Paris C. Dunning
Encyclopedia
Paris Chipman Dunning was a Democratic state representative
, state senator, senate president pro tempore
, the tenth Lieutenant Governor
, and the ninth Governor
of the U.S. state
of Indiana
from December 26, 1848 to December 5, 1849. He is the only person to hold to every elected seat in the state government under the 1816 constitution. His brief term as governor was marked by the calling of a state constitutional convention and overshadowed by the national anti-slavery debate, where Dunning urged state leaders to issue and forward resolutions to Congress expressing opposition to the expansion of slavery. As a delegate to the subsequent convention, he successfully advocated legislative and educational reform. As the American Civil War
broke out, he left the Democratic party and declared for the Union, personally raising many companies of soldiers for the war effort. He returned to the state senate during the war, and then resumed his law practice after his term ended. He remained popular in the state, and declined several nominations to run for office after retiring from politics.
, Guilford County
, North Carolina
the youngest of the six sons of James and Rachel North Dunning. He attended the nearby Greensboro Academy and graduated at age seventeen. Upon graduation he enrolled in the state university at Chapel Hill to study medicine. After the death of his father, he, his mother, and one older brother moved to Bloomington, Indiana
where Dunning briefly taught school. There he met Sarah Alexander; the couple married on July 6, 1826 and had four children.
He and his wife moved to Louisville, Kentucky
for a short time to complete his medical training and then he opened a medical practice in Rockville, Indiana
. The practice was short lived as he became more interested in law. He returned to his mother and older brother in Bloomington and began to study law in office of future Governor
James Whitcomb
and Congressman Tilghman A. Howard before being admitted to the bar in 1833. Working in the law office, he met Indiana's Democratic Party leaders, and impressed many of them who saw him as a potential candidate for office.Gugin, p. 107
in the Indiana House of Representatives
in 1833. He was reelected twice, and served three one years terms, ending in 1836. That year he was elected to the Indiana State Senate representing Monroe and Brown County
. During his years in the Indiana General Assembly
, he had voted for the Mammoth Internal Improvement Act that had led the state to bankruptcy in 1841. He served two three year terms before opening his Bloomington law practice in 1840. His exit from elected office was probably related to his support of the improvement act. He continued to be active in the party, and was a presidential elector in 1844, and cast his vote for James K. Polk
.
In 1846 Whitcomb ran for his second term as governor of Indiana. Whitcomb choose Dunning to run as his Lieutenant Governor, and their ticket won. Dunning served in the position until Whitcomb was elected to the United States Senate in December 1848. Whitcomb resigned from office and Dunning was elevated to his seat.
, and he recommended the assembly pass a resolution for him to forward to Congress. In response, the assembly passed a strong resolution requesting Indiana's congressional delegation to oppose the expansion of slavery.
Governor Whitcomb had already started a movement in the legislature to call a constitutional convention, and Dunning continued to support the effort to have a ballot initiative to replace the constitution. Dunning left office in 1849 and returned to his law practice.
, because the legislature had become notorious for passing laws that were only applied to certain counties or towns. Dunning was able to have a clause entered into article 4 of the constitution that required all laws passed by the assembly to be applied uniformly across the entire state, ending the practice.
His position on public schools was also added to article 8 of the constitution. The state's literary rate had dropped from 90% in 1840, to 80% in 1850, and having served on the board of Indiana College
between 1841 and 1868, he became aware of the poor condition of public education in the state. His proposals guaranteed equal opportunity for women in public education, something unknown in most of the nation. He also strengthened the free common school cause by requiring the state to fund the public school system, while allowing local school boards to maintain control of their districts' curriculum, hiring, and school arrangements.
, and the second convention held in Baltimore
. In both convention he voted in favor of Stephen Douglas, and favored compromise on the slavery issue. When the American Civil War
finally broke out in the next year, Dunning publicly declared himself for the Union and set to work raising companies of men for the war effort. In the end, he was personally responsible to the recruitment of nearly two full regiments of men.
In 1861, he left the Democratic party, and was reelected to the state senate as an Independent and supported the Republican governor throughout the war. Governor Oliver P. Morton had a stroke in 1865, and traveled to Europe for treatment and Conrad Baker
became acting governor. Dunning was then elected president pro tempore of the senate to fill Baker's place. Dunning's wife died in 1863 and Dunning remarried to the widow of Allen Ashford on September 17, 1865. When his term in the Senate ended in 1867, he was nominated to run again, but declined. He declined a second offer to run for Congress in 1868, preferring to remain in his law practice. Dunning gained a national reputation as a lawyer, and was committed to criminal law. His reputation was such that his clients were "assured of success when he was on the case."
