between the anti-relief or “old court” party and the relief or “new court” party, in which the former was successful. The old court party followed the lead of Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams in national politics, and became National Republicans and later Whigs. The new court party followed Andrew Jackson and Martin Van Buren and became Democrats. The electoral vote of the state was cast for Jackson in 1828 and for Clay in 1832. During the next thirty years Clay’s conservative influence dominated the politics of the state.[1] Kentucky voted the Whig ticket in every presidential election from 1832 until the party made its last campaign in 1852. When the Whigs were destroyed by the slavery issue some of them immediately became Democrats, but the majority became Americans, or Know-Nothings. They elected the governor in 1855 and almost succeeded in carrying the state for their presidential ticket in 1856. In 1860 the people of Kentucky were drawn toward the South by their interest in slavery and by their social relations, and toward the North by business ties and by a national sentiment which was fostered by the Clay traditions. They naturally assumed the leadership in the Constitutional Union movement of 1860, casting the vote of the state for Bell and Everett. After the election of President Lincoln they also led in the movement to secure the adoption of the Crittenden Compromise or some other peaceful solution of the difficulties between the North and the South.
A large majority of the state legislature, however, were Democrats, and in his message to this body, in January 1861, Governor Magoffin, also a Democrat, proposed that a convention be called to determine “the future of Federal and inter-state relations of Kentucky;” later too, in reply to the president’s call for volunteers, he declared, “Kentucky will furnish no troops for the wicked purpose of subduing her sister Southern States.” Under these conditions the Unionists asked only for the maintenance of neutrality, and a resolution to this effect was carried by a bare majority—48 to 47. Some of the secessionists took this as a defeat and left the state immediately to join the Confederate ranks. In the next month there was an election of congressmen, and an anti-secession candidate was chosen in nine out of ten districts. An election in August of one-half the Senate and all of the House of Representatives resulted in a Unionist majority in the new legislature of 103 to 35, and in September, after Confederate troops had begun to invade the state, Kentucky formally declared its allegiance to the Union. From September 1861 to the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862 that part of Kentucky which is south and west of the Green River was occupied by the Confederate army under General A. S. Johnston, and at Russellville in that district a so-called “sovereignty convention” assembled on the 18th of November. This body, composed mostly of Kentucky men who had joined the Confederate army, passed an ordinance of secession, elected state officers, and sent commissioners to the Confederate Congress, which body voted on the 9th of December to admit Kentucky into the Confederacy. Throughout the war Kentucky was represented in the Confederate Congress—representatives and senators being elected by Confederate soldiers from the state. The officers of this “provisional government,” headed by G. W. Johnson, who had been elected “governor,” left the state when General A. S. Johnston withdrew; Johnson himself was killed at Shiloh, but an attempt was subsequently made by General Bragg to install this government at Frankfort. General Felix K. Zollicoffer (1812–1862) had entered the south-east part of the state through Cumberland Gap in September, and later with a Confederate force of about 7000 men attempted the invasion of central Kentucky, but in October 1861 he met with a slight repulse at Wild Cat Mountain, near London, Laurel county, and on the 19th of January 1862, in an engagement near Mill Springs, Wayne county, with about an equal force under General George H. Thomas, he was killed and his force was utterly routed. In 1862 General Braxton Bragg in command of the Confederates in eastern Tennessee, eluded General Don Carlos Buell, in command of the Federal Army of the Ohio stationed there, and entering Kentucky in August 1862 proceeded slowly toward Louisville, hoping to win the state to the Confederate cause and gain recruits for the Confederacy in the state. His main army was preceded by a division of about 15,000 men under General Edmund Kirby Smith, who on the 30th of August defeated a Federal force under General Wm. Nelson near Richmond and threatened Cincinnati. Bragg met with little opposition on his march, but Buell, also marching from eastern Tennessee, reached Louisville first (Sept. 24), turned on Bragg, and forced him to withdraw. On his retreat, Bragg attempted to set up a Confederate government at Frankfort, and Richard J. Hawes, who had been chosen as G. W. Johnson’s successor, was actually “inaugurated,” but naturally this state “government” immediately collapsed. On the 8th of October Buell and Bragg fought an engagement at Perryville which, though tactically indecisive, was a strategic victory for Buell; and thereafter Bragg withdrew entirely from the state into Tennessee. This was the last serious attempt on a large scale by the Confederates to win Kentucky; but in February 1863 one of General John H. Morgan’s brigades made a raid on Mount Sterling and captured it; in March General Pegram made a raid into Pulaski county; in March 1864 General N. B. Forrest assaulted Fort Anderson at Paducah but failed to capture it; and in June General Morgan made an unsuccessful attempt to take Lexington.
