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1819 Indiana gubernatorial election

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1819 Indiana gubernatorial election
← 1816
August 2, 1819
1822 →
 
Nominee Jonathan Jennings Christopher Harrison
Party Nonpartisan Nonpartisan
Popular vote 9,287 2,997
Percentage 75.11% 24.24%
County results
Jennings:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Harrison:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
     Unknown      No Vote
Governor before election

Jonathan Jennings
Nonpartisan

Elected Governor

Jonathan Jennings
Nonpartisan

The 1819 Indiana gubernatorial election took place August 2, 1819. The incumbent governor Jonathan Jennings defeated the former lieutenant governor Christopher Harrison.[1]

Jennings announced his candidacy in May, following weeks of speculation. For some time the identity of his opponent remained uncertain. Harrison entered the race on July 3 and quickly emerged as the main challenger to the incumbent. Other possible candidates, including the judge of the Indiana Supreme Court Jesse Lynch Holman, declined consideration.[2]

Jennings's role in negotiating the Treaty of St. Mary's was a major issue in the campaign.[2] In 1818, Jennings was appointed one of three federal commissioners to negotiate the cession of principally Miami and Potawatomi land in Northern and Central Indiana.[3] Critics claimed Jennings's acceptance of the commission violated the state constitution, which prohibited the governor from simultaneously holding federal office. Acting on this interpretation, Harrison announced that Jennings had abandoned the governorship and briefly took possession of the state seal. The Indiana General Assembly conducted an investigation but declined to remove Jennings from office, whereupon Harrison resigned as lieutenant governor.[4]

The Democratic-Republican Party was dominant nationally, and the politics of the state were conducted on a nonpartisan basis.[5] Jennings's opponents framed the election as a referendum on the legality of the governor's actions during the treaty negotiations; his defenders responded that the importance of the territory opened to settlement by the "New Purchase" outweighed the constitutional question. Jennings was accused of being a Federalist and an alcoholic and charged with corruption in his management of the Bank of Indiana. Harrison, in contrast, was praised for his integrity, Republicanism, aversion to banks and speculation, and strict observance of the laws and the constitution.[6]

The election result was a personal vindication of Jennings, who defeated Harrison by a large majority.[7] Voters rewarded Jennings for his role in the acquisition of new territory, while the governor's enduring popularity from his long service as the U.S. delegate representing the Indiana Territory's at-large congressional district was reflected by his strong showing in the western part of the state.[8]

General election

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Results

[edit]

The original manuscript returns appear to be lost. Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough cite records kept by the Indiana House of Representatives as well as unofficial results from 21 of 31 counties in their comprehensive study of early Indiana election returns. Notably, the sum of all votes for Harrison in the unofficial county results exceeds his statewide total quoted in the Indiana House Journal by nearly 900 votes.[9] Michael J. Dubin recapitulates the county data from Riker and Thornbrough, while noting the discrepancy with the legislative records.[10] Phil Lampi's A New Nation Votes project recovers additional newspaper evidence with varying totals for Jennings and Harrison.[11] The following tables defer to Lampi, who locates an additional 249 votes for Jennings and 97 votes for Harrison in Sullivan County compared with Riker and Thornbrough.

1819 Indiana gubernatorial election[11][a]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Nonpartisan Jonathan Jennings (incumbent) 9,287 75.11 +18.13
Nonpartisan Christopher Harrison 2,997 24.24
Nonpartisan Samuel Carr 80 0.65
Nonpartisan Peter Buell Allen 1 0.01
Total votes 12,365 100.00%

Results by county

[edit]

The returns from Crawford and Lawrence counties were rejected by the General Assembly. The Indiana House Journal shows 80 votes for Samuel Carr and 1 vote for Peter Buell Allen, but incomplete county data recovered by Lampi accounts for only 59 votes for Carr and no votes for Allen; this table quotes the statewide figures for both men while calculating Jennings's and Harrison's totals based on the county data.[11]

County Jonathan Jennings
Nonpartisan 		Christopher Harrison
Nonpartisan 		Samuel Carr
Nonpartisan 		Peter Buell Allen
Nonpartisan 		Total
Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent
Clark 618 63.84 311 32.13 39 4.03 — 968
Crawford[b] ** ** ** ** **
Daviess ** ** ** ** **
Dearborn 1,015 86.31 161 13.69 — — 1,176
Dubois ** ** ** ** **
Fayette 631 96.93 20 3.07 — — 651
Floyd 311 98.11 6 1.89 — — 317
Franklin 1,087 97.31 30 2.69 — — 1,117
Gibson 85 19.54 350 80.46 — — 435
Harrison 847 95.71 38 4.29 — — 885
Jackson ** ** ** ** **
Jefferson 447 61.49 260 35.76 20 2.75 — 727
Jennings 189 96.92 6 3.08 — — 195
Knox 144 27.53 379 72.47 — — 523
Lawrence[b] ** ** ** ** **
Monroe ** ** ** ** **
Orange 401 70.23 170 29.77 — — 571
Owen ** ** ** ** **
Perry ** ** ** ** **
Pike 99 72.79 37 27.20 — — 136
Posey 410 81.51 93 18.49 — — 503
Randolph 1,101 78.20 307 21.80 — — 1,408
Wayne
Ripley 159 98.76 2 1.24 — — 161
Spencer 169 96.02 7 3.98 — — 176
Sullivan 249 71.97 97 28.03 — — 346
Switzerland 516 98.85 6 1.15 — — 522
Vanderburg ** ** ** ** **
Vigo 349 92.82 27 7.18 — — 376
Warrick 125 67.93 59 32.07 — — 184
Washington 335 34.68 631 65.32 — — 966
Subtotal 9,287 75.24 2,997 24.28 59 0.48 0 0.00 12,343
TOTAL[c] 9,287 75.11 2,997 24.24 80 0.65 1 0.01 12,365

Notes

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  1. ^ Lampi incorrectly tabulates the statewide figures for Jennings and Harrison based on the county data; the corrected figures appear below.
  2. ^ a b Rejected.
  3. ^ Including an additional 21 votes for Carr and one vote for Allen included in the Indiana House Journal, but missing from incomplete county data recovered by Lampi.[11]

References

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  1. ^ Riker & Thornbrough 1960, p. 138.
  2. ^ a b Carmony 1998, p. 28.
  3. ^ Riker 1932, p. 234; Nichols 2021, p. 70.
  4. ^ Carmony 1998, p. 25–27.
  5. ^ Riker & Thornbrough 1960, p. xvi.
  6. ^ Carmony 1998, pp. 28–29.
  7. ^ Riker 1932, p. 234.
  8. ^ Carmony 1998, p. 29.
  9. ^ Riker & Thornbrough 1960, p. 137–38.
  10. ^ Dubin 2003, p. 56.
  11. ^ a b c d Lampi 2012.

Bibliography

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  • Carmony, Donald Francis (1998). Indiana 1816-1850: the Pioneer Era. Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-125-8.
  • Dubin, Michael J. (2003). United States Gubernatorial Elections, 1776–1860: The Official Results by State and County. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Company.
  • Nichols, David A. (June 2021). "Potawatomi Resistance, Renewal, and Removal". Indiana Magazine of History. 117 (2): 65–81.
  • Riker, Dorothy; Thornbrough, Gayle (1960). Indiana Election Returns: 1816-1851. Indiana Historical Bureau.
  • Riker, Dorothy (December 1932). "Jonathan Jennings". Indiana Magazine of History. 28 (4): 223–239.
  • Lampi, Philip (2012). "Indiana 1819 Governor". A New Nation Votes. American Antiquarian Society. Retrieved June 21, 2021.
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