1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election

1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election

←  1867 August 5, 1869 1870  →

Nominee Dewitt Clinton Senter William Brickly Stokes Party Conservative Republican Radical Republican Popular vote 120,333 55,036 Percentage 68.62% 31.38%

County results Senter:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% Stokes:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% No data:

Governor before election Dewitt Clinton Senter Republican Elected Governor Dewitt Clinton Senter Republican

The 1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election was held on August 5, 1869, to elect the next governor of Tennessee. The Conservative Republican candidate DeWitt Clinton Senter defeated the Radical Republican candidate William Brickly Stokes.

Incumbent Republican governor Parson Brownlow was elected to the United States Senate and resigned as governor on February 25, 1869. Senter, being the speaker of the Tennessee Senate, became governor following Brownlow's resignation. ^[1]

The Tennessee Republican Party held its convention on February 25, 1869, and gave its gubernatorial nomination to Governor Senter. ^[2]

Senter ran for a full term and easily defeated the Stokes, the congressman from Tennessee's 3rd congressional district.

Background

Senter initially supported the Radical Republican initiatives of Governor William G. Brownlow, which included the disfranchisement of ex-Confederates. ^[3] In October 1867, he helped elect Brownlow to the United States Senate seat held by David T. Patterson, whose term was set to expire in March 1869. ^[4] Brownlow resigned as governor on February 25, 1869, and departed for Washington, D.C. to take his seat in the Senate. Under the Tennessee Constitution, the speaker of the Senate is the first in the gubernatorial line of succession, and thus, Senter became governor following Brownlow's resignation. ^[5]

Brownlow's radical policies of disfranchisement had left the state divided and had led to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. In his inaugural address, Senter vowed to aggressively pursue the Klan and quell Klan violence. ^[6] In May 1869, however, he disbanded the state guard, which had been fighting the Klan, but had become unpopular. ^[6] He also announced he supported restoring the voting rights of former Confederates.

Since Brownlow was near the end of his term as governor when he resigned, Senter was thrust into an election campaign within a few weeks of taking office. His relatively lenient policies toward former Confederates led to a rift in the state's Radical Republican ranks, as many Radicals wanted to continue Brownlow's policies and feared retribution if ex-Confederates and Democrats should once again control the state. At the radicals' tumultuous convention on May 20, 1869, they were unable to agree on a candidate for governor. In subsequent separate conventions, the radicals favored continuing Brownlow's policies nominated William B. Stokes, and those who favored more lenient policies nominated Senter. ^[3]

General election

1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election ^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative Republican	Dewitt Clinton Senter (incumbent)	120,333	68.62%
	Radical Republican	William Brickly Stokes	55,036	31.38%
Total votes			175,369	100.00%

References

1. William E. Hardy, "The Margins of William Brownlow's Words: New Perspectives on the End of Radical Reconstruction in Tennessee," Journal of East Tennessee History, Vol. 84 (2012), pp. 78–86.
2. "Our Campaigns - TN Governor - Appointment Race - Feb 25, 1869". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved February 27, 2024.
3. Phillip Langsdon, Tennessee: A Political History (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 190-193.
4. E. Merton Coulter, William G. Brownlow: Fighting Parson of the Southern Highlands (Knoxville, Tenn.: University of Tennessee Press, 1999), pp. 347.
5. William E. Hardy, "The Margins of William Brownlow's Words: New Perspectives on the End of Radical Reconstruction in Tennessee," Journal of East Tennessee History, Vol. 84 (2012), pp. 78–86.
6. Finding Aid for Governor Dewitt Clinton Senter Papers, 1869–1871 Archived 2013-07-12 at the Wayback Machine , Tennessee State Library and Archives website, June 2004. Retrieved: 30 October 2012.
7. Dubin, Michael J. (2014). United States Gubernatorial Elections, 1861–1911: The Official Results by State and County. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 5.