John Hunn

John Hunn

John Hunn (born June 29, 1849 in Middletown , Delaware , † September 1, 1926 in Camden , Delaware) was an American politician and governor of the state of Delaware from 1901 to 1905 .

Early years

John Hunn came from a family that actively supported the escape movement of escaped slaves from the southern states in the run-up to the American Civil War , which was a criminal offense at the time. On one of those occasions, his father was fined heavily and his farm was auctioned off. Young John attended Quaker school in Camden and the Bordentown New Jersey Institute. Then he accompanied his father to South Carolina , where he looked after the former slaves in Magnolia and Port Royal in the so-called Freedmen Bureaus and helped them get used to their new life.

Political rise

In 1876 John Hunn returned to Delaware, where he settled in Camden. In the neighboring town of Wyoming he traded in fruit, grain and wood. Politically, he was a member of the Republican Party . Until 1900 he held no public office. In the period before the turn of the century, his party managed to gain a foothold in Delaware. It played no role there for the first decades after the Civil War , but a rapid upswing began in the 1890s, thanks in part to a sponsor from Philadelphia and signs of wear and tear in the Democratic Party . In 1894, Joshua H. Marvil was the first Republican elected governor. In 1900 John Hunn was nominated as their top candidate and on November 6 of the same year elected with 53% of the vote against the Democrat Peter J. Ford as the new governor of his state. This election sent a signal in Delaware for the next 36 years. It was not until 1936 that Richard C. McMullen , a Democrat, was again elected governor.

Delaware Governor

John Hunn took up his new office on January 15, 1901. He was the first governor to serve under the new state constitution of 1897. This also made him the first Delaware governor to have a lieutenant governor . This was Philip L. Cannon , the son of former Governor William Cannon . Under the new constitution, he also had a veto right over the legislature. Under Governor Hunn, amendments 13–15 to the US Constitution, which came into force after the Civil War, were finally ratified in Delaware. A dispute within his party, however, led to vacancies in the occupation of the US Senators from Delaware. The Class 1 Senator's seat was vacant between 1899 and 1903, and the Class 2 Senator's seat remained vacant from 1901 to 1903. It was not until 1903 that both positions were filled again. Governor Hunn advocated the admission of women to Delaware College and became the first Delaware governor to propose paving roads. Hunn also campaigned for nature conservation and public libraries.

Another résumé

After the end of his tenure on January 17, 1905, he withdrew from politics. He pursued his business interests and among other things became Vice President of Dover's First National Bank and Director of Dover's National Building and Loan Association . John Hunn died in 1926. He had a daughter with his wife Sarah Cowgill Emerson.

literature

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

Web links

• John Hunn in the National Governors Association (English)
• The governors of Delaware (English)
• John Hunn in the database of Find a Grave (English)