John Albion Andrew

John Albion Andrew

John Albion Andrew (born May 31, 1818 in Windham , Massachusetts , † October 30, 1867 in Boston , Massachusetts) was an American politician and governor of the state of Massachusetts from 1861 to 1866 .

Early years and political advancement

Born in present-day Maine , John Andrew attended Gorham Academy and then Bowdoin College until 1837 . After studying law and being admitted to the bar in 1840, he began to work in his new profession in Boston. It was then that he became a member of the Whig Party . Andrew was a staunch opponent of slavery . In 1848 he helped found the Free Soil Party , which went against this institution. He later joined the newly formed Republican Party . In 1858 he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives for one term .

Massachusetts Governor

On November 6, 1860, Andrew was elected governor of his state by an overwhelming majority. He took up his new office on January 3, 1861 and was able to exercise it until January 4, 1866 after being re-elected four times. His reign was overshadowed by the events of the civil war. Before the war broke out, the governor mobilized the militia . It also accepted recruits from other states . During the war, he wholeheartedly supported the war effort of the federal government under President Abraham Lincoln . He recruited soldiers and provided supplies and supplies for the Union army . Andrew also provided two regiments of African Americans together and supported the Emancipation Proclamation of the President. At that time, industrial production in Massachusetts also had to be converted to armaments requirements. After the end of the war, the returning soldiers had to be reintegrated into society and the invalids and the relatives of the dead had to be cared for. In 1865 Andrew declined to run again.

Another résumé

After the end of his governorship, Andrew worked again as a lawyer, with particular focus on divorce law. Politically, he distanced himself from the tough reconstruction plans of the radical republicans, which he had supported during the war. Governor Andrew died in October 1867. He and his wife, Eliza Jones Hersey, had five children, including their son John , born in 1850 , who became a member of the United States House of Representatives .

Web links

• John Andrew in the National Governors Association (English)
• John Albion Andrew in the database of Find a Grave (English)