Michigan Civil War Blog

The Ante-Bellum Democratic Governors of Michigan: 3

Continuing our time travel into the Civil War record of these statesmen, today we look at John Steward Barry:

"Governor of Michigan from 1842-1844 and 1849-1850. A Jeffersonian Democrat from New England, Barry moved to Michigan in 1834 and built his home in Constantine shortly afterward. While maintaining his mercantile and gubernatorial interests, Barry won election as a state senator in 1837 and served until his candidacy." (Source: Michigan Historic Sites Online).

According to the 1892 Portrait and Biographical Album of Ingham & Livingston Counties, “He was twice Presidential Elector, and his last public service was that of a delegate to the National Democratic Convention held in Chicago in 1864.  …  His political connections were always with the Democratic party, and his opinions were usually extreme.  Mr. Barry retired to private life after the beginning of the ascendancy of the Republican party, and carried on his mercantile business at Constantine.”

This is a bit of a contrast to Hershock's The Paradox of Progress, which says that his 1854 candidacy for governor was on a platform that included the principle of Congressional non-interference in the domestic legislation of the States and Territories (p. 134). He was a victim of a "political revolution in Michigan" (p. 135) when the Republican candidate, Kinsley Bingham, took 53% to Barry's 47%. Yet he himself was opposed to the extension of slavery (p. 9). When he ran in 1860, he lost to Austin Blair 57-43 (p. 269).

But what did he do during the war, especially in that first year, like Douglas?

The Bentley is apparently not of much help; his papers consist of "Land patents, 1850-1851. 2 oversize items and one photograph."

Wikipedia says this, but without sources: "Throughout his career, he was a supporter of the Wilmot Proviso, intended to stop the spread of slavery, but he remained a member of the Democratic Party, becoming sympathetic with the 'ultra' wing during the Civil War."

Concluding this little series, one is left with the idea that the Democratic ex-governors did not take the Douglas tack. Rather than support the war effort as the Little Giant did, it appears they stayed on the sidelines.

The Ante-Bellum Democratic Governors of Michigan: 2

Continuing our journey back in time to see what the ante-bellum Democratic Governors of Michigan did during the Civil War, today we find:

“Robert McClelland served in the Michigan Constitution Convention of 1835 and was elected to the state legislature in 1837. He became mayor of Monroe in 1841, was elected to the U.S. Congress in 1845, and in 1851 was elected governor of Michigan. He was appointed Secretary of the Interior by President Pierce in 1853. He served for four years.” (Source: Michigan Historic Sites Online)

This doesn’t tell us what he did during the Civil War. The Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress says after his Interior post he “resumed the practice of law in Detroit, Mich.” and was a “delegate to the Democratic National Conventions in 1848, 1852, and 1868.” So he apparently did not participate in 1860 or 1864. According to the Dictionary of American Biography, Volume XI, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1933, “In 1857 McClelland returned to Michigan, settling down in Detroit to twenty-three years of legal practice. He returned to public service briefly in 1867 as a member of the Michigan constitutional convention. In personality he was always plain and unprepossessing; his manners were somewhat brusque and forbidding; and he was regular and painstaking in his mode of life to an extent which in his later years became proverbial among his neighbors.”

The Elmwood Cemetery website, where he was interred, adds this: “On the eve of the Civil War he advocated moderation and compromise.”

According to the website for distinguished alums of Dickinson College, “McClelland became, among other things, a strong advocate for states' rights, including the right of a state to permit slavery. His star rose in the party and he represented Michigan in several national conventions. He also was an active member of the constitutional convention in Michigan in 1850 and the chair of the state Democratic Convention that year. In 1851, he was elected governor of Michigan and re-elected by an even greater majority in 1852 [defeating Zachariah Chandler]. Soon after, having noted his active part in his presidential election, President Franklin Pierce named him to the cabinet as Secretary of the Interior. In that position, McClelland advised the president to follow his neutral policy concerning Kansas, but most of his recommendations for reform made little progress. Nonetheless, he built a reputation for organization and honesty in a previously chaotic and corrupt department. After James Buchanan's inauguration in 1857, McClelland retired to a long and successful private practice in Detroit. He sat again in a Michigan state constitutional convention in 1867.”

An excellent work by Martin J. Hershock, distinguished history professor at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, entitled The Paradox of Progress about the 1837-1878 period in Michigan, says McClleland blamed Republicans for creating the secession crisis in late 1860 (p. 162) and in turn was accused of disloyalty (p. 169). McClelland battled abolitionism (p. 170), criticized the conduct of the war (p. 171), and lamented the Emancipation Proclamation.

