Governor
Marks was elected judge of the state's Fourth Chancery District in 1870. He was reelected in 1878, but resigned after receiving the Democratic Party's nomination for governor later that year. In the general election, he won easily, receiving 89,958 votes to 42,284 votes for the Republican candidate, Chattanooga Mayor Eli Wight, and 14,155 votes for the Greenback candidate, Richard M. Edwards of Cleveland. Marks was the first lifelong Democrat to be elected after the Civil War (his two predecessors, John C. Brown and James D. Porter, had been Whigs before the war).
Like his two immediate predecessors, the major issue confronting the Marks administration was the state's debt crisis, which had resulted from the gradual accumulation of bonded debt to pay for internal improvements and railroad construction over the previous four decades. The Panic of 1873 had greatly reduced property tax revenue, and the state had defaulted on its bond payments in 1875. Furthermore, a Yellow Fever epidemic had decimated Memphis, putting more strains on the economy. By the time Marks took office, his party had split into two factions— those who favored full repayment of the debt to protect the state's credit, and those who favored only partial repayment.
Marks appointed a legislative committee to investigate the debt issue. The committee determined that railroad agents had acted unethically during the Brownlow administration, and had attempted to defraud the state, and thus should only be entitled to partial repayment. Marks agreed, and a new repayment plan was negotiated with banks. When this plan was put before the state's voters, however, they soundly rejected it by a vote of 76,333 to 49,772, leaving the issue unresolved.
Marks did not seek reelection in 1880, realizing his party was still badly split over the debt issue. The divided Democrats were defeated in the general election for governor later that year.
Read more about this topic: Albert S. Marks
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