Dewitt Clinton Senter

Dewitt Clinton Senter

Dewitt Clinton Senter (born March 26, 1830 in McMinn County , Tennessee , † June 14, 1898 in Morristown ) was an American politician and the 21st Governor of Tennessee .

resume

Young Dewitt Clinton Senter spent most of his youth on a farm in Grainger County . There he also received his school education. From 1852 he studied law . From 1855 to 1861 he was a member of the Tennessee Parliament for the Whig Party . He was a loyal supporter of the Union and opposed Tennessee secession . The Confederates arrested him and held him for six months. After the civil war he was president of a railway company. He was also elected to the Senate of his home state for two terms. In the meantime, after the Whig Party had dissolved, Senter had become a member of the Republican Party . In the Senate, he became a speaker (about chairman). In this capacity he automatically became governor in 1869 when William Gannaway Brownlow gave up this office to move to the US Senate. Senter completed his predecessor's term of office and was subsequently elected for a further two years. He campaigned for the electoral restrictions on ex-Confederate supporters to be lifted and the right to vote back. He recognized the new federal laws for the abolition of slavery and the right to vote for his black compatriots. However, the right to vote for blacks came with a tax that very few could pay. At the same time, Tennessee, like the whole of the south of the USA, was hit by a wave of terror from the Ku Klux Klan . Senter also had to face this problem. The most significant event of his tenure was the constitutional reform of 1870. The constitution drawn up at that time is largely in force to this day. After the end of his tenure, Senter withdrew from politics. He lived on his farm near Morristown until his death on June 14, 1898.

He was married to Harriet T. Senter since 1859.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978 . Volume 4, Meckler Books, Westport 1978.
• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography . Volume 7, James T. White & Company, New York.

Web links

• Dewitt Senter in the National Governor Association (English)
• The governors of Tennessee (English)
• Dewitt Clinton Senter in the database of Find a Grave (English)