Alvin Hawkins - Governor

Governor

Throughout the 1870s, Tennessee struggled to control the debt it had accumulated over the previous decades to pay for internal improvements and railroad construction. The Panic of 1873 brought a decrease in property tax revenues, and the state defaulted on its bond payments in 1875. Following this default, the Democratic Party split into two factions, one of which sought to protect the state's credit at all costs and pay off the bonds in full, and the other rejecting this as unfeasible and suggesting just partial payment of the bond debt. Governor James D. Porter (1875–1879) was of the former faction, and Governor Albert S. Marks (1879–1881) was of the latter, but neither was able to solve the problem.

By 1880, the split over the debt issue had left the Democratic Party seriously divided, and Marks declined to run for reelection. At the party's state convention in May of that year, John Wright, who represented the faction that sought full payment of the debt, known as the "state credit" or "high tax" faction, was nominated as the party's candidate for governor. Members of the "low tax" faction, which sought only a partial payment of the debt and demanded any change in the debt policy be put before the voters in a referendum, walked out of the convention and nominated their own candidate, S.F. Wilson. Republicans nominated Hawkins, and the Greenback Party nominated Richard Edwards. In the general election, Hawkins won with 103,964 votes to 78,783 for Wright, 57,080 for Wilson, and 3,459 for Edwards.

Hawkins favored full repayment of the state debt. In May 1881, the state legislature, where the divided Democrats controlled the senate and Republicans controlled the house by one seat, passed a bill that called for all state bonds held by commercial interests to be replaced by new bonds of equal dollar value, but with a 3% interest rate, and called for the state property tax to be quadrupled. The bill passed the House and Senate, and was signed into law by Hawkins. The "low tax" Democrats challenged the law in court, however, and the act was declared unconstitutional by the Tennessee Supreme Court in February 1882. In May 1882, the legislature passed a plan calling for payment of commercial bonds at 60%, but this was never enacted.

During the gubernatorial campaign of 1882, state Democrats remained divided, but the "low tax" Democrats, with the help of former governor Isham G. Harris and the Bourbon faction, gained the upper hand. General William Brimage Bate, who favored full repayment on bonds for schools and charities, and partial repayment on commercial bonds, was nominated as the candidate. The "high tax" Democrats nominated Joseph Fussell, and the Greenbacks nominated John R. Beasley. On election day, Bate won with 120,637 votes to 93,168 for Hawkins, 9,660 for Beasley, and 4,814 for Fussell.

Although Hawkins failed to win reelection, he was praised by members of both parties for running an honest government, helping to erase the stigma attached to the Republican Party as a result of the Brownlow administration's radical post-war policies. Hawkins also enacted several judicial and educational reforms. He appointed W.S. Doak, a descendant of legendary clergyman Samuel Doak, state superintendent of schools, and the state's first professional institute was established during his tenure as governor.