Governor
By the late 1880s, the TFLU and its supporters comprised a significant faction of the state Democratic Party, known as the "Hayseed" or "Wool-hat" Democrats. In the gubernatorial race of 1890, incumbent Robert Love Taylor was not seeking reelection, and at the party's July convention, various factions put forth their own candidates for the party's nomination. The Bourbon faction supported Congressman Josiah Patterson, the New South faction supported railroad magnate Jere Baxter, and the Hayseeds supported Buchanan. After six days and multiple ballots, Buchanan was declared the nominee. Many Democrats blasted Buchanan as too unsophisticated to run as the party's nominee, and he was ridiculed by newspapers across the state.
Along with the farmers' vote, Buchanan courted the labor vote by promising to appoint a commissioner of labor. He argued that banks and financiers had too much political influence, and proposed regulating railroad rates. Seeking to further cement his position among white farmers, he campaigned against the federal Lodge Bill, which would have provided protections for voting rights for blacks in the South. On election day, he won easily, capturing 113,549 votes to 76,081 votes for the Republican candidate, Lewis Baxter, and 11,082 votes for the Prohibition candidate, David Cato Kelley.
After his inauguration in early 1891, Buchanan, working with a coalition of Hayseed Democrats and Republicans in the state legislature, enacted several measures aimed at helping farmers and labor, including laws regulating fertilizer products and recognizing Labor Day, restrictions on foreign companies doing business in Tennessee, and a law establishing a state commissioner of laber. For the latter office, he appointed Knights of Labor activist George Ford. He also signed a law standardizing the state's public school curriculum, and enacted a measure providing pensions for Confederate veterans. Buchanan strengthened the state's poll tax, and enacted several voting restrictions aimed at suppressing the African-American vote.
Read more about this topic: John P. Buchanan
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