Governor of Delaware
Hunn was to be an early beneficiary of these developments. As a political newcomer, Hunn was acceptable as a compromise candidate to all Republicans. Running in opposition to the Roman Catholic Wilmington leather merchant, Peter J. Ford, he was able to take advantage of the conservative Democratics, discomfort with Catholicism, and their dislike of the national Presidential candidate, William Jennings Bryan. He handily won the election in 1900 and began a period of Republican occupancy of the Governor's office that lasted for all but eight of the next 60 years.
Hunn also benefited from being the first Governor elected under Delaware's new Constitution of 1897. As such he enjoyed an authority unknown to Governors since the colonial times. He was thus the first Governor of Delaware to be eligible to serve for two terms and most importantly was the first to be able to veto General Assembly bills; a veto power which included the ability to veto particular items on appropriations bills. He was also the first Governor to serve with an elected Lieutenant Governor.
Along with changes to the Governor's authority, the new Constitution modified the duties of the General Assembly so that it too became more effective. Finally, the responsibility for granting divorces was moved to the courts. Along with the requirement for creating a general incorporation law, the General Assembly eventually produced an incorporation law that laid the basis for the state becoming the preferred national incorporation location and all its associated revenues. And it was during this time that the General Assembly finally ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, Fourteenth Amendment, and Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, thirty-one years after they became law. In spite of all this progress, the General Assembly was unable to resolve the Addicks issue until 1903, with the nationally embarrassing result that Delaware spent two years with no representation at all in the U.S. Senate.
Hunn was the first Governor to seek the admission of women to the Delaware College, now the University of Delaware, and to recommend that a paved highway be constructed the entire length of the state.
| Delaware General Assembly |
|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Assembly | Senate Majority | President |
House Majority | Speaker | ||||||
| 1901–1902 | 91st | Republican | Henry C. Ellison | Republican | James V. McCommons | ||||||
| 1903–1904 | 92nd | Republican | Henry C. Ellison | Republican | Henry S. Anthony | ||||||
Read more about this topic: John Hunn (governor)
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