Alabama Governors: A Political History of the State

Robert B. Lindsay / Michael W. Fitzgerald

Robert B. Lindsay, 1870–1872 MicHAel W. fitzgerAld robert burns lindsay faced unprecedented difficulties as governor of Alabama , and despite his Democratic affiliation, he became nearly as unpopular as any republican of the era.born on July 4,1824,in lochmaben,scotland, lindsay was the son of John and elizabeth mcKnight lindsay. raised as a Presbyterian, he received an extensive education and won academic prizes at the University of st. Andrews. in 1844, lindsay immigrated to north Carolina, where he joined his brother in the teaching profession. Five years later, he relocated to Tuscumbia, Alabama , where he read the law and was admitted to the bar in 1852. he was elected to represent Franklin County in the Alabama house of representatives as a Democrat in 1853 and moved up to the state senate soon thereafter. in 1854,he married sarah millerWinston , the half-sister of then-governor JohnWinston.she bore him nine children . This fortunate marriage assisted his political career, and he emerged as a prominent supporter of Governor Winston’s campaign against railroad subsidies. in the campaign of 1860 lindsay took a strong Unionist position, resigning a place on the John C. breckenridge electoral ticket in order to serve on that of stephen A. Douglas. in his own words, he “opposed secession on every hill and every valley in north Alabama.” in the crisis of 1861 he opposed immediate secession and continued to denounce it even after war began. lindsay eventually took “a slight part in the rebellion”and later observed that 108 / robert b. lindsay 1870–1872 he “never was much of a soldier;it did not suit [me].” his tepid Confederate loyalties proved popular locally, and after Appomattox, voters returned him to the state senate in 1865. lindsay opposed the reconstruction Acts of 1867, but with the election of President Grant he publicly called on Democrats to accept political reality. To some Alabamians, this suggested lindsay’s potential defection to the republican Party, but in 1870, the Democratic and Conservative Party chose him as its nominee for governor, primarily because of his moderate stance toward reconstruction. he had “no known Klan associations,” as one historian observed, and he appealed to the antisecession, white “swing” voters of north Alabama, many of whom might otherwise approve of republican governor William h. smith’s Unionist credentials. lindsay won election by a narrow margin, and after several weeks of smith disputing the result, he assumed the governorship in December 1870. Governor lindsay immediately faced a financial crisis.on January 1,1871, Alabama’s most ambitious state-supported railroad,the Alabama and Chattanooga , proved unable to pay the interest on its bonds, claiming a short-term cash flow problem. The managers of the railroad turned to the state to pay the interest, as called for in earlier subsidy legislation. The governor discovered , however, that his predecessor in the governor’s office had issued several hundred thousand dollars in bonds beyond that authorized by law to the A and C, which was known for corrupt practices. lindsay pledged to honor all bona fide bonds but delayed payment because “not a line of a record” had been kept of the number of bonds issued. he sought a legislative inquiry into this corruption and asked legislators to approve payments to the innocent purchasers of fraudulently issued bonds. This plausible course of action proved disastrous.The default on the stateendorsed bonds sent a shock wave through Wall street. The Alabama and Chattanooga managers found themselves without funds to continue operation . Worse still, the default imperiled several other half-finished railroad projects statewide. The legislature temporized for months over the issue of which bonds to acknowledge, hoping to pay only those people who had unknowingly purchased unauthorized securities. The resulting delay raised speculation about the state’s ability to redeem the other securities it had endorsed .by the time the legislature gave lindsay wide latitude to decide which bonds should be paid, all Alabama railroad securities, endorsed by either the state or local governments,were impaired.several railroad companies halted construction and ultimately went bankrupt during the Panic of 1873, an event that left the state unable to pay its other obligations as well. lindsay’s effort to distance himself from railroad corruption while at- robert b. lindsay 1870–1872 / 109 tempting to protect the state’s credit satisfied no one. his revelation of Governor smith’s misdeeds undermined Alabama’s whole railroad program.When...