William Cannon

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = William Cannon
honorific-suffix =


imagesize =
small

office = Governor of Delaware
term_start = January 20 1863
term_end = March 1 1865
predecessor = William Burton
successor = Gove Saulsbury
birth_date = birth date|1809|3|15|mf=y
birth_place = Bridgeville, Delaware
death_date = death date and age|1865|3|1|1809|3|15
death_place = Bridgeville, Delaware
spouse = Margaret Ann Barker
party = Democratic
Republican
residence = Bridgeville, Delaware
alma_mater =
occupation = merchant
profession =
religion = Methodist

William Cannon (March 15 1809 – March 1 1865) was an American merchant and politician from Bridgeville, in Sussex County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party and later the Republican Party, who served in the Delaware General Assembly and as Governor of Delaware during much of the Civil War.

Early life and family

Cannon was born March 15 1809 at Bridgeville, in Sussex County, Delaware, son of Josiah and Nancy Bowlin Cannon. He married Margaret Ann Barker and had six children: William Laws, Lizzie A., Sallie P., Ellie S., Henry Pervis, and Philip Laws. They lived on North Main Street in Bridgeville and were members of the Methodist Church. He began working in his father’s merchandising business in Bridgeville, and gradually expanded it to include lumber, grain, grist and saw mills, and a brick yard. His business interests included peaches, banking, and newspaper publishing, and he was a Director of the Delaware Railroad. By 1864 he was probably the wealthiest man in Sussex County.

Governor of Delaware

Cannon was elected as a Democrat to the State House for the 1845/46 session and the 1847/48 session. From 1849 until 1851 he was State Treasurer. Although he had been a leader in the a Democratic Party prior to the 1862 elections, at that time he switched parties and became a Republican, who were organized as the Union Party for this election. Perhaps the switch resulted from his devotion to the Union, but it also may have been due to a three time failure to receive the Democratic nomination for Governor. In the months leading up to the 1862 elections Cannon and incumbent U.S. Representative George P. Fisher feared they would be defeated by a combination of so many Republican voters off serving in the U.S. Army, and polling place shenanigans by stay at home Democrats. Their solution was to request federal troops to monitor the voting places. The troops came, supervised the election, and Cannon was elected, defeating Republican Samuel Jefferson from New Castle County. However, Fisher lost, and Cannon faced a General Assembly with a Democratic majority in both houses.

This majority was furious with the new Governor. Besides despising him for switching parties and supporting the hated abolitionists, they thought he had virtually won his office at the point of a bayonet. The State House refused to allow Cannon the use of its facilities for his inauguration, and a joint committee of the General Assembly said his inaugural message was not only impertinent, but insolent in the extreme, entirely unbecoming a State Executive,” especially one elected by
“fraud and violence against the known wish of a majority of the citizens of Delaware.” Then the whole affair was repeated a year later, when federal troops supervised a special election to fill the seat of deceased U.S. Representative William Temple. This time the Democrats boycotted the election, but they were just biding their time. Finally, once again the elections of 1864 were supervised by federal troops, but this time the Democrats voted and swept the election. Without the veto, Cannon was powerless to accomplish anything with the General Assembly. As if to emphasize the point the General Assembly even rejected Cannon’s request to approve the Thirteenth Amendment, prohibiting slavery. This act had been approved by neighboring border state Maryland, but Delaware’s Democrats would refuse to pass this measure for another generation.

Cannon served as Governor of Delaware from January 20 1863 until his death while in office on March 1 1865. He had become ill, some said after helping to extinguish a fire. He was almost 56 years old and the eighth Governor to die in office. No Governor of Delaware had experienced such a difficult term of office, but Cannon remained steadfast in spite of it all.

