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Joshua L. Martin, 1845–1847 HugH c. bAiley Joshua lanier martin,the Alabama governor who delivered the final blow to the state bank, was a descendant of a French immigrant, louis montaigne. montaigne, who changed his name to martin, immigrated to south Carolina in 1724 and then,like the ancestors of numerous other Alabama families, made the trek to Tennessee,where Joshua martin was born near maryville in blount County on December 5,1799. martin received an excellent general education under the tutelage of two local ministers, and in 1819,at the age of twenty, he moved with his family to Alabama. he married twice—first to mary Gillam mason and later to sarah Ann mason—sisters who were members of the distinguished mason family of virginia.by his wives,martin had seven children, five sons and two daughters. martin was a precocious young man who had an ingratiating personality and an aptitude for the law.After studying law with his brother in russellville,he was admitted to the bar,opened a law office in Athens, and in 1822 was elected to the state legislature as a representative from limestone County, a position he held, except for one year, until 1828.in assuming his seat in Tuscaloosa,martin began a career of public service that was to encompass the remaining thirty-four years of his life. in 1829 martin was elected solicitor of the Fourth Judicial Circuit; five years later he defeated a former justice of the Alabama supreme Court,Judge John White of Talladega, for a seat on the Circuit Court. in 1835 he was elected as one of Alabama’s five representatives to the U.s. Congress, and he Joshua l. martin 1845–1847 / 59 was reelected in 1837.At the end of his second term,martin returned to private life and in 1841 was elected chancellor of the middle Chancery Division of the state, a position he held until he became governor. martin’s election as governor was directly related to his consistent opposition to the state bank, which was chartered in 1823 in the wake of the Panic of 1819. For more than a decade the bank won the almost universal approval of Alabamians, providing financing that was otherwise unavailable and in some years, through its profits, paying the state’s operating expenses and allowing the legislature to abolish direct taxes.When the depression of 1837 came, the imprudent actions of the bank and its branches led to serious consequences , and the bank’s charter, which expired in 1845, was not renewed. yet, powerful forces within both the Whig and Democratic Parties were in favor of renewing the charter and saving the bank. in 1845 antibank delegates were delayed in arriving at the Democratic convention at Tuscaloosa because their boats could not move through the surprisingly shallow levels in the Warrior and Tombigbee rivers. in their absence, probank delegates constituted a majority and hurriedly nominated nathaniel Terry of limestone County, a legislator and large debtor to the bank, as the party’s candidate for governor. martin,who was incensed by the Democratic convention’s action,acceded to the request of many who shared his views on the bank and ran as an independent candidate. like the national campaign of 1840, the 1845 Alabama gubernatorial contest was one of the most intense the state had yet seen.The Whigs did not field a candidate and were divided in their sentiment regarding Terry’s fitness for office. some of them supported Terry and his probank position , but others found him anathema because he had authored the general ticket law,soon repealed,that provided for the election of the state’s congressional delegates “at large.” The odiousness of the bank and martin’s intense campaigning led to his election by a five-thousand-vote margin. As governor, martin was often opposed and maligned by the “regular” Democrats who never forgave the disloyalty of his bolt from the party.nevertheless , he pursued the dismantling of the bank with vigor. The legislature appointed Francis s. lyons of marengo County to collect as much of the debt owed to the bank as possible and to liquidate its assets and obligations. lyons performed the mission with great ability until his retirement in 1853. Although the state lost millions of dollars, its credit was protected and economic disaster averted. During the one-term governor’s tenure the legislature acknowledged the growing population of the newly created counties that had emerged from former Creek lands...

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