1831 Indiana gubernatorial election

none January 2025 January 2025 1831 Indiana gubernatorial election Indiana File:Flag of the United States (1822–1836).svg Presidential no 1828 Indiana gubernatorial election 1828 1834 Indiana gubernatorial election 1834 August 1, 1831 100px Noah Noble af8100 23,518 45.61% 100x100px James G. Read 5aadc8 21,002 40.73% 100x100px Milton Stapp d25a1e 6,984 13.54% 1831 Indiana gubernatorial election.svg 175px County results Noble: #f2e5c0 30–40% #dbc17a 40–50% #c69f34 50–60% #af8100 60–70% #987000 70–80% #7a5a00 80–90% #5c4300 >90%Read: #dcf1f8 30–40% #afd8e5 40–50% #85c3d7 50–60% #5aadc8 60–70% #2a96ba 70–80%Stapp: #ecb397 40–50% #e0895d 50–60%#808080 Non-voting area Governor James B. Ray Noah Noble The 1831 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on August 1, 1831, under the provisions of the Constitution of Indiana. It was the sixth gubernatorial election in the State of Indiana. Noah Noble, a former state representative from Franklin County serving since 1830 as one of the commissioners of the Michigan Road, defeated state Representative James G. Read and outgoing Lieutenant Governor Milton Stapp. The election took place concurrently with races for lieutenant governor and members of the Indiana General Assembly.Riker and Thornbrough, 141-43 James B. Ray, the controversial incumbent governor, was term-limited and ineligible to run for a third consecutive mandate. Ray's popularity had declined precipitously following his narrow re-election in 1828. A contentious battle to shape the composition of the state supreme court left a permanent mark on his reputation, as Ray was accused of arranging judicial nominations to promote his candidacy for the United States Senate. Much of his term was consumed by efforts to establish a state system of roads and canals. The centerpiece of this system was the Michigan Road running from Madison to Logansport. Over Ray's objections, the legislature named Noble a commissioner on the project to oversee awarding contracts for completion of the road in sections. By the end of 1830 all 163 miles of the road had been let to contractors at a total cost of over $62,000, making significant progress towards the opening of the road.Carmony, 128-29; 137-39 Ray courted further controversy when he intervened in the case of four enslaved women of color brought into Indiana by their enslaver, William Sewell. Sewell was a Virginian traveling west when he was detained for several days in Indianapolis. Informed of their presence in a free state, the women left Sewell but were quickly retaken and brought before the circuit court on a writ of habeas corpus. Ray testified on the women's behalf, arguing that Sewell had forfeited all legal claim to his so-called property by traveling voluntarily to a free state. Judge Bethuel Morris concurred with Ray, ruling in favor of the women's freedom. Ray's testimony prompted severe rebuke from members of the state legislature. In 1831, the state adopted legislation to limit the migration of free people of color into Indiana, requiring that every African American resident post a $500 bond upon their arrival in the state and register with the local courts. Ray supported the legislation, wishing both to preserve Indiana's status as a free state and to forestall large-scale Black migration.Salafia, 157-58 As early as 1830, Noble and Stapp were mentioned as likely candidates to succeed Ray. As both men were outspoken Anti-Jacksonians, Jacksonians in the state sought to nominate their own candidate, eventually settling on Read. As in the previous election, the intrusion of national parties in state politics was a contentious issue. Internal improvements were a major issue in the campaign, as was slavery. Noble was criticized for using his office as contract commissioner for the Michigan Road to promote his campaign and for facilitating an illegal slave sale eleven years earlier. He nevertheless defeated Read by a narrow margin of 2,500 votes, with Stapp finishing a distant third.Carmony, 146-49 This was the last gubernatorial election before the introduction of formal party organizations in Indiana. While Read's candidacy