{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
-bgcolor=#cccccc!colspan=12 style="background: #ccccff;" |Delaware General Assembly
"(sessions while Governor)"
-!Year!Assembly!!Senate Majority!Speaker!!House Majority!Speaker
-
1863-1864
72nd|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |John R. Tatum|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |John Sorden
-
1865-1866
73rd|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |Gove Saulsbury|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |Shephard P. Houston
-
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Death and legacy

Cannon died March 1 1865 at Bridgeville, in Sussex County, Delaware, and was buried at Bridgeville Methodist Cemetery in Bridgeville. His son Philip Laws Cannon became the first Lieutenant Governor of Delaware in 1901.

Almanac

Elections are held on the first Tuesday after November 1st. Members of the Delaware General Assembly took office in the first Tuesday of January. State Representatives have a term of two years. The Governor takes office the third Tuesday in January, and has a four year term.

{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
-bgcolor=#cccccc!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" | Public Offices
-! Office! Type! Location! Elected! Took Office! Left Office! notes
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
State Representative
Legislature
Dover
1844
January 6 1845
January 6 1847|
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
State Representative
Legislature
Dover
1846
January 6 1847
January 6 1849|
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
State Treasurer
Executive
Dover|
January 6 1849
January 6 1851|
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
Governor
Executive
Dover
1862
January 20 1863
March 1 1865
died in office
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
-bgcolor=#cccccc!colspan=7 style="background: #ccccff;" |Delaware General Assembly "service"
-! Dates! Assembly! Chamber! Majority! Governor! Committees! District
-Party shading/Whig
1845-1846
63rd
State House
Whig
Thomas Stockton|
Sussex "at-large"
-Party shading/Whig
1847-1848
64th
State House
Whig
William Tharp|
Sussex "at-large"
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

{|class=wikitable style="width: 94%" style="text-align: center;" align="center"
-bgcolor=#cccccc!colspan=12 style="background: #ccccff;" |Election results
-!Year!Office!!Subject!Party!Votes!%!!Opponent!Party!Votes!%
-
1862
Governor|
Party shading/Republican |William Cannon
Party shading/Republican |Republican
Party shading/Republican |8,155
Party shading/Republican |50%|
Party shading/Democratic |Samuel Jefferson
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |8,044
Party shading/Democratic |50%
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

References

*cite book |title = History of the State of Delaware |last= Conrad |first= Henry C. |coauthors= |work= |publisher= Wickersham Company |location= Lancaster, Pennsylvania |pages= |year= 1908 |id=
*cite book |title = Delaware during the Civil War |last= Hancock |first= Harold Bell. |coauthors= |work= |publisher= Historical Society of Delaware |location= Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year= 1961 |id= ISBN 0-924117-24-9
*cite book |title = Democracy in Delaware |last= Hoffecker |first= Carol E. |coauthors= |work= |publisher= Cedar Tree Books |location= Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year= 2004 |id= ISBN 1-892142-23-6
*cite book |title = History of Delaware Through its Governors |last= Martin |first= Roger A. |coauthors= |work= |publisher= McClafferty Press |location= Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year= 1984 |id=
*cite book |title = Memoirs of the Senate |last = Martin |first = Roger A. |coauthors = |work = |publisher = Roger A. Martin |location = Newark, DE |year = 1995 |id =
*cite book |title = History of Delaware 1609-1888. 2 vols. |last = Scharf |first = John Thomas |coauthors = |work = |publisher = L. J. Richards & Co. |location = Philadelphia |year = 1888 |id =

=

* [http://www.state.de.us/research/Tour/information/Governors/govs-18.shtml Hall of Governors Portrait Gallery] . "Portrait courtesy of Historical and Cultural Affairs, Dover"

External links

* [http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=ec5b224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD William Cannon at the "Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States"]
*Find A Grave|id=7498957
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/cannon.html#RKD0J4DM9 William Cannon at the "Political Graveyard"]
* [http://www.russpickett.com/history/delgov3.htm#cannon William Cannon at "Delaware’s Governors"]

Places with more information

* [http://www.hsd.org/ Historical Society of Delaware] , 505 Market St., Wilmington, Delaware [phone]
* [http://www.lib.udel.edu/ University of Delaware Library] , 181 South College Ave., Newark, Delaware [phone]