James D. Porter - Governor

Governor

Porter received the Democratic nomination for governor in 1874, and easily defeated his Republican opponent, Horace Maynard, by a 105,061 to 55,847 vote later that year. In 1876, he was reelected by a similarly lopsided margin over several candidates, among them moderate Democrat Dorsey B. Thomas and Republican William F. Yardley, the latter being the state's first African-American candidate for governor.

Like his predecessor, John C. Brown, Porter spent much of his gubernatorial tenure managing the state's out-of-control debt. After the state defaulted on its bonded debt in 1875, Porter continued to argue that the state should pay off the bonds in full to protect its credit. The Panic of 1873 had great reduced tax revenues, however, and full repayment proved unfeasible. His successors sought only a partial repayment.

Porter was a strong supporter of public education. While he was governor, the South's first medical school for African Americans, Meharry Medical College, was founded in Nashville. When the Peabody Fund announced it was going to establish a school for teachers in Nashville, Porter used his influence to have the school attached to the University of Nashville. Porter also signed the so-called "Four Mile Law," an early, backdoor form of Prohibition that forbade alcoholic beverages within four miles (6.4 km) of any school. Given the small size of most of the schools of the era and their resultant presence in almost every community, even many of the smallest ones, this effectively outlawed alcohol in all but the least-populated areas of the state.