowered the governor with a line-item veto , but its use was forbidden on constitutional amendments and laws related to the classification of property for tax purposes. The governor's veto can be overridden by roll-call majority votes of both houses of
28900-558: Was the daughter of Samuel McAfee, a prominent pioneer in early Kentucky. Magoffin's early education was obtained in the common schools of Harrodsburg. In 1835, he graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky , and in 1838, he earned a law degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky . Afterward, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi , where he began his legal career. From 1838 to 1839, he served as Reading Clerk for
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