James Garrard, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

James Garrard

American politician

Date of Birth: 14-Jan-1749

Place of Birth: Stafford County, Virginia, United States

Date of Death: 19-Jan-1822

Profession: military personnel, politician, pastor

Nationality: United States

Zodiac Sign: Capricorn


Show Famous Birthdays Today, United States

👉 Worldwide Celebrity Birthdays Today

About James Garrard

  • James Garrard (January 14, 1749 – January 19, 1822) was a farmer and Baptist minister who served as the second governor of Kentucky from 1796 to 1804.
  • Because of term limits imposed by the state constitution adopted in 1799, he was the last Kentucky governor elected to two consecutive terms until the restriction was eased by a 1992 amendment, allowing Paul E.
  • Patton's re-election in 1999. After serving in the Revolutionary War, Garrard moved west to the part of Virginia that is now Bourbon County, Kentucky.
  • He held several local political offices and represented the area in the Virginia House of Delegates.
  • He was chosen as a delegate to five of the ten statehood conventions that secured Kentucky's separation from Virginia and helped write the state's first constitution.
  • Garrard was among the delegates who unsuccessfully tried to exclude guarantees of the continuance of slavery from the document.
  • In 1795, he sought to succeed Isaac Shelby as governor.
  • In a three-way race, Benjamin Logan received a plurality, but not a majority, of the electoral votes cast.
  • Although the state constitution did not specify whether a plurality or a majority was required, the electors held another vote between the top two candidates – Logan and Garrard – and on this vote, Garrard received a majority.
  • Logan protested Garrard's election to state attorney general John Breckinridge and the state senate, but both claimed they had no constitutional power to intervene. A Democratic-Republican, Garrard opposed the Alien and Sedition Acts and favored passage of the Kentucky Resolutions.
  • He lobbied for public education, militia and prison reforms, business subsidies, and legislation favorable to the state's large debtor class.
  • In 1798, the state's first governor's mansion was constructed, and Garrard became its first resident.
  • Due in part to the confusion resulting from the 1795 election, he favored calling a constitutional convention in 1799.
  • Because of his anti-slavery views, he was not chosen as a delegate to the convention.
  • Under the resulting constitution, the governor was popularly elected and was forbidden from succeeding himself in office, although Garrard was personally exempted from this provision and was re-elected in 1799.
  • During his second term, he applauded Thomas Jefferson's purchase of Louisiana from France as a means of dealing with the closure of the port at New Orleans to U.S.
  • goods.
  • Late in his term, his Secretary of State, Harry Toulmin, persuaded him to adopt some doctrines of Unitarianism, and he was expelled from the Baptist church, ending his ministry.
  • He also clashed with the legislature over the appointment of a registrar for the state land office, leaving him embittered and unwilling to continue in politics after the conclusion of his term.
  • He retired to his estate, Mount Lebanon, and engaged in agricultural and commercial pursuits until his death on January 19, 1822.
  • Garrard County, Kentucky, created during his first term, was named in his honor.

Read more at Wikipedia

See Also