Newton Cannon

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Newton Cannon (Portrait of Washington Bogart Cooper )

Newton Cannon (born May 22, 1781 in Guilford County , North Carolina , †  September 16, 1841 in Nashville , Tennessee ) was an American politician and the tenth governor of Tennessee. He also represented this state as a member of the United States House of Representatives .

Early years and political advancement

The Cannons family, originally from North Carolina, settled in Williamson County , Tennessee , in 1790 . There the young Newton received his school education. As an adult, he first became an aspiring farmer and planter.

From 1811 Newton Cannon took part in public life. That year he was elected to the Tennessee Senate. He participated in the War of 1812 and became a colonel in the Tennessee National Guard. Until 1823 he sat several times in Congress in Washington . President James Monroe commissioned him in 1819 to negotiate a treaty with the Chickasaw Indians. In 1827 he ran unsuccessfully against Sam Houston for the office of governor of Tennessee. Then he was again a Senator of that state; at the same time he took care of his plantation. Politically, he joined the Whig Party , which was in opposition to the previously ruling Democratic Party and President Andrew Jackson .

Governor of Tennessee

In 1835 he decided to run again for the office of governor. This time he managed a clear victory - among other things because the legality of the candidacy of his competitor and predecessor William Carroll was disputed. He had already completed three consecutive terms of office. According to the constitution, that was the maximum. Carroll relied on the fact that a new constitution had been passed in his last term. In Carroll's view, governor tenure counting began again with the adoption of the new constitution in 1834. He was rejected by the 1835 voters, and Cannon was elected the tenth governor of Tennessee.

He completed a total of two terms and remained in office until 1839. During this time he worked to improve the infrastructure in his state. The railway construction progressed rapidly. The road network was expanded, as was the canal system for inland shipping. In his second term in office he founded a new state bank, the profits of which were invested in the expansion of the school system. It is also worth mentioning that during his tenure the resettlement of the Indians was completed under the so-called Indian Removal Act . In 1839, Cannon ran for a third term. In the meantime, however, the mood against him had turned. On the one hand, this was due to the opposition's growing criticism of his politics, and on the other, to the person of his challenger James K. Polk . This was a well-known congressman of the Democratic Party, whose support he got in the election campaign. Nonetheless, Cannon still achieved a good result against the later US President Polk, whose lead was only 2500 votes.

End of life and death

After being voted out of office in 1839, Cannon withdrew from politics and devoted himself to his private affairs. He died two years later and was buried in his Williamson County manor.

literature

  • Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4. Meckler Books, Westport, CT 1978. 4 volumes.
  • The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Volume 7. James T. White & Company, New York.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cannon, Newton
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH May 22, 1781
PLACE OF BIRTH Guilford County , North Carolina
DATE OF DEATH September 16, 1841
Place of death Nashville , Tennessee