Governor of Maryland
Warfield chose to run for Governor of Maryland in 1899, but lost the Democratic nomination after he was opposed by influential Maryland politicians, including Arthur Pue Gorman. However, even though it was apparent the party bosses did not hold him in favor, he again sought the nomination in 1903. He was successfully nominated by the party, and defeated his Republican opponent, Stevenson A. Williams, by over 12,600 votes. He was inaugurated on January 13, 1904.
The most significant event of his tenure as Governor came when Arthur Pue Gorman, who had opposed Warfield's election, proposed the Gorman Amendment to the Maryland Constitution, which would have effectively disenfranchised all black voters in the state. The bill easily passed the Democrat-controlled General Assembly, but Warfield refused to sign the bill into law. While Warfield was in favor of some of the bill's provisions, such as denying the vote to the less-educated black voters of the state, he feared it would eventually lead to greater levels of disenfranchisement which could threaten all voters in the state. The bill was put before the public, and was defeated by 30,000 votes, a defeat to the party in which Warfield played a major role in. Warfield's actions in this affair further alienated him from the Democratic machine in Maryland, which was openly hostile towards him by the time he left office.
As governor, Warfield also favored the establishment of direct-voting for U.S. Senators. He argued this before the General Assembly in 1906, believing the power should be in the hands of the people. The direct election of senators eventually became national law with the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Other accomplishments as Governor included the legalization of the Flag of Maryland, the return of the body of American Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones to the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, and the remodeling of the Maryland State House to match its appearance when George Washington resigned his position in the Revolutionary Army at the State House in 1784. Warfield left office in January 1908.
Read more about this topic: Edwin Warfield
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“Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)