originated with a gathering of Jacksonian lawmakers, both the candidates and affiliated newspapers denied the election was a partisan contest. Although Andrew Jackson had handily carried Indiana in the most recent presidential election and remained popular in the state, the outspokenly Anti-Jacksonian Noble defeated Read even despite a rival Anti-Jacksonian in the race. Historians Dorothy Riker and Gayle Thornbrough assign no party labels to the candidates.Carmony, 147-48Riker and Thornbrough, 141 Candidates Anti-Jacksonian candidacies Before the end of 1830, Noble and Stapp were being openly spoken of as candidates for governor in the approaching election. Stapp had narrowly won the 1828 election for lieutenant governor, defeating Jacksonian Abel C. Pepper by 633 votes out of 35,157 cast. While Noble had previously been elected to the state House of Representatives from Franklin County, his most recent service was as contract commissioner for the Michigan Road. Both men announced their candidacies in the pages of the Indiana Journal, a partisan Anti-Jacksonian paper.Carmony, 146Indiana Historical Bureau In early March 1831, James Scott, who for more than a decade had served as one of the original justices of the state supreme court, asked that his name be put forward as a candidate for governor. Scott had been at the center of a dispute between outgoing Governor Ray and the Indiana Senate over the composition of the court, with Ray resisting senators' calls to renominate Scott and fellow Justice Jesse Lynch Holman for a third consecutive seven-year term. Ray was accused of leveraging the appointments to promote his candidacy for the United States Senate, while Ray charged that the senate had acted improperly by attempting to dictate the actions of the executive. Scott ultimately was not nominated, and his term expired at the end of 1830.Carmony, 128-29; 146 Jacksonian candidacies As early as January 1830, Indiana Jacksonians planned to bring forward their own candidate in opposition to Noble and Stapp. A gathering of Jacksonian lawmakers and public officials late in the year nominated John Tipton for governor and Read for lieutenant governor. Tipton was a prominent man and outspoken supporter of Jackson, a federal Indian agent, local politician, had served in the War of 1812, and represented Harrison, Crawford, and Floyd counties in the Indiana House of Representatives. In a letter dated December 18, state Representative Joseph Holman informed Tipton of the nominations, though no notice appeared in published accounts of the meeting. Tipton, however, apparently had little interest in the governorship, for he neither acknowledged nor announced his candidacy, possibly because he hoped to be elected to the United States Senate when the legislature met in 1831. In May, Jacksonians, apparently having given up on Tipton, began urging voters to support Read as the candidate for governor in the pages of the Indiana Democrat.Carmony, 146-47Biographical Directory Campaign The role of national parties in the gubernatorial campaign was as controversial as it had been in 1828. The lack of party labels made it possible for candidates to deny accusations of partisanship even while campaigning for votes on a partisan basis among their own supporters. As his candidacy had originated with an 1830 gathering of Jacksonian officeholders, Read was denounced in the opposition press as a caucus candidate, by implication a careerist and a partisan. Noble was ridiculed for campaigning as an independent among Jacksonians and as a supporter of Henry Clay among Anti-Jacksonians. While Read publicly aligned himself with the Jackson administration, he stopped short of a direct appeal for partisanship, a boundary the Jackson state central committee did not observe.Carmony, 147-48 As the election neared, Noble and Read quickly emerged as the major contenders, as Stapp and the other candidates fell behind. Both candidates were criticized for using their official positions to promote their candidacies: Noble was still serving as contract commissioner for the Michigan Road, while Read had been appointed receiver of the federal land office at Jeffersonville. Read came under scrutiny for allegedly using the United States Postal Service to distribute campaign materials at public expense, but denied personal involvement. Noble's surrogates relied on characterizations of Jacksonians as craven office-seekers, referring to the spoils system, of which Noble had been a victim.Carmony, 147-48 Internal improvements The American System and proposed state system of roads and canals were major issues in the campaign. Both candidates identified themselves as strongly in favor of internal improvements and a protective tariff. Read argued that projects of national importance should be funded federally, while "local" projects were the provenance of the states. Whereas Noble explicitly endorsed the existing federal tariff, Read carefully expressed support for a "moderate" tariff but avoided committing himself to the Tariff of Abominations, which many Jacksonians still opposed.Carmony, 147-48 Slavery Noble was a native Virginian and both his father and his father-in-law had owned slaves. When he migrated to Indiana, he brought with him an enslaved woman given to him by his father-in-law and held her at Brookville, Indiana for several days before returning her to slavery in Kentucky. In 1820 he sold the woman at his father-in-law's direction. In light of the circuit court's 1829 ruling in the Sewall case, viz. that an enslaved person intentionally brought into a free state by their enslaver becomes free the moment their feet touch free soil, antislavery critics charged that Noble had illegally sold a free woman back into bondage. Noble countered that he had never intended to keep the woman in Indiana, and had only stopped in Brookville for a couple of days before continuing on to Kentucky, whereas Sewall had entered Indiana with the intent of settling in the free states with his slaves.Salafia, 159 The controversy exhibits the complexity of slavery as an issue in Indiana politics. Historian Matthew Salafia suggests the incident is evidence that candidates' "antislavery credentials" remained important in 1831, continuing from the territorial period. Accused of facilitating an illegal slave sale, Noble responded quickly to clarify his intent had not been to introduce slavery to Indiana in violation of the state's constitution. Yet Noble did not deny the sale itself, suggesting by implication the issue for voters was a desire to keep slavery (and African Americans) out of Indiana, and not a general concern for the welfare of Black people. In the August election, Noble was able to carry several traditionally antislavery eastern counties, including counties with large Quaker populations. Salafia argues this is evidence that Noble's popularity was ultimately unaffected by the controversy.Salafia, 159-60 Results Noble defeated Read by a narrow margin of roughly 2,500 votes, less than Ray's plurality in the closely contested election of 1828. He performed strongest in eastern and central Indiana, while Read's strength lay in the southwestern counties along the Ohio River. Stapp finished a distant third, with 13% of the vote and three counties; Scott, who had withdrawn from the race prior to the election, received 61 votes, while Robert Hanna (who would shortly be appointed to the United States Senate, replacing Noble's late elder brother, James Noble) received one vote.Riker and Thornbrough, 141-143Capitol & Washington Despite the candidates' claims to nonpartisanship, the election indicated the strength of Indiana Anti-Jacksonians in downballot races, as opponents of Jackson succeeded in electing David Wallace to succeed Stapp as lieutenant governor and kept their majority in the state legislature. In general, Noble did better in counties that supported John Quincy Adams in the 1828 presidential contest, while Read did better in counties which had supported Jackson, though Noble drew considerable support from Jacksonians.Carmony, 148-49 1831 Indiana gubernatorial electionCapitol & WashingtonRiker and Thornbrough, pp. 141-43 Nonpartisan candidate Noah Noble 23,518 45.61% Nonpartisan candidate James Gray Read 21,002 40.73% Nonpartisan candidate Milton Stapp 6,984 13.54% Nonpartisan candidate James Scott 61 0.12% Nonpartisan candidate Robert Hanna 1 0.00% 51,566 100.00% Results by county Noah Noble James G. Read Milton Stapp James Scott Robert Hanna County total County Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Percent Votes Allen 193 92.79 9 4.33 6 2.88 — — 208 Bartholomew 407 43.81 211 22.71 311 33.48 — — 929 Boone 58 33.33 100 57.47 16 9.20 — — 174 Carroll 171 53.94 142 44.79 4 1.26 — — 317 Cass 191 86.82 29 13.18 — — — 220 Clark 439 27.64 931 58.63 218 13.73 — — 1,588 Clay 56 21.62 114 44.02 89 34.36 — — 259 Clinton 150 76.14 38 19.29 9 4.57 — — 197 Crawford 312 58.88 180 33.96 38 7.17 — — 530 Daviess 298 36.21 503 61.12 22 2.67 — — 823 Dearborn 675 34.74 1,000 51.47 268 13.79 — — 1,943 Decatur 681 68.93 241 24.39 66 6.68 — — 988 Delaware 92 30.16 71 23.28 142 46.56 — — 305 Dubois 35 10.97 241 75.55 43 13.48 — — 319 Elkhart 159 87.36 21 11.54 2 1.10 — — 182 Fayette 637 44.42 690 48.12 107 7.46 — — 1,434 Floyd 347 36.99 466 49.68 125 13.33 — — 938 Fountain 578 46.02 622 49.52 56 4.46 — — 1,256 Franklin 820 68.16 306 25.44 77 6.40 — — 1,203 Gibson 399 48.01 425 51.14 7 0.84 — — 831 Grant 102 93.58 7 6.42 — — — 109 Greene 194 29.31 432 65.26 28 4.23 8 1.21 — 662 Hamilton 232 77.33 33 11.00 35 11.67 — — 300 Hancock 149 54.38 112 40.86 13 4.74 — — 274 Harrison 762 62.36 192 15.71 268 21.93 — — 1,222 Hendricks 26 6.63 311 79.34 55 14.03 — — 392 Henry 803 73.33 275 25.11 17 1.55 — — 1,095 Jackson 316 43.34 404 55.42 9 1.23 — — 729 Jefferson 130 7.92 529 32.24 982 59.84 — — 1,641 Jennings 200 28.65 218 31.23 280 40.11 — — 698 Johnson 276 39.32 213 30.34 213 30.34 — — 702 Knox 399 42.04 420 44.26 130 13.70 — — 949 Lawrence 661 55.78 416 35.11 104 8.78 4 0.34 — 1,185 Madison 357 79.87 84 18.79 6 1.34 — — 447 Marion 624 48.94 422 33.10 228 17.88 — 1 0.08 1,275 Martin 69 21.84 158 50.00 89 28.16 — — 316 Monroe 260 24.51 769 72.48 32 3.02 — — 1,061 Montgomery 280 28.43 391 39.70 309 31.37 5 0.51 — 985 Morgan 437 55.46 335 42.51 16 2.03 — — 788 Orange 339 35.57 588 61.70 23 2.41 3 0.31 — 953 Owen 257 40.60 348 54.98 28 4.42 — — 633 Parke 675 52.49 508 39.50 103 8.01 — — 1,286 Perry 213 47.54 148 33.04 87 19.42 — — 448 Pike 172 39.63 260 59.91 2 0.46 — — 434 Posey 370 35.92 645 62.62 15 1.46 — — 1,030 Putnam 629 47.33 498 37.47 198 14.90 4 0.30 — 1,329 Randolph 208 42.89 139 28.66 138 28.45 — — 485 Ripley 514 59.08 215 24.71 141 16.21 — — 870 Rush 800 58.39 396 28.91 174 12.70 — — 1,370 St. Joseph 111 90.24 — 12 9.76 — — 123 Scott 176 37.05 241 50.74 58 12.21 — — 475 Shelby 534 55.63 374 38.96 52 5.42 — — 960 Spencer 144 39.13 218 59.24 6 1.63 — — 368 Sullivan 146 17.70 594 72.00 53 6.42 32 3.88 — 825 Switzerland 410 41.29 350 35.25 233 23.46 — — 993 Tippecanoe 540 50.37 498 46.46 34 3.17 — — 1,072 Union 460 42.83 372 34.64 242 22.53 — — 1,074 Vanderburgh 167 39.67 224 53.21 30 7.13 — — 421 Vermillion 528 57.14 340 36.80 56 6.06 — — 924 Vigo 797 82.93 123 12.80 41 4.27 — — 961 Warren 303 70.30 99 22.97 24 5.57 5 1.16 — 431 Warrick 150 30.06 325 65.13 24 4.81 — — 499 Washington 704 45.19 804 51.60 50 3.21 — — 1,558 Wayne 1,196 46.54 634 24.67 740 28.79 — — 2,570 TOTAL 23,518 45.61 21,002 40.73 6,984 13.54 61 0.12 1 0.0 51,566 References Bibliography Carmony Donald Francis Indiana 1816-1850: the Pioneer Era 1998 Indiana Historical Society Indianapolis 0-87195-125-8 https://books.google.com/books?id=BkYhDQAAQBAJ Foughty Trevor 1831 Indiana General Election Results: Governor https://www.capitolandwashington.com/results/1831/1/1/ Capitol & Washington 2019 November 25, 2022 Noah Noble https://www.in.gov/governorhistory/2373.htm Indiana Historical Bureau November 25, 2022 Riker Dorothy Thornbrough Gayle Indiana Election Returns: 1816-1851 1960 Indiana Historical Bureau Salafia Matthew Slavery's Borderland: Slavery and Bondage Along the Ohio River 2013 University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia 978-0-8122-2408-5 https://books.google.com/books?id=ID9VAl0KbiIC Tipton, John: 1786-1839 https://bioguide.congress.gov/search/bio/T000284 Biographical Directory of the United States Congress November 25, 2022 Category:Indiana gubernatorial elections Gubernatorial Indiana Category:August 1831