Ashbel P. Willard

Infobox Politician
name =Ashbel Parsons Willard

---

birth_date= October 31, 1820
birth_place= Oneida County, New York.
death_date= October 3, 1860
death_place= St. Paul, Minnesota
party = Democrat
religion = Methodist
alma_mater =Hamilton College
order =
office =Indiana House of Representatives
term_start =December 5, 1850
term_end =December 4, 1852
office1 =Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
term_start1 =December 5, 1852
term_end1 =January 25, 1857
lieutenant2 = Abram A. Hammond
office2 =Governor of Indiana
order2 =Eleventh
term_start2 =January 25, 1857
term_end2 =October 3, 1860
predecessor2 =Joseph A. Wright
successor2 =Abram A. Hammond

Ashbel Parsons Willard (October 31, 1820–October 4, 1860) at age thirty-six, became the youngest man to be elected governor of the U.S. state of Indiana. His term was marked by severe partisanship and the breakup of the state Democratic Party in the years leading up to the American Civil War. He died two months before the start of the war while giving a speech on national unity, the first governor of Indiana to die in office.

Biography

Early life

Ashbel Parson's Willard was born on October 20, 1820 in Oneida County, New York. There he attended Hamilton College and studied law with Judge Barker. He moved to Marshall, Michigan in 1842 and lived there for about a year. In 1843 he made a trip to Texas on horseback and on his return stopped in Carrolton, Kentucky; he so liked the town he settled there for a year and became a local school teacher. After living there about a year there he moved again to Louisville, Kentucky where he continued teaching. In his spare time he read and studied. [Woollen, p. 104]

In the 1844 election Willard, a Democrat, stumped all around the Louisville area and southern Indiana for James Polk who ultimately won the election. While on the stump the people of New Albany, Indiana so liked him that they invited him to come live in their community. He accepted their offer and moved there in the spring of 1845 and setup a law office. Finding there to be a lack of clients, he also worked for a time as a writer in the clerk's office to obtain extra income. New Albany remained his home for the rest of his life.Woollen, p. 105]

Public life

General Assembly

In 1849 Willard became a New Albany councilman, furthering his local popularity. In 1850 he was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives as New Albany's representative. He chaired the states Ways and Means Committee, became Speaker of the House. His rapid progress quickly led him to become a leader in the state Democratic Party. In the General Assembly he was known for his wit and oratory, and won most debates he entered.

In 1852 he was nominated to the candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Indiana at the state Democratic Convention. The ticket won, in large part because of the stumping of Willard, and he served with Gov. Joseph A. Wright until his resignation on January 26, 1857. During his term as President of the Senate, the senate was closing split between the parties and during the election of a United States Senator, the house had a tie vote. Not liking either candidate, Willard refused to break the tie and Indiana remained several years with only one Senator in Congress. Willard was bitterly antagonistic towards the small Know-Nothing party, a fact that would create problems for him when it's member joined the Republican Party.Woollen, p. 106]

Governor

In 1856 Willard was nominated to run as the Democratic Candidate for Governor. He was opposed in the election by Oliver P. Morton, the most influential among the opposition. The election was referred to as the "battle of the Giants", both men being among the most astute politicians in the history of the state. When Willard became governor.Goodrich, p. 224]

Willard's term was marked with severe partisanship and in-fighting in the Democratic Party. The Know-Nothing Party quickly fell apart but was replaced by the strengthening Republican Party, who were large enough to block anything the Democrats attempted to do in the assembly. The divisive atmosphere left the General Assembly in deadlock for most of his term, leading him to call the first special session of the body in state history, because the parties could not agree on the terms of a budget.

In 1857, the Republicans gained significant strength in the General Assembly, but the Democrats held the majority. The state still only had one Senator, and the Governor was hoping the have the assembly elect one. The Republicans, who still angry over Willard's acts in the body, refusing to enter the joint session necessary to elect a senator. Willard instructed the Democrats to meet without the Republicans and elect a Senator anyway. The dubious legality of the issue was considered outrageous by the Republican's. [Woollen, p. 111]

While governor, Willard's his brother-in-law John Cook was involved in John Brown's Raid on Harpers Ferry, an armed insurrection to free slaves in Virginia, and sentenced to death. Willard, determined to save his brother-in-law, went to him in prison and arranged to have his cell left open so he could escape. Cook refused to be released and was subsequently executed despite Willard's pleas to Governor Wise to stay his death sentence. [Woollen, p. 110] Governor Wise accused Willard of being behind the entire affair, claiming to have secret intelligence from Washington D.C. Wise claimed that Willard had sought Brown's services through his brother-in-law and secretly commissioned the insurrection. Willard was vilified in newspapers across the south and even in some part of the north.Dunn, p. 562] [Woolen, p. 110]

Willard found himself on the opposite side of the slavery debate as his brother-in-law. Although Indiana was a free state, he thought southerners should maintain the right to determine the slavery issue for their selves. The Republican Party split from the Democrats during Willard's tenure as governor and he occupied a precarious time in the history of the nation as the whole country was on the edge of the impending American Civil War.

Willard ran for reelection in 1859 against Republican Henry S. Lane, who had Oliver Morton as a Lieutenant Governor. The election was as divisive as the politics of his term, and he was defeated by the Republicans.Woollen, p. 117]

Death and legacy

Willard had been in poor health for some years, and it began to deteriorate quickly in 1860. That year the Democratic Party was struggling with internal problems, and the that nation was on the brink of Civil War. Willard attended the state Democratic convention in Columbus, his last political appearance in the state. His party was so wracked with problems, it proposed by a party member that the crowd give three cheers for the Republican Candidates, who they believed would save the Union. Willard quickly ascended to the podium and rebuked the party and begged for unity. His speech was so forceful, he quickly became more ill than ever. His lungs were hemorrhaging, but his doctors were able to stop the bleeding. Shortly after, Willard traveled to St. Paul, Minnesota on a tour to promote goodwill among the states. Willard died from internal bleeding while giving a speech there on October 3, 1860. He was the first Governor of Indian to die in office. He was laid in state in Indianapolis and his bier was attended by thousands, a buried in New Albany.Woollen, p. 107]

Willard was succeeded by his Lieutenant Governor Abram Hammond who fulfilled the final three months of his term. Willard's death had profound negative consequences for the state Democratic Party. Although he helped keep the Democrats in control of the General Assembly going into the Civil War, things quickly feel apart for his party. As the primary enforcer of party unity, the duty fell to Jesse D. Bright, who was soon caught up in scandal. [Woollen, p. 110] Many members of the party joined the Republicans and two decades would pass before his party would regain power.

ee also

*List of Governors of Indiana

Notes

References

*cite book|title=Indiana and Indianans|author=Dunn, Jacob Piatt|publisher=American Historical Society|year=1919
*cite book|author=Goodrich, De Witt Clinton & Tuttle, Charles Richard |title=An Illustrated History of the State of Indiana|year=1875|publisher=R. S. Peale & co|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=YDIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=goodrich+indiana+history+illustrated&as_brr=3
*cite book|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PCbZ8rS-84gC|title=Biographical and Historical Sketches of Early Indiana|author=Woollen, William Wesley|publisher=Ayer Publishing|year=1975|isbn=0405068964

External links

* [http://www.statelib.lib.in.us/www/ihb/govportraits/willard.html Biography and portrait from Indiana State Library]