William T. Watson

William T. Watson

William Tharp Watson (born June 6, 1849 in Milford , Delaware , † April 14, 1917 ibid) was an American politician and governor of the state of Delaware from 1895 to 1897 .

Early years

William Watson was the grandson of William Tharp , who was also governor of Delaware between 1847 and 1851. Young William attended Washington College in Chestertown , Maryland . After that he lived in Philadelphia for some time . After returning to Milford, he worked for a railroad company and then for the First National Bank there .

Political rise

Watson was a member of the Democratic Party , which ruled the state of Delaware politically for the 25 years after the American Civil War . Between 1892 and 1895 he was a member of the Delaware Senate and even became its president. During this time, a political upheaval took place in Delaware. The Republican Party , which had been rather insignificant up to then , caught up with the Democrats thanks to a financially strong sponsor and simultaneous wear and tear and even managed to put Joshua H. Marvil in an election winner for the first time in the gubernatorial elections of 1894 . At the same time, the Republicans also won a slim majority in the Delaware House of Representatives . These were harbingers of a political change in power. Between 1901 and 1937, only Republican governors were in office in Delaware. Governor Marvil, elected in 1894, died on April 8, 1895 after a four-month term in office. According to the state constitution, Watson had to take over the office of governor as President of the Senate.

Delaware Governor

During his tenure there was a bitter dispute in Delaware over the assignment of a seat in the US Senate . Involved in this were the former Democratic Senator Anthony C. Higgins , who could no longer find a majority, as well as the two Republicans Henry A. du Pont and J. Edward Addicks , a millionaire from Philadelphia and main financier of the Republican Party. Governor Watson briefly resumed his Senate seat during this discussion and voted for Higgins. In doing so, he prevented a narrow majority for du Pont. His behavior was controversial and his vote was invalidated by the Republican President of the House of Representatives. With that du Pont found his narrow majority again. However, this was not recognized by the US Senate, in which the Democrats had a majority, because of the rejection of Watson's vote. This gave the Democrats a majority in the Senate in Washington, and that was the real reason for Governor Watson's behavior on the matter. As a result, the class 2 Senator's seat from Delaware remained vacant between 1895 and 1897.

During his tenure, work was also carried out on a reform of the state constitution, which came into force in 1897 and created the office of vice governor . In addition, the next gubernatorial elections were brought forward by two years to 1896. Since then, the gubernatorial elections in Delaware have taken place at the same time as the presidential elections.

Another résumé

With the early gubernatorial elections, Watson's term of office ended on January 19, 1897. After that, he retired from politics and devoted himself to his private affairs. Governor Watson died in 1917. He had a son with his wife Harriet Beale.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 1, Meckler Books, Westport, 1978. 4 volumes.

Web links

• William Watson at the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Delaware (English)
• William T. Watson in the database of Find a Grave (English)