Governor of Kentucky
On November 4, 1824, just months after the election, the state capitol building was destroyed by a fire. Some furnishings and records were saved, but the four-year old building was a total loss. When the Marquis de Lafayette toured the United States in 1825, a new capitol had not yet been constructed and the governor's mansion was too small to host a proper reception, so the governor had to entertain the dignitary at Weisiger's Tavern.
Desha's major accomplishment as governor was in the area of internal improvements. In 1825, he convinced the legislature to fund the creation of the Louisville and Portland Canal on the Falls of the Ohio. The canal opened in 1830, and proved very profitable, so much so that Desha lamented the fact that the state had split the cost of the project – and consequently, its profits – with the federal government and private investors. He also urged state investment in a turnpike joining Maysville to Louisville via Lexington. He advocated using excess money earmarked for education to construct hard-surfaced roads in the state, but the General Assembly was less responsive to this suggestion.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Desha
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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.”
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“I saw the man my friend ... wants pardoned, Thomas Flinton. He is a bright, good-looking fellow.... Of his innocence all are confident. The governor strikes me as a man seeking popularity, who lacks the independence and manhood to do right at the risk of losing popularity. Afraid of what will be said. He is prejudiced against the Irish and Democrats.”
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“The head must bow, and the back will have to bend,
Wherever the darkey may go;
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In the field where the sugar-canes grow.
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No matter, ‘t will never be light;
A few more days till we totter on the road:—
Then my old Kentucky home, good-night!”
—Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1884)