Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State

Lewis E. Parsons / Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins

Lewis E. Parsons, June–December 1865 sArAH WoolfolK Wiggins lewis eliphalet Parsons, who was appointed provisional governor of Alabama by President Andrew Johnson in June 1865, was politically active in Alabama before the Civil War, first as a Whig and then as a Know-nothing. he served as an Alabama elector forWhig presidential candidate millard Fillmore in 1856. in 1859 Parsons was elected to represent Talladega County in the Alabama house of representatives (1859–1861),where he advocated state aid for internal improvements. Parsons was born in lisle,newyork,on April 28, 1817, the eldest son of Jennett hepburn and erastus bellamy Parsons.his father was a farmer and a descendant of Jonathan edwards of massachusetts. educated in new york public schools, lewis Parsons read law with Frederick Tallmadge in newyork and afterward with G.F.Woodward in Philadelphia. he moved to Talladega ,Alabama, in 1840 and formed a successful law partnership with Alexander White.he married Jane Ann boyd mcCullough Chrisman of Kentucky on september 16, 1841, by whom he had seven children .Parsons was both a Presbyterian and a mason and,according toWilliam lowndes yancey, the ablest and most resourceful Union debater that yancey had ever encountered. by 1860 Parsons owned $12,000 in real property and $66,000 in personal property, which included no slaves.A wealthy man in his adopted state, he was also an influential political leader. in 1860 in an attempt to save the Union by unifying support around the Democratic candidate, the former 92 / lewis e. Parsons 1865 Whig switched party loyalty to support stephen A. Douglas. even after the states of the lower south left the 1860 Democratic national Convention, Parsons believed secession still might be avoided in Alabama.Despite his and other Unionists’ efforts, Alabama voted to secede from the Union on January 11, 1861. During the CivilWar many Unionists fled Alabama or decided to serve in the Confederate army,but Parsons did neither.Too old to be drafted,he continued practicing law in Talladega during the war, although two of his sons fought for the Confederacy.in 1863,as opposition to the CivilWar mounted in Alabama,voters elected a governor and legislature that they believed would lead the state to a swift and separate peace. Parsons was returned to the Alabama house of representatives, where in 1863 he supported the Confederacy ’s use of slaves as soldiers but opposed the Confederate government’s attempt to control the state militia system. on may 29, 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced a plan of reconstruction for the states of the former Confederacy, and on June 21 he appointed Parsons—a respected, moderate Unionist—as provisional governor of Alabama. he served as governor until December 20, 1865. Parsons declared all Alabama laws enacted before January 11, 1861, except those regarding slavery,to be in force,and he retained Confederate public servants in their offices.Johnson’s reconstruction plan specified that prospective southern voters must take a loyalty oath to regain their citizenship, and those who were disfranchised were to apply for a presidential pardon.While the registration process was under way,Parsons called for an election to choose delegates to a convention to write a new state constitution. in a proclamation Parsons reminded Alabamians that the slave code was a dead issue and that former slaves were free and must be governed by the laws of Alabama as free men. Following the provisions of Johnson’s plan, a constitutional convention convened on september 12, 1865, with former governor benjamin Fitzpatrick as its president. The convention abolished slavery, repealed the ordinance of secession, and repudiated the state’s $20 million wartime debt, leaving the state with only its 1861 debt of less than $3.5 million. Although these issues were settled with little debate, the matter of legislative reapportionment caused a great controversy. Through various machinations, south Alabama had dominated the antebellum legislature and was likely to do so again if freed blacks were counted for apportioning seats in the postwar legislature . After bitter argument, the 1865 convention apportioned representation on the basis of the white population instead of the whole population of the state, giving north Alabama white counties political control during presidential reconstruction in Alabama.years later, Parsons reflected that he lewis e. Parsons 1865 / 93 had erred by not urging the convention to adopt qualified black suffrage. had that step been taken, he believed, Alabama would have been recognized as...