Without more research, the conclusion seems to be that he then laid rather low during the rest of the conflict. But the online summary of his papers at the Bentley Historical Library holds a hint: "The collection includes Latin salutatory for the opening of Dickinson College, 1829, biographical sketch, letter, 1861, to Augusta McClelland affirming his strong loyalty to the Union, two notebooks containing campaign speeches and notes on the Civil War”. Those documents might shed light on the matter and help make a more complete assessment.

From the Keweenaw to Green Bay

Today, 150 years ago, President Lincoln signed into law an Act of Congress "granting lands to the States of Michigan and Wisconsin, to aid in the construction of a 'military road' from Fort Wilkins, Copper Harbor, Kewenaw county, in the State of Michigan, to Fort Howard, Green Bay, in the State of Wisconsin."

The military wagon road would originate at Fort Wilkins, proceed to Houghton and Portage Lake and "thence, in a southerly direction, to the State line of Wisconsin."

The Ante-Bellum Democratic Governors of Michigan: 1

The topic of the pre-Civil War Michigan Democratic Governors' activities during the conflict occurred to me recently when reading about the role that Stephen A. Douglas played in the 1860 election. Once it was apparent to him that he would not win, and then in the months after Lincoln's election and through the Fort Sumter crisis, Douglas played a pro-Union and anti-secession role until his untimely death. So the question occurred: what did Michigan's ex-Governors who were of the Democratic party do once the Civil War broke out? We will head backwards in time as we take up each one in turn ...

Today we look at the last Dem to hold the highest office before the Republican ascendancy:

"Andrew Parsons was born in Hoosick, New York, in 1817. In 1836 he settled in Shiawassee County and at the age of nineteen was elected the first county clerk. After holding a number of county and state offices, Parsons in 1852 became a regent of the University of Michigan. The same year he was elected lieutenant-governor, and he became acting governor in March 1853 upon the resignation of Governor Robert McClelland. The formation of the Republican party in 1854 badly split the Democratic forces and perhaps accounted for Parsons's failure to receive the gubernatorial nomination. Instead, Parsons was elected to the state legislature from Shiawassee County. He fell ill during the legislative session of 1855 and returned to Corunna, where he died on June 6, 1855." (Source: Michigan Historical Marker text, registered Site S0295; erected 1969; location: 318 McNeil Street, Corunna)

That answers that, sadly. Governor Parsons, the "boy Clerk", was gone long before the War.

 

Men of the Old Northwest

Scholar and Texas Christian University professor of history Steven E. Woodworth pens this in a new book about the men from Michigan and the rest of the Midwest:

"Grant had shaped and forged the Army of the Tennessee, building on his own personality and the regional character of its men, most of whom came from what was then called the Northwest but is now called the Midwest. The region had been frontier little more than a generation earlier, and the men who served in the ranks of Grant's army had either helped farm land that their fathers had carved out of the wilderness or else had done the carving themselves only a few years before enlisting. They were capable and resourceful and tended to assume that they could handle anything the war brought their way. ... little inclined to stand on ceremony but was prepared to get at the enemy as quickly as possible, hit him as hard as possible, and keep moving on." The Chattanooga Campaign, Southern Illinois Univ. Press, pp. 53-54 (2012)

It is the third in a planned multi-volume "Civil War Campaigns in the Heartland" series that seeks to take the West out of the shadows of the Eastern Theater dominance of Civil War writing. As with the other two, this one is well worth the investment.

Link to State origin

As posted here long ago, every day to work involves a trip down a certain two-lane road past old farmhouses and other historic properties. More recently, on a historic home tour, one of those houses was opened to the public. Lo and behold, the structure was built by Esek Pray (what a name!), delegate to the "Frostbitten Convention" of December 1836 that acted to approve the necessary step for Michigan to become the 26th State. Amazing 'coincidence' that commuting to work takes one by the house of a person from 176 years ago who helped launch this community into the Union. Closer to work, a State Historical Marker in front of the Washtenaw County building on Huron in Ann Arbor marks the event.

In just a few minutes, Michigan will turn 176 years old, it having been admitted to the United States of America on January 26, 1837. Happy Birthday, Great Lake State!