Dunning continued to be active in public affairs, despite refusing to take public office. He continued to be active in his law practice, hearing cases until a week before his death. Dunning died on May 9, 1884, aged 78, in Bloomington, Indiana
, and is buried there in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Indiana House of Representatives
The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House members serve two-year terms without term limits...
, state senator, senate president pro tempore
Pro tempore
Pro tempore , abbreviated pro tem or p.t., is a Latin phrase which best translates to "for the time being" in English. This phrase is often used to describe a person who acts as a locum tenens in the absence of a superior, such as the President pro tempore of the United States Senate.Legislative...
, the tenth Lieutenant Governor
Lieutenant Governor of Indiana
The Lieutenant Governor of Indiana is a constitutional office in the US State of Indiana. Republican Becky Skillman, whose term expires in January 2013, is the incumbent...
, and the ninth Governor
Governor of Indiana
The Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide...
of the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Indiana
Indiana
Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...
from December 26, 1848 to December 5, 1849. He is the only person to hold to every elected seat in the state government under the 1816 constitution. His brief term as governor was marked by the calling of a state constitutional convention and overshadowed by the national anti-slavery debate, where Dunning urged state leaders to issue and forward resolutions to Congress expressing opposition to the expansion of slavery. As a delegate to the subsequent convention, he successfully advocated legislative and educational reform. As the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
broke out, he left the Democratic party and declared for the Union, personally raising many companies of soldiers for the war effort. He returned to the state senate during the war, and then resumed his law practice after his term ended. He remained popular in the state, and declined several nominations to run for office after retiring from politics.
Family and background
Dunning was born in 1806 in GreensboroGreensboro, North Carolina
Greensboro is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the third-largest city by population in North Carolina and the largest city in Guilford County and the surrounding Piedmont Triad metropolitan region. According to the 2010 U.S...
, Guilford County
Guilford County, North Carolina
Guilford County is a county located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In 2010, the Census Bureau estimated the county's population to be 491,230. Its seat is Greensboro. Since 1938, an additional county court has been located in High Point, North Carolina, making Guilford one of only a handful...
, North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
the youngest of the six sons of James and Rachel North Dunning. He attended the nearby Greensboro Academy and graduated at age seventeen. Upon graduation he enrolled in the state university at Chapel Hill to study medicine. After the death of his father, he, his mother, and one older brother moved to Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
where Dunning briefly taught school. There he met Sarah Alexander; the couple married on July 6, 1826 and had four children.
He and his wife moved to Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
for a short time to complete his medical training and then he opened a medical practice in Rockville, Indiana
Rockville, Indiana
Rockville is a town in Adams Township, Parke County, Indiana, United States. The population was 2,607 at the 2010 census. The town is the county seat of Parke County. It is known as "The Covered Bridge Capital of the World".-Geography:...
. The practice was short lived as he became more interested in law. He returned to his mother and older brother in Bloomington and began to study law in office of future Governor
Governor of Indiana
The Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide...
James Whitcomb
James Whitcomb
James Whitcomb was a Democratic United States Senator and the eighth Governor of Indiana. As governor during the Mexican-American War, he oversaw the formation and deployment of the state's levies...
and Congressman Tilghman A. Howard before being admitted to the bar in 1833. Working in the law office, he met Indiana's Democratic Party leaders, and impressed many of them who saw him as a potential candidate for office.Gugin, p. 107
Legislator
Dunning was elected to represent Monroe CountyMonroe County, Indiana
As of the census of 2010, there were 137,974 people, 46,898 households, and 24,715 families residing in the county. The population density was 306 people per square mile . There were 50,846 housing units at an average density of 129 per square mile...
in the Indiana House of Representatives
Indiana House of Representatives
The Indiana House of Representatives is the lower house of the Indiana General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Indiana. The House is composed of 100 members representing an equal number of constituent districts. House members serve two-year terms without term limits...
in 1833. He was reelected twice, and served three one years terms, ending in 1836. That year he was elected to the Indiana State Senate representing Monroe and Brown County
Brown County, Indiana
Brown County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. As of 2010, the population is 15,242. The county seat is Nashville.- History :...
. During his years in the Indiana General Assembly
Indiana General Assembly
The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate...
, he had voted for the Mammoth Internal Improvement Act that had led the state to bankruptcy in 1841. He served two three year terms before opening his Bloomington law practice in 1840. His exit from elected office was probably related to his support of the improvement act. He continued to be active in the party, and was a presidential elector in 1844, and cast his vote for James K. Polk
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was the 11th President of the United States . Polk was born in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. He later lived in and represented Tennessee. A Democrat, Polk served as the 17th Speaker of the House of Representatives and the 12th Governor of Tennessee...
