John Winston: Difference between revisions
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(New page: '''John Anthony Winston''' (born September 4, 1812 in Madison County; died December 21, 1871 in Mobile) was the 15th Governor of Alabama, from 1853 to 1857, and...) |
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'''John Anthony Winston''' (born [[September 4]], [[1812]] in Madison County; died [[December 21]], [[1871]] in Mobile) was the 15th [[Governor of Alabama]], from [[1853]] to [[1857]], and the first to have been born in the state. | '''John Anthony Winston''' (born [[September 4]], [[1812]] in Madison County; died [[December 21]], [[1871]] in Mobile) was the 15th [[Governor of Alabama]], from [[1853]] to [[1857]], and the first to have been born in the state. | ||
He was a son of William and Mary Cooper Winston of [[Tuscumbia]]. He married his first cousin, Mary | He was a son of William and Mary Cooper Winston of [[Tuscumbia]]. He was educated in private schools and attended Cumberland College in Nashville, Tennessee. He married his first cousin, Mary Agnes Walker on [[August 7]], [[1832]] and settled on a plantation in Sumter County in [[1835]]. They had one daughter, Mary Agnes, before she died in [[1842]]. | ||
Winston was elected to the [[Alabama House of Representatives]] in [[1840]] and [[1842]], and to the [[Alabama State Senate]] in [[1843]] and became a vocal leader of the States' Rights faction of the [[Alabama Democratic Party]]. By [[1844]] he was operating a successful cotton commission firm in Mobile and reinvested the profits in additional cotton plantations in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas. | |||
Winston | Winston remarried, to Mary W. Longwood. He discovered in [[1847]] that she had been unfaithful to him with their family doctor, Sidney Perry. Winston shot Perry to death, but county magistrates ruled the shooting a "justifiable homicide". The couple were divorced in [[1850]]. | ||
He was elected Governor in [[1852]]. | |||
Winston was sent to Washington D.C. in January [[1867]], having been elected to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate, but was prevented from taking his seat due to [[Reconstruction]]. | |||
Winston died in December 1871 in Mobile and is buried in a family cemetery near Gainesville in Sumter County. | |||
Despite Winston's turbulent private life, his initial public image was one of political moderation. He was instrumental in preventing the Alabama delegation at the 1848 Baltimore convention of the Democratic Party from walking out, at the urging of strident states' rights supporter William Lowndes Yancey, when the convention refused to accept Yancey's Alabama Platform, which demanded congressional protection of slavery in the federal territories. Two years later, during the sectional crisis provoked by debates leading to the Compromise of 1850, Winston again rejected the extreme pro-secession, southern rights stand of Yancey and his supporters. Soon after north Alabama Democrats joined south Alabama Whigs in a coalition Unionist Party to stave off threats of secession, Winston took the lead in reorganizing the Democrats along traditional partisan lines. As a reward for his party loyalty, he secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1853. He gained the governorship with no opposition when his Whig opponent dropped out of the race. | <!--Despite Winston's turbulent private life, his initial public image was one of political moderation. He was instrumental in preventing the Alabama delegation at the 1848 Baltimore convention of the Democratic Party from walking out, at the urging of strident states' rights supporter William Lowndes Yancey, when the convention refused to accept Yancey's Alabama Platform, which demanded congressional protection of slavery in the federal territories. Two years later, during the sectional crisis provoked by debates leading to the Compromise of 1850, Winston again rejected the extreme pro-secession, southern rights stand of Yancey and his supporters. Soon after north Alabama Democrats joined south Alabama Whigs in a coalition Unionist Party to stave off threats of secession, Winston took the lead in reorganizing the Democrats along traditional partisan lines. As a reward for his party loyalty, he secured the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1853. He gained the governorship with no opposition when his Whig opponent dropped out of the race. | ||
In his inaugural address in December 1853, Winston outlined his states' rights philosophy. Like a good Jacksonian Democrat, he deplored the use of state funds—what he would call the people's money—to assist private corporations in banking and transportation. Whatever economic benefits might result from state-supported development were more than offset, in Winston's mind, by the corrupting influence of corporate power and the dangers that it posed to the individual liberties of the people. Nonetheless, proponents of state aid, a loosely organized group centered in Tennessee Valley and eastern hill counties that stood to benefit most from projected routes for railroads, were confident that the governor would not defy the expressed will of the legislature if aid bills were passed. Previous Alabama governors had been reluctant to veto legislation and generally had done so only on technical, constitutional grounds. When differences emerged over policy issues, governors had usually deferred to the legislature. Thus, the state-aid men were genuinely surprised when Winston vetoed nearly all of the railroad bills they pushed through the legislature. | In his inaugural address in December 1853, Winston outlined his states' rights philosophy. Like a good Jacksonian Democrat, he deplored the use of state funds—what he would call the people's money—to assist private corporations in banking and transportation. Whatever economic benefits might result from state-supported development were more than offset, in Winston's mind, by the corrupting influence of corporate power and the dangers that it posed to the individual liberties of the people. Nonetheless, proponents of state aid, a loosely organized group centered in Tennessee Valley and eastern hill counties that stood to benefit most from projected routes for railroads, were confident that the governor would not defy the expressed will of the legislature if aid bills were passed. Previous Alabama governors had been reluctant to veto legislation and generally had done so only on technical, constitutional grounds. When differences emerged over policy issues, governors had usually deferred to the legislature. Thus, the state-aid men were genuinely surprised when Winston vetoed nearly all of the railroad bills they pushed through the legislature. | ||
Revision as of 16:23, 28 January 2014
John Anthony Winston (born September 4, 1812 in Madison County; died December 21, 1871 in Mobile) was the 15th Governor of Alabama, from 1853 to 1857, and the first to have been born in the state.
He was a son of William and Mary Cooper Winston of Tuscumbia. He was educated in private schools and attended Cumberland College in Nashville, Tennessee. He married his first cousin, Mary Agnes Walker on August 7, 1832 and settled on a plantation in Sumter County in 1835. They had one daughter, Mary Agnes, before she died in 1842.
Winston was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1840 and 1842, and to the Alabama State Senate in 1843 and became a vocal leader of the States' Rights faction of the Alabama Democratic Party. By 1844 he was operating a successful cotton commission firm in Mobile and reinvested the profits in additional cotton plantations in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Texas.
Winston remarried, to Mary W. Longwood. He discovered in 1847 that she had been unfaithful to him with their family doctor, Sidney Perry. Winston shot Perry to death, but county magistrates ruled the shooting a "justifiable homicide". The couple were divorced in 1850.
He was elected Governor in 1852.
Winston was sent to Washington D.C. in January 1867, having been elected to represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate, but was prevented from taking his seat due to Reconstruction.
Winston died in December 1871 in Mobile and is buried in a family cemetery near Gainesville in Sumter County.