1869 Texas gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1869 Texas gubernatorial election Texas November 30, 1869 presidential 1866 Texas gubernatorial election 1866 1873 Texas gubernatorial election 1873 58.52% 11.75 pphttps://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123776/m1/228/?q=election%20returns Texas Almanac of 1871 Portal to Texas History 30 Jan 2024 Edmund Davis (cropped).jpg Edmund J. Davis Republican Party (United States) Radical Republicans 39,867 50.25% Andrew Jackson Hamilton.jpg Andrew J. Hamilton #ff6600ff Republican Party (United States) Conservative Republicans Democratic 39,092 49.27% 1869 Texas gubernatorial election results map by county.svg County resultshttps://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123775/m1/196/ Texas Almanac of 1870 19 Dec 2023 Davis #e27f7fff 50–60% #d75d5dff 60–70% #e52729ff 70–80% #c9120fff 80–90% #ad1816ff >90% Hamilton #ff9955ff 50–60% #ff7f2aff 60–70% #ff6600ff 70–80% #e05a00ff 80–90% #c04d00ff >90% Unknown/no vote #808080ff Governor Elisha M. Pease Republican Party (United States) Governor-elect Edmund J. Davis Republican Party (United States) The 1869 Texas gubernatorial election was held to elect the governor of Texas. Incumbent Governor Elisha M. Pease, who had been appointed by military governor Philip Sheridan, did not run for re-election. Edmund J. Davis narrowly defeated former Governor Andrew J. Hamilton. Davis' narrow victory exemplified the tenuous hold Republicans had on the state even in the early stages of Reconstruction, indicating that their time in power likely would not last long.Foner Eric Eric Foner Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863–1877 HarperCollins 2014 978-0-06-235451-8 Updated New York, NY 414 en This was the last election for governor of Texas won by the Republican Party until 1978; both candidates were nominally members of the party, with Hamilton being a Unionist and former Democrat and Davis being a Radical Republican. Background This was the first election held under the newly adopted state Constitution of 1869 which had been ratified in July.McKay S. S. 1952 Understanding the Constitution of 1869: A Shift in Texas Governance https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitution-of-1869 2026-04-15 Texas State Historical Association en At the end of the Civil War, the Union required that all of the former Confederate states adopt a new state constitution which abolished slavery in order to rejoin the Union. Texas had adopted and ratified a constitution that accomplished this in 1866, but Congress did not approve the document because even though it abolished slavery it still prevented freedmen from participating in the political process.Elliot Claude 1952 The Texas Constitutional Convention of 1866: A Historical Overview https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitutional-convention-of-1866 2026-04-20 Texas State Historical Association enMcKay S. S. 1952 Overview of the Constitutional Convention of 1866 https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/constitution-of-1866 2026-04-20 Texas State Historical Association en This led to a second convention being called which adopted a more progressive document. At the time, the state was under martial law and occupied by federal troops as part of the 5th Military Reconstruction District. In 1867, military governor Philip Sheridan had removed several state officials for being an "impediment to reconstruction", including the winner of the 1866 gubernatorial election James Throckmorton and replaced him with his Republican opponent in that race Elisha M. Pease.Minor David Throckmorton, James Webb https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fth36 Handbook of Texas Online Texas State Historical Association April 22, 2026 The relationship between Pease and the military administration was strained and on September 30, 1869 he resigned the office due to differences with military governor Gen. Joseph J. Reynolds.https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/pease-elisha-marshall April 22, 2026 February 28, 2020 Elisha Marshall Pease Griffin Roger Handbook of Texas Online General election The election was one of the most turbulent and controversial in Texas history. General J. J. Reynolds ordered the drawing up of a new voter registration list, eliminating many of those who had qualified in 1867. Troops stationed at the polls who expressed favor for the Davis campaign probably prevented many Democrats from voting. Only about half of the registered white voters actually cast a ballot, and many polling places were either not opened, or ordered closed. Violence and voter suppression against the state's black voters also took place, with the election board in Navarro County refusing to accept any of their ballots. The county's black voters then traveled to Milam County to try to vote, sparking a riot. The army closed polling places in both counties, and neither had their ballots counted.Moneyhon Carl H. https://books.google.com/books?id=ymMwuC6V14gC Republicanism in Reconstruction Texas Texas A&M University Press 2002 9781585441723 123–126 en Republicans in the Election of 1869 Many irregularities were reported but never investigated, and official returns reported that Davis won by slightly less than 800 votes.https://txarchives.org/tslac/finding_aids/40016.xml Texas Archival Resources Online 19 Dec 2023 Candidates Edmund J. Davis, Union Army Brigadier General, delegate at the Secession Convention, and former district attorney and judge of Webb County (Radical Republican)https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/davis-edmund-jackson TSHA Edmund J. Davis Moneyhon Carl H. Texas State Historical Archive 1952 2 March 2026 Andrew J. Hamilton, Justice on the Texas Supreme Court, former governor (1865 – 1866), former congressman (1859 – 1861) (Conservative Republican) Hamilton Stuart, newspaper editor (Independent Democrat)The Galveston Daily News, October 5, 1869, page 2. newspapers.com/newspage/22731244/https://archive.org/details/platformsofpolit00winkrich/page/122/mode/2up Platforms of political parties in Texas Winkler William Ernest Internet Archive 1916 2 March 2026 Results 1869 Texas gubernatorial electionhttps://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123775/m1/196/ Texas Almanac of 1870 19 Dec 2023 Edmund J. Davis Republican Party (United States) 39,867 50.25% Andrew J. Hamilton Republican Party (United States) 39,092 49.27% Hamilton Stuart Independent Democrat 380 0.48% 79,339 100.00% References 1869 Texas Category:1869 Texas elections