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Beriah Magoffin
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Beriah Magoffin
Beriah Magoffin (April 18, 1815 – February 28, 1885) was the 21st governor of Kentucky, serving during the early part of the Civil War. Personally, Magoffin supported slavery, believed in the right of a state to secede from the Union, and sympathized with the Confederacy. Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a position of neutrality in the war, Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing calls for aid from both the Union and Confederate governments.
In special elections held in June 1861, Unionists captured nine of Kentucky's ten congressional seats and obtained two-thirds majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Despite Magoffin's strict adherence to the policy of neutrality, the Unionist legislature did not trust him and routinely overrode his vetoes. Unable to provide effective leadership due to a hostile legislature, Magoffin agreed to resign as governor in 1862, provided he could choose his successor. Lieutenant governor Linn Boyd had died in office, and Magoffin refused to allow Speaker of the Senate John F. Fisk to succeed him as governor. Accordingly, Fisk resigned and the Kentucky Senate elected Magoffin's choice, James F. Robinson, as speaker. Magoffin then resigned, Robinson ascended to the governorship, and Fisk was re-elected as Speaker of the Senate.
After the war, he encouraged acceptance of the Union victory and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. He died February 28, 1885. Magoffin County, Kentucky, was named in his honor.
Beriah Magoffin was born on April 18, 1815, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He was the son of Beriah and Jane (McAfee) Magoffin. His father was an immigrant from County Down, Ireland, and his mother was the daughter of Samuel McAfee, a prominent pioneer in early Kentucky.
Magoffin's early education was obtained in the common schools of Harrodsburg. In 1835, he graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and in 1838, he earned a law degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Afterward, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he began his legal career. From 1838 to 1839, he served as Reading Clerk for the Mississippi state senate.
Magoffin returned to Kentucky in 1839 due to an illness. He continued his legal practice in Harrodsburg, and was appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P. Letcher in 1840. On April 21, 1840, he married Anna Nelson Shelby. Shelby was the granddaughter of Kentucky's first and fifth governor, Isaac Shelby. Ten of the couple's children survived infancy.
Magoffin became active in the Democratic Party, serving as a presidential elector in 1844, 1848, 1852, and 1856 and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848, 1856, 1860, and 1872. He served one term in the Kentucky Senate in 1850, but declined his party's nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851. In 1855 was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, running on a ticket with Beverly L. Clarke, who was defeated by Know Nothing candidate Charles S. Morehead.
Magoffin was elected Governor of Kentucky in the 1859 Kentucky gubernatorial election over Joshua Fry Bell, taking office on August 30. He supported states' rights and the institution of slavery. Although he believed in the right of states to secede from the union, he hoped to avoid this outcome by reaching an agreement between the southern and northern states. To that end, he wrote a circular letter to the governors of the slave states on December 9, 1860, detailing a plan to save the Union.
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Beriah Magoffin
Beriah Magoffin (April 18, 1815 – February 28, 1885) was the 21st governor of Kentucky, serving during the early part of the Civil War. Personally, Magoffin supported slavery, believed in the right of a state to secede from the Union, and sympathized with the Confederacy. Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a position of neutrality in the war, Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing calls for aid from both the Union and Confederate governments.
In special elections held in June 1861, Unionists captured nine of Kentucky's ten congressional seats and obtained two-thirds majorities in both houses of the state legislature. Despite Magoffin's strict adherence to the policy of neutrality, the Unionist legislature did not trust him and routinely overrode his vetoes. Unable to provide effective leadership due to a hostile legislature, Magoffin agreed to resign as governor in 1862, provided he could choose his successor. Lieutenant governor Linn Boyd had died in office, and Magoffin refused to allow Speaker of the Senate John F. Fisk to succeed him as governor. Accordingly, Fisk resigned and the Kentucky Senate elected Magoffin's choice, James F. Robinson, as speaker. Magoffin then resigned, Robinson ascended to the governorship, and Fisk was re-elected as Speaker of the Senate.
After the war, he encouraged acceptance of the Union victory and passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. He died February 28, 1885. Magoffin County, Kentucky, was named in his honor.
Beriah Magoffin was born on April 18, 1815, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky. He was the son of Beriah and Jane (McAfee) Magoffin. His father was an immigrant from County Down, Ireland, and his mother was the daughter of Samuel McAfee, a prominent pioneer in early Kentucky.
Magoffin's early education was obtained in the common schools of Harrodsburg. In 1835, he graduated from Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and in 1838, he earned a law degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. Afterward, he moved to Jackson, Mississippi, where he began his legal career. From 1838 to 1839, he served as Reading Clerk for the Mississippi state senate.
Magoffin returned to Kentucky in 1839 due to an illness. He continued his legal practice in Harrodsburg, and was appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P. Letcher in 1840. On April 21, 1840, he married Anna Nelson Shelby. Shelby was the granddaughter of Kentucky's first and fifth governor, Isaac Shelby. Ten of the couple's children survived infancy.
Magoffin became active in the Democratic Party, serving as a presidential elector in 1844, 1848, 1852, and 1856 and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848, 1856, 1860, and 1872. He served one term in the Kentucky Senate in 1850, but declined his party's nomination for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1851. In 1855 was the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, running on a ticket with Beverly L. Clarke, who was defeated by Know Nothing candidate Charles S. Morehead.
Magoffin was elected Governor of Kentucky in the 1859 Kentucky gubernatorial election over Joshua Fry Bell, taking office on August 30. He supported states' rights and the institution of slavery. Although he believed in the right of states to secede from the union, he hoped to avoid this outcome by reaching an agreement between the southern and northern states. To that end, he wrote a circular letter to the governors of the slave states on December 9, 1860, detailing a plan to save the Union.
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