Through the Victory Gate

Fellow Citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives:

The People of Michigan have committed to us the responsibilities of the State Government for the coming two years. We assemble to enter upon our duties in a time of great seriousness and public trial. It will become us to pause at the threshold of our term and survey the work before us, acknowledging our entire dependence upon that Divine Providence which is constantly over us alike in war as in peace. The state of the country and the temper of the times demand a cautious wisdom and patriotic energy in every department of government. Our first duty is naturally and properly with the internal affairs of our own fast growing Commonwealth. And here we are not without many causes for congratulation. After some years of difficulty, the State finances are free from embarrassmant, all the avocations of business flourish, harvests are abundant, general health prevails, and the diffusion of education is almost universal. The public order has been maintained, and all the institutions of civil government hold undisturbed sway to the general happiness and security of the people. Our one great need is national peace, and the only road to that leads through the gate of victory.

Austin Blair, Executive Office, Lansing, January 7, 1863

Yesterday in Michigan history

From yesterday's (really this morning's, for it came in at 4:52 am after a long legislative night) MIRS:

"On Dec. 13, 1886, six years after leaving office, Charles M. Croswell, Michigan's 16th governor, died in Adrian. Born in New York, Croswell lost both of his parents at age 7. He studied law and was elected to the post of register of deeds for Lenawee County in 1850 as a Whig.

In 1854, Croswell was a member and secretary of the state convention now famous as the convention "Under the Oaks" at Jackson for the formation of the modern day Republican Party.

In 1872, he became a state representative and speaker of the House. He was nominated by the Republican Party to run for Governor in 1876. He won by 23,000 votes and won re-election in 1878.

- Source: Mich-Again's Day"

Proclaiming Emancipation

The University of Michigan held a conference recently under this title, and the keynote speech by Dr. Eric Foner can be accessed via this link: UofM As seen on the page, the Harvard of the Midwest combined a conference, an exhibit, and other educational opportunities under one umbrella. The exhibit is still open to the public at the Hatcher Library on the Ann Arbor Central Campus.

Election night, 1862

Today's national, state, and local elections pose for the historically minded Michigander, during this Civil War Sesquicentennial, "what happened as a result of voting 150 years ago, especially here?"

A fascinating paper, "The Impact of National Tides and District-Level Effects on Electoral Outcomes: The U.S. Congressional Elections of 1862", published by four Michigan State University scholars in 2000* and available online, says: "The midterm House elections were a disaster for President Abraham Lincoln and the Republicans, as the party lost 23 seats and saw their control of the House disappear: while the Republicans made up 59 percent of the 37th House, they would only comprise 46.2 percent of the 38^th House (Martis 1989, pp. 115, 117)." The paper analyzes the causes -- which appear to be more complex than that usually cited. (And it promised further analysis.)

In Michigan, though, the result was not as dramatic: "The Democrats captured a majority of seats in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, and made modest gains in Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (Martis 1989)."

As the MSU paper indicates, Michigan Republicans bucked the trend in Congress, holding on to five of the seats, with the sixth electing a "Democratic-Union" candidate. The margins of victory ranged from a high of 16% to a low of .8%. Consequently, when the 38th Congress convened on March 4, 1863, the two Republican Senators, Zachariah Chandler and Jacob Howard, still sat while in the House the delegation consisted of Fernando C. Beaman (R), Charles Upson (R), John W. Longyear (R), Francis W. Kellogg (R), John F. Driggs (R), and Augustus C. Baldwin (D/U). Lincoln could still count on Michigan, though in many cases it was more radical than his policies were.

In the Legislature, Republicans maintained their majorities in both houses but lost some seats, from 75 down to 63 in the House while the opposition increased from 25 to 37, and in the Senate from 30 to 18 while the opposition went from 2 to 14. Source (an excellent book): Martin J. Hershock, The Paradox of Progress: Economic Change, Individual Enterprise, and Political Culture in Michigan (Athens: Ohio U. Press, 2003), p. 273 n.50.

Governor Austin Blair was reelected by a popular vote of 68,716 (52.53%) to his Democratic opponent (Byron G. Stout) receiving 62,102 (47.47%). This was, indeed, a smaller margin than in 1860, when Blair received nearly 57%. Were voting totals down in general because of disaffection, or because of the absence of so many soldiers**? Two years later, Henry Crapo continued the Republican hold with a much greater absolute vote total (91,353) and margin (55.15%), and other elections followed suit.

The party prosecuting the War for Union and emancipation still held sway in Michigan after the 1862 elections.

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*Jamie L. Carson, Jeffery A. Jenkins, David W. Rohde, Mark A. Souva

**We should never forget that in the midst of a "great Civil War, testing whether this Nation" would survive, people in the North went to the polls and cast their ballots under the U.S. and state constitutions. At the same time, soldiers were stationed far away from their Michigan homes seeking -- in the most compelling and risky of all manners of service -- to secure the Nation's survival. A lesson for us today, as well.