Gove Saulsbury

Infobox Officeholder
honorific-prefix =
name = Gove Saulsbury
honorific-suffix =


imagesize =
small

office = Governor of Delaware
term_start = March 1 1865
term_end = January 17 1871
predecessor = William Cannon
successor = James Ponder
birth_date = birth date|1815|5|29|mf=y
birth_place = Kent County, Delaware
death_date = death date and age|1881|7|31|1815|5|29
death_place = Dover, Delaware
spouse = Rosina Jane Smith
party = Democratic
residence = Dover, Delaware
alma_mater = Delaware College
occupation =
profession = physician
religion = Methodist

Dr. Gove Saulsbury (May 29 1815 – July 31 1881) was an American physician and politician from Dover, in Kent County, Delaware. He was a member of the Democratic Party, and he served in the Delaware General Assembly and as Governor of Delaware.

Early life and family

Saulsbury was born on May 29, 1815, in Mispillion Hundred, Kent County, Delaware, son of William and Margaret Ann Smith Saulsbury. His father was a descendant of the Salusbury Family of Wales, but changed the spelling of the name after the American Revolution due to his family's loyalist sympathies. He was the older brother of U.S. Senators Willard Saulsbury, Sr., and Eli M. Saulsbury and the uncle of U.S. Senator Willard Saulsbury, Jr. Gove Saulsbury attended Delaware College in Newark and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1842. He married Rosina Jane Smith and had five children: Margaret, Olivia Smith, Rosa, Gove, and William. Saulsbury was a medical doctor and lived at the northwest corner of the Green in Dover. He and his family were members of the Methodist Church. In 1861 he was President of the Delaware Medical Society.

Political career

Saulsbury was elected to the State Senate and served in the 1863/64 and 1865/66 sessions. He was the Speaker in the 1865/66 session and succeeded to the office of Governor of Delaware on the death of Governor William Cannon on March 1, 1865. Defeating James Riddle of New Castle County, he was elected to a full term in his own right in 1866, and continued in office until January 17, 1871. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1876.

With Saulsbury as governor, the Democratic Party took full control in Delaware. Under Saulsbury’s leadership, this was a party that bitterly detested virtually anything associated with the Republican policies of the federal government, particularly its actions to end slavery and to expand the rights of African-Americans. Strongly opposed to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, Saulsbury and the Democrats took every possible step to frustrate their implementation and deny the new rights given to African-Americans. This included the recommendation that African-Americans convicted of certain crimes be sold back into slavery. This fear-mongering was so successful that no Republicans were elected to the Delaware General Assembly in 1868, and hardly any were elected for many years thereafter.

When Saulsbury’s term was over, he wanted to assume the U.S. Senate seat held by his brother, Willard Saulsbury. Willard had compromised himself with a well-known drinking problem, and many wanted him replaced. Unfortunately for Gove Saulsbury, the third brother, Eli M. Saulsbury also wanted the seat. After much balloting in the General Assembly, it became apparent to Willard that he could not win, so he switched his votes to Eli, who consequently won. Gove Saulsbury returned to his medical practice full time.

{|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
-
1865-1866
73rd|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |William Hitch|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |Shephard P. Houston
-
1867-1868
74th|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |James Ponder|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |William A. Polk
-
1869-1870
75th|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |James Williams|
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |John Hickman
-
###@@@KEYEND@@@###

Death and legacy

Saulsbury died on July 31, 1881, in Dover, and he is buried in the Whatcoat Methodist Cemetery there. He was President of the Delaware Medical Society in 1861, and in 1873 was one of the founders of Wesley College in Dover.

Saulsbury was a strong and effective leader for a bitterly reactionary majority in Delaware, and his policies set the tone and the agenda for much political activity for a generation. According to Scharf, Saulsbury had “a deep sense of personal responsibility. He had a strong will and asserted his opinions earnestly and often, and as it seemed to those who differed with him, obstinately.” Governor Robert J. Reynolds described him as “distinguished for his cunning. He was the slyest, cunningest man, and the most natural born politician Delaware ever produced." He was said to have “never apologized, compromised, or surrendered, unless it was in his interest.”

Almanac

Elections are held the first Tuesday after November 1st. Members of the Delaware General Assembly took office the first Tuesday of January. State senators have a four year term. The governor takes office the third Tuesday of 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 Senator
Legislature
Dover
1862
January 6 1863
March 1 1865|
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
Governor
Executive
Dover|
March 1 1865
January 15 1867
acting
-Party shading/Anti-Jacksonian
Governor
Executive
Dover
1866
January 15 1867
January 17 1871|
###@@@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/Democratic
1863-1864
72nd
State Senate
Democratic
William Cannon|
Kent "at-large"
-Party shading/Democratic
1865-1866
73rd
State Senate
Democratic
William Cannon
Speaker
Kent "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!%
-
1866
Governor|
Party shading/Democratic |Gove Saulsbury
Party shading/Democratic |Democratic
Party shading/Democratic |9,810
Party shading/Democratic |53%|
Party shading/Republican |James Riddle
Party shading/Republican |Republican
Party shading/Republican |8,598
Party shading/Republican |47%
###@@@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 B. |coauthors= |work= |publisher= Historical Society of Delaware |location= Wilmington, Delaware |pages= |year= 1961 |id=
*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= A 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, Delaware |pages= |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 |pages= |year= 1888 |id= ISBN 0-87413-493-5
*cite book |title= Forgotten Heroes of Delaware |last= Wilson |first= Emerson |coauthors= |work= |publisher= Deltos Publishing Company |location= Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages= |year= 1969 |id=

=

* [http://www.state.de.us/research/Tour/information/Governors/govs-19.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=fe5b224971c81010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD Gove Saulsbury at the "Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States"]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/sarig-saunder.html#RKD0J6IF6 Gove Saulsbury at the "Political Graveyard"]
*Find A Grave|id=7498971
* [http://www.russpickett.com/history/delgov3.htm#gsaul Gove Saulsbury 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]