.
In 1846 Whitcomb ran for his second term as governor of Indiana. Whitcomb choose Dunning to run as his Lieutenant Governor, and their ticket won. Dunning served in the position until Whitcomb was elected to the United States Senate in December 1848. Whitcomb resigned from office and Dunning was elevated to his seat.
Governor
Dunning served a brief term, but it was time of several momentous events in the state. Indiana had just emerged from a period of bankruptcy, and Dunning oversaw the final phase of the process, ensuring the public works were turned over to the state's creditors and that the debt reduction deal was fully carried out. Congress was debating the extension of slavery in the western territories during his term, leading to bitter hostilities between northern and southern leaders. Dunning delivered a speech to the General Assembly in which he condemned the expansion of slavery and called for its gradual elimination. He was the first outspoken anti-slavery governor since William HendricksWilliam Hendricks
William Hendricks was a Democratic-Republican member of the House of Representatives from 1816 to 1822, the third Governor of Indiana from 1822 to 1825, and an Anti-Jacksonian member of the U.S. Senate from 1825 to 1837. He led much of his family into politics and founded one of the largest...
, and he recommended the assembly pass a resolution for him to forward to Congress. In response, the assembly passed a strong resolution requesting Indiana's congressional delegation to oppose the expansion of slavery.
Governor Whitcomb had already started a movement in the legislature to call a constitutional convention, and Dunning continued to support the effort to have a ballot initiative to replace the constitution. Dunning left office in 1849 and returned to his law practice.
Constitutional convention
In 1850, voters approved athe ballot to authorize the formation of a constitutional convention to replace the Indiana Constitution. Dunning was one of the most prominent delegates to attend the convention and took the lead in pushing for several reforms. Among his proposals was a ban on special legislationSpecial legislation
Special legislation is a legal term of art used in the United States which refers to acts of a state legislature which apply only to a specific municipality which is identified by name in the legislation.In some states, such as Pennsylvania, the state constitution prohibits special legislation;...
, because the legislature had become notorious for passing laws that were only applied to certain counties or towns. Dunning was able to have a clause entered into article 4 of the constitution that required all laws passed by the assembly to be applied uniformly across the entire state, ending the practice.
His position on public schools was also added to article 8 of the constitution. The state's literary rate had dropped from 90% in 1840, to 80% in 1850, and having served on the board of Indiana College
Indiana University
Indiana University is a multi-campus public university system in the state of Indiana, United States. Indiana University has a combined student body of more than 100,000 students, including approximately 42,000 students enrolled at the Indiana University Bloomington campus and approximately 37,000...
between 1841 and 1868, he became aware of the poor condition of public education in the state. His proposals guaranteed equal opportunity for women in public education, something unknown in most of the nation. He also strengthened the free common school cause by requiring the state to fund the public school system, while allowing local school boards to maintain control of their districts' curriculum, hiring, and school arrangements.
Final years
Dunning was nominated by the Democratic party to run for Congress in 1856, but he declined primarily due to the fractured nature of the party at that time. He, along with a large part of the party, was at odds with its state leadership who were sympathetic to the south. In 1860 he did accept a nomination to be a delegate to the party's convention in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
, and the second convention held in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
. In both convention he voted in favor of Stephen Douglas, and favored compromise on the slavery issue. When the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
finally broke out in the next year, Dunning publicly declared himself for the Union and set to work raising companies of men for the war effort. In the end, he was personally responsible to the recruitment of nearly two full regiments of men.
In 1861, he left the Democratic party, and was reelected to the state senate as an Independent and supported the Republican governor throughout the war. Governor Oliver P. Morton had a stroke in 1865, and traveled to Europe for treatment and Conrad Baker
Conrad Baker
Conrad Baker was a state representative, 15th Lieutenant Governor, and the 15th Governor of the U.S. state of Indiana from 1867 to 1873...
became acting governor. Dunning was then elected president pro tempore of the senate to fill Baker's place. Dunning's wife died in 1863 and Dunning remarried to the widow of Allen Ashford on September 17, 1865. When his term in the Senate ended in 1867, he was nominated to run again, but declined. He declined a second offer to run for Congress in 1868, preferring to remain in his law practice. Dunning gained a national reputation as a lawyer, and was committed to criminal law. His reputation was such that his clients were "assured of success when he was on the case."
Dunning continued to be active in public affairs, despite refusing to take public office. He continued to be active in his law practice, hearing cases until a week before his death. Dunning died on May 9, 1884, aged 78, in Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington, Indiana
Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 80,405 at the 2010 census....
, and is buried there in Rose Hill Cemetery.