Highlights Archives
The Year Wisconsin Had Two Governors
On January 3, 2007, Jim Doyle and Barbara Lawton were sworn in for a second time as the Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively, of Wisconsin at the state Capitol. Inaugurations are generally thought of as grand affairs, full of sparkly gowns like this one worn by Governor Tommy Thompson's wife Sue Ann, and attended by hundreds of supporters, though Governor Anthony Earl did shake things up a bit when he had a "beer and pretzels" party at the University of Wisconsin Field House. But even that was nothing compared to the year that Wisconsin had two governors ... and two inaugurations.
The year was 1856 when, after a close election in the fall of 1855, two men not only claimed to be Wisconsin's governor but also took the oath of office. Democrats had controlled the state for years, and when incumbent Democrat William Barstow ran for re-election in 1855, he assumed he would win an easy victory over Republican challenger Coles Bashford. But the Republicans took him by surprise. Barstow won by such a slim margin that the Republicans claimed victory and charged the Democrats with vote tampering.
The election unresolved, both Barstow and Bashford held swearing in ceremonies at the Capitol on January 7, 1856. Barstow's inauguration was full of "pomp and circumstance," according to the Milwaukee Journal, as he traveled from Milwaukee to Madison on a special train accompanied by seven companies of national guardsmen. Riding into Madison in a fancy carriage called a barouche, Barstow was met by a crowd of 2,000 with flags flying as he made his way to the Senate chamber, where the oath was administered by Circuit Court Judge A.L. Collins.
A few hours later, a wholly different scene unfolded when Bashford slipped into the state Supreme Court and took the oath from the Chief Justice, Edward Vernon Whiton. Whiton had also been invited to give the oath to Barstow but when Barstow heard that Whiton was planning on administering the oath to Bashford too, Barstow sent word that he had made other plans. Later that same day, Governor Bashford sent a letter to Governor Barstow demanding that he give up the executive office — a demand that was, not surprisingly, refused.
Wisconsin could not have two governors, however. The Supreme Court investigated and found that ballots had been tampered with, returns supposedly sent from outlying counties had in fact been written on paper only used under the Capitol dome, and that vote totals had been tallied from northern townships where no voters actually lived.
As the evidence of fraud mounted against Barstow, he withdrew from the race on March 21, 1856, leaving his Lieutenant Governor, Arthur MacArthur, as the state's chief executive. On March 25 the Supreme Court gave its final ruling in the case and named Coles Bashford Wisconsin's governor.
Governor Doyle's inauguration is sure to be less fraught, though no less grand.
Related Links:
:: Posted January 3, 2007
|
