John Motley Morehead

John Motley Morehead

John Motley Morehead (born July 4, 1796 in Pittsylvania County , Virginia , † August 27, 1866 in Greensboro , North Carolina ) was an American politician and the 29th governor of North Carolina.

Early years and political advancement

At the age of two, the young John Morehead and his family came to Rockingham County in North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina , where he graduated in 1817. He then studied law and settled in Wentworth as a lawyer. His political career began in 1821 with his election to the House of Representatives in his home state , where he initially remained until 1822. From 1826 to 1828 he was again a member of this body. In 1835 he was a member of a commission that revised the North Carolina Constitution. For the upcoming gubernatorial elections in 1840 he was nominated by the Whig Party as their top candidate.

North Carolina Governor

Morehead won the election, part of a US-wide trend that saw the Whig Party on the rise. In the same year his party won the US presidential election with William H. Harrison . In 1842 he was confirmed in office. His term of office began on January 1, 1841 and ended four years later on January 1, 1845. During this time he was very committed to the development of the infrastructure in his country. The further expansion of the railway network was thus promoted. Inland shipping was promoted by expanding the waterways and ports. In addition, an institution for the disabled was established in North Carolina. At the same time, the governor also promoted education policy. For his services to the aforementioned expansion of the railways, he was appointed President of the North Carolina Railroad Society.

Further career

Even after leaving the office of governor, Morehead remained politically active. In 1848 he was chairman of the Whigs National Party Convention, on which Zachary Taylor was chosen as their presidential candidate. From 1858 to 1859 he was again in the House of Representatives from North Carolina and from 1860 to 1861 he was in the Senate of that state . He watched with concern the development of the national antagonism between the north and the south. In 1861 he belonged to a commission that wanted to prevent the impending civil war at the last minute in a peace conference . After the failure of this attempt and the exit of North Carolina from the Union, Morehead was from 1861 to 1862 in the Provisional Congress of the Confederation. Then he withdrew from politics. He lived through the civil war and its end, but finally died in 1866. He was married to Ann Eliza Lindsay, with whom he had eight children. One daughter, Mary Corinna Morehead, was married to William Waightstill Avery (1816–1864). John Morehead was the brother of Congressman James Morehead .

His son James Turner Morehead (1840-1908) was an entrepreneur and, together with his son John Motley Morehead III, founder of Union Carbide .

literature

• Robert Sobel, John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978 . Volume 2. Meckler Books, Westport CT 1978, 4 volumes
• Morehead, John Motley . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 4 : Lodge - Pickens . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1888, p. 391 (English, Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).

Web links

• John Morehead in the National Governor Association
• John Motley Morehead in the database of Find a Grave (English)