Jonathan Worth

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Jonathan Worth

Jonathan Worth (born November 18, 1802 in Randolph County , North Carolina , † September 6, 1869 ) was an American politician . He served as the 39th governor of the state of North Carolina.

Early years and political advancement

Johnathan Worth attended Greensboro Academy and then studied law. After being admitted to the bar, he opened a law firm. From 1830 he was politically active with interruptions. From 1830 to 1832 he served as Whig in the North Carolina House of Representatives and from 1840 to 1841 in the State Senate . In the meantime he worked as a lawyer.

Civil war time

In the run-up to the civil war , he was against North Carolina's exit from the Union. Even after that, he remained critical of the Confederation . Out of loyalty to his homeland, however, he accepted the office of Treasurer of North Carolina ( State Treasurer ) in 1863 . He signed government bonds in the millions to finance the budget, which suffered from war spending. The schools were closed for financial reasons and only reopened under Governor Tod Caldwell (1871–1874). Shortly before the fall of the city of Raleigh in 1865, Governor Zebulon Vance appointed Worth to evacuate the state archives. He fulfilled this task by relocating the archives to Alamance County . His reputation was so high that he remained in the office of Treasury Secretary under Provisional Governor William Woods Holden and only resigned when he ran against this for the office of governor.

North Carolina Governor

In the fall of 1865 an extraordinary gubernatorial election took place, which Worth won against Holden. In the regular elections in 1866 he was confirmed in this office. He was a candidate for the so-called "Conservative Party", a party that was briefly formed from Democrats and remnants of the Whig Party. Worth remained in office until 1868. The governor advocated the rapid reintegration of his country into the Union. It was also during this period that the former slaves and black citizens were given the right to vote. The country suffered from the aftermath of the war. There was the problem of integrating the former slaves into the new society. Violence, on the other hand, was spreading through organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan . The economy was down and only slowly recovering.

The most important political event of his tenure was the adoption of a new constitution for North Carolina. The original constitution from 1776 had been supplemented several times with additions, but was no longer up to date. After the civil war there was an urgent need for action to adapt the constitution to the changed conditions. For the first time there were general elections for the most important offices of the state. Government officials, including the governor, were now elected for four years and judges were given an eight-year term. The right to vote was no longer tied to land ownership or any other property, and it also applied to African Americans . The state duty to run public schools was enshrined in the constitution. In addition, the office of vice governor was created. Compared to the old constitution, the government has been strengthened vis-à-vis the House of Representatives. Later, the MPs tried to change the distribution of power again through new additions, which only partially succeeded. The segregation system attempted to enforce racial segregation and thus to undermine the constitution. Segregation existed in all southern states until the middle of the 20th century . Otherwise, the constitution was in force from 1868 to 1971. Because the constitution was created under pressure from Congress , it was unpopular with the conservative, reactionary forces of the state.

The new constitution was not approved by the governor either. He therefore decided not to run again and considered the election of his successor to be illegal. He refused to hand over the official business properly and only had to give in under pressure from the military occupying forces.

Worth died 14 months after leaving the governor's office. He was married to Maritia Daniel. The couple had eight children.

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