Although the majority of the people sympathized with the Union, the emancipation of the slaves without compensation even to loyal owners, the arming of negro troops, the arbitrary imprisonment of citizens and the interference of Federal military officials in purely civil affairs aroused so much feeling that the state became strongly Democratic, and has remained so almost uniformly since the war. Owing to the panic of 1893, distrust of the free silver movement and the expenditure of large campaign funds, the Republicans were successful in the gubernational election of 1895 and the presidential election of 1896. The election of 1899 was disputed. William S. Taylor, Republican, was inaugurated governor on the 12th of December, but the legislative committee on contests decided in favour of the Democrats. Governor-elect Goebel was shot by an assassin on the 30th of January 1900, was sworn into office on his deathbed, and died on the 3rd of February. Taylor fled the state to escape trial on the charge of murder. Lieutenant-Governor Beckham filled out the unexpired term and was re-elected in 1903. In 1907 the Republicans again elected their candidate for governor.
Governors of Kentucky
| Isaac Shelby | Democratic-Republican | 1792–1796 |
| James Garrard | ,,,, | 1796–1804 |
| Christopher Greenup | ,,,, | 1804–1808 |
| Charles Scott | ,,,, | 1808–1812 |
| Isaac Shelby | ,,,, | 1812–1816 |
| George Madison[2] | ,,,, | 1816 |
| Gabriel Slaughter (acting) | ,,,, | 1816–1820 |
| John Adair | ,,,, | 1820–1824 |
| Joseph Desha | ,,,, | 1824–1828 |
| Thomas Metcalfe | National,, | 1828–1832 |
| John Breathitt[2] | Democrat | 1832–1834 |
| James T. Morehead (acting) | ,, | 1834–1836 |
| James Clark[2] | Whig | 1836 |
| Charles A. Wickliffe (acting) | ,, | 1836–1840 |
| Robert P. Letcher | ,, | 1840–1844 |
| William Owsley | ,, | 1844–1848 |
| John J. Crittenden[3] | ,, | 1848–1850 |
| John L. Helm[3] | Democrat | 1850–1851 |
| Lazarus W. Powell | ,, | 1851–1855 |
| Charles S. Morehead | American | 1855–1859 |
| Beriah Magoffin | Democrat | 1859–1862 |
| James F. Robinson | ,, | 1862–1863 |
| Thomas E. Bramlette | ,, | 1863–1867 |
| John L. Helm[2] | ,, | 1867 |
| John W. Stevenson[4] | ,, | 1867–1871 |
| Preston H. Leslie[4] | ,, | 1871–1875 |
| James B. McCreary | ,, | 1875–1879 |
| Luke P. Blackburn | ,, | 1879–1883 |
| J. Proctor Knott | ,, | 1883–1887 |
| Simon B. Buckner | ,, | 1887–1891 |
| John Y. Brown | ,, | 1891–1895 |
- ↑ He died in 1852, but the traditions which he represented survived.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Died in office.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Governor Crittenden resigned on the 31st of July to become Attorney-General of the United States and John L. Helm served out the unexpired term.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Governor Stevenson resigned on the 13th of February 1871 to become U.S. Senator from Kentucky. P. H. Leslie filled out the remainder of the term and was elected in 1871 for a full term.
