John Albion Andrew (May 31, 1818 – October 30, 1867) was an American lawyer and politician from Massachusetts. He was elected in 1860 as the 25th governor of Massachusetts, serving between 1861 and 1866, and led the state's contributions to the Union cause during the American Civil War (1861–1865). He was a guiding force behind the creation of some of the first African-American units in the United States Army, including the 54th Massachusetts Infantry. He belonged to the Whig, Free Soil, and Republican parties during his career.
Educated at Bowdoin College, Andrew was a radical abolitionist of slavery from an early age, engaged in the legal defense of fugitive slaves against owners seeking their return. He provided legal support to John Brown after his 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, raising his profile and propelling him to the Massachusetts governor's chair. Andrew was a persistent voice criticizing President Abraham Lincoln's conduct of the war, and pressing him to end slavery. By the end of the war, his politics had moderated, and he came to support the Reconstruction policies of Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson.
In Massachusetts, Andrew opposed the Know Nothing movement of the 1850s and the state's strict alcohol prohibition laws, and oversaw the state takeover of the Hoosac Tunnel construction project. In 1865, he signed legislation establishing the Massachusetts State Police, the first statewide police force of its type in the nation. He died early of apoplexy at the age of 49.
Early life and career Andrew was born in Windham (in modern-day Maine, then a part of Massachusetts) on May 31, 1818, the eldest of four children. His father, Jonathan Andrew, was descended from an early settler of Boxford, Massachusetts, and ran a small but prosperous merchant business in Windham. His mother, Nancy Green Pierce, was a teacher at Fryeburg Academy.Reno, p. 377 Andrew's 5th great-grandfather was an immigrant from England named George Andrew who settled in Boxford, Massachusetts, in 1637. His 4th great-grandfather was born in Boxford, Massachusetts, in 1638, being his first American-born ancestor.The Life of John A. Andrew: Governor of Massachusetts, 1861-1865, Volume 1, by Henry Greenleaf Pearson pg. 1
Andrew received his primary education first at home, and then at several area boarding schools. After his mother's death in 1832, he attended Gorham Academy in nearby Gorham.Pearson, pp. 1:7–9 During his youth he exhibited talent for both memory and public speaking, memorizing church sermons and recounting them with the same oratorical style in which they were delivered.Pearson, pp. 1:10–12 While a teenager, he was exposed to the early abolitionist writings of William Lloyd Garrison and others.Pearson, p. 1:13 He entered Bowdoin College in 1833. Although he was studious and popular with other students, he did not shine academically and was ranked near the bottom in his class.Pearson, pp. 1:15–23
After his graduation in 1837, Andrew moved to Boston to study law under Henry H. Fuller, with whom he became close friends. He was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1840, and began the practice of law.Reno, p. 378
Antislavery legal and political advocate After his admission to the bar, Andrew joined the Whig Party and became actively involved in the anti-slavery movement. As a Conscience Whig, he opposed the election of "Cotton Whig" Robert Charles Winthrop in the 1846 election for Congress,Donald, pp. 144–149 promoting Charles Sumner (over the latter's objection) as an independent candidate.Pearson, pp. 1:43–45 He sat on the executive committee of Boston's first vigilance committee, an anti-slavery organization established in 1846 that was devoted to assisting escaped slaves.Trent, pp. 158–159 Andrew participated in the establishment in 1848 of the Free Soil Party, whose principal political goal was ending the expansion of slavery into western territories.Pearson, p. 1:47 The Free Soilers nominated Martin Van Buren for president; he placed third in the election, but the party was somewhat more successful at the state level, gaining seats in the state legislature and Congress.Earle, pp. 168–175
In 1847, Andrew, then 29 and with his law practice underway, met Eliza Jane Hersey of Hingham at an anti-slavery fair. They were engaged that year and married on Christmas evening in 1848.Pearson, pp. 1:50–54 They had four children: John Forrester (1850), Elizabeth Loring (1852), Edith (1854), and Henry Hersey (1858).Bay State Monthly
The Boston Vigilance Committee attracted many new members following congressional passage of the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which required law enforcement officials and citizens of free states as well as slave states to aid in the recovery of fugitive slaves. Andrew sat on a subcommittee that handled the legal defense of individuals accused of being fugitive slaves.Cumbler, p. 71 He was also a regular attendee at meetings of the "Bird Club", a political group organized by businessman Francis Bird. Its members were mainly anti-slavery ex-Whigs, described by Samuel Gridley Howe"Battle Hymn of the Republic" author Julia Ward Howe "and her husband, Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe, were the Andrews' closest friends, involved in promoting abolition, women's rights, and prison reform in the 1840s and 1850s". Engle, Stephen D., "I Stood Before His Silent Grave", p. 210. as "straight & impractical republicans".Trent, p. 184 Bird Club members would dominate the state's political establishment into the 1870s.Mohr, p. 3 Andrew's political activity was otherwise minimal, as he was devoted to his growing law practice and family, which was settled in Hingham. By 1855, his practice was sufficiently successful that he also purchased a house on Charles Street in Boston.Pearson, pp. 1:54–57
In 1854, Andrew became personally involved in the highly publicized fugitive slave case of Anthony Burns, defending one of the men who was arrested for trying to rescue Burns from the ship on which he was being held.Pearson, p. 1:57 Anger over that year's passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Act (which overturned the limitation of slavery's expansion under the Missouri Compromise of 1820) revitalized the Free Soil movement.Earle, p. 182 He once defended a poor mixed race man on a murder charge at the Norfolk County Courthouse, pro bono.
Andrew was elected chair of a committee to manage a nominating convention for the 1854 elections.Pearson, pp. 1:61–63 This meeting resulted in the first organization of the Republican Party in Massachusetts. Its slate was undermined by Henry Wilson's defection to the Know Nothing movement, which swept the state's elected offices that year.Pearson, pp. 1:64–65 The Republicans reorganized in 1855, but Andrew was not involved in the party processes that resulted in the eventual election of Nathaniel Prentice Banks as the first Republican governor in 1857. He continued legal activity on behalf of anti-slavery interests.Pearson, pp. 1:65–67
In 1857, Andrew won election as a representative in the Massachusetts General Court, as part of a complete Republican takeover of the Massachusetts government.Pearson, pp. 1:68–69 He was quickly promoted as a leading abolitionist voice, filling a void left after Sumner was severely injured in an attack in Congress. Andrew led the debate in favor of removing Judge Edward Loring from office over his actions in the Burns case, and in opposition to the proposed repeal of the state's stringent anti-slavery personal liberty law.Pearson, pp. 1:73–92 Although he did not run for reelection, Andrew gained popularity as his actions became known in the state Republican party. He was selected to chair the 1858 state Republican convention.Pearson, pp. 1:92–93 In anticipation of gaining a higher elected office, Andrew refused Governor Banks' offer of a seat on the Superior Court bench in 1859.Pearson, p. 1:95
Following John Brown's 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry, Virginia, Andrew helped organize legal aid for Brown.Pearson, pp. 1:73–96 He expressed sympathy with Brown's position, if not his deeds.Pearson, p. 1:100 Andrew's efforts on behalf of Brown brought him statewide notice, and also drew the attention of Southern interests in the United States Senate. They were seeking evