26 Facts About Beriah Magoffin

Beriah Magoffin was the 21st Governor of Kentucky, serving during the early part of the Civil War.

Personally, Magoffin adhered to a states' rights position, including the right of a state to secede from the Union, and he sympathized with the Confederate cause.

Nevertheless, when the Kentucky General Assembly adopted a position of neutrality in the war, Beriah Magoffin ardently held to it, refusing calls for aid from both the Union and Confederate governments.

Unable to provide effective leadership due to a hostile legislature, Beriah Magoffin agreed to resign as governor in 1862, provided he could choose his successor.

Lieutenant governor Linn Boyd had died in office, and Magoffin refused to allow Speaker of the Senate John F Fisk to succeed him as governor.

Beriah Magoffin then resigned, Robinson ascended to the governorship, and Fisk was re-elected as Speaker of the Senate.

Beriah Magoffin was born on April 18,1815, in Harrodsburg, Kentucky.

Beriah Magoffin was the son of Beriah and Jane Magoffin.

Beriah Magoffin's father was an immigrant from County Down, Ireland, and his mother was the daughter of Samuel McAfee, a prominent pioneer in early Kentucky.

Beriah Magoffin returned to Kentucky in 1839 due to an illness.

Beriah Magoffin continued his legal practice in Harrodsburg, and was appointed police judge of Harrodsburg by Governor Robert P Letcher in 1840.

Beriah Magoffin became active in the Democratic Party, serving as a presidential elector in 1844,1848,1852, and 1856 and as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 1848,1856,1860, and 1872.

Beriah Magoffin served one term in the Kentucky Senate in 1850, but declined his party's nomination for a seat in the US House of Representatives in 1851.

Beriah Magoffin was elected governor of Kentucky by a vote of 76,187 to 67,283 over Joshua Fry Bell, taking office on August 30,1859.

Beriah Magoffin supported states' rights and the institution of slavery.

Beriah Magoffin's plan was to unite the slave states around a set of minimum concessions to see if the North would accept them as an alternative to war.

In January 1861, Beriah Magoffin called the state legislature into special session and asked them to call a convention to determine Kentucky's course in the Civil War.

Beriah Magoffin called another special session of the legislature in May 1861.

Later that month, Beriah Magoffin sent a letter to Confederate President Jefferson Davis asking that he recognize and honor Kentucky's neutrality.

Beriah Magoffin declared both sides equally guilty of violating Kentucky's neutrality and demanded that both sides withdraw.

Beriah Magoffin vetoed the resolution, but his veto was overridden, and he obediently issued the order for the Confederates to withdraw.

Beriah Magoffin found particularly onerous a bill forfeiting the citizenship of anyone who fought for or aided the Confederacy, but in March 1862, his veto of the bill was overridden.

Beriah Magoffin resigned as governor on August 18,1862, and Robinson assumed the office of governor for the remainder of Beriah Magoffin's term.

Beriah Magoffin encouraged his fellow Kentuckians to accept the results of the war.

Beriah Magoffin advocated for civil rights for blacks and urged passage of the Thirteenth Amendment.

Beriah Magoffin died at home on February 28,1885, and was buried in Spring Hill Cemetery in Harrodsburg.