H.G. — Lame duck outvoted
This is the latest in an occasional series of posts about the 19th century politics of Henry G. Burleigh of Ticonderoga and Whitehall.
A lame duck loses clout quickly, as is evidenced by the August 1876 Republican district convention at North Granville, when Henry G. Burleigh was unable to muscle support for his preferred gubernatorial candidate.
Debate over the issue led to Burleigh pointing out that good Republicans are smart enough not to vote for a dead man.
The convention was held to elect three delegates to represent the Washington County Assembly District at the state Republican convention.
Henry G. Burleigh, the sitting Assemblyman, who was not seeking re-election to the Legislature, received just four votes on the first ballot, far short of the 24, 23 and 22 votes cast for George L. Terry of Sandy Hill, J. McW. Getty of Hebron, and J.S. Potter of Whitehall, respectively, The Granville Sentinel reported on Aug. 11, 1876.
After the definitive vote on the first ballot, Burleigh made a motion that the vote be made unanimous, with the caveat that delegates be committed to support at the convention William M. Everts for the GOP governor’s nomination.
“Mr. Baker (of Fort Ann, elected an alternate delegate) was apparently working in opposition to Mr. Burleigh, so he rose and claimed he did not understand the motion,” the Sentinel reported.
Burleigh agreed to separate the matter into two separate motions, and continued to face opposition to binding the candidates to support Everts.
Potter and Baker said that delegates should be free to vote “as their good sense and the best interest of the party seemed to indicate.”
Burleigh said delegates were elected to represent the preference of local Republicans, not their individual views of the delegates.
“Mr. Baker had objected that the candidate which seemed the best at that time might be dead before the state convention met,” the Sentinel reported. “Mr. Burleigh replied that it was certainly supposed they had chosen men of enough sense not to vote for a man if he should chance to be struck by lightening in the interim.”
The convention voted 16–11 against committing the delegates to support Everts, and the delegates went to the convention unpledged.
Everts, Burleigh’s preferred candidate, was, in fact, alive at the time of the convention, and placed second for the nomination, by a large margin, to former Gov. Edwin Morgan, who lost the general election.
Burleigh apparently did not harbor resentment — at least not for long.
The Sentinel on Oct. 13, 1876 reported that Burleigh paid $85 — the equivalent of $2,067 in 2020 dollars — to purchase a flag to fly over the Whitehall Republican campaign headquarters.
Click here to read the most recent previous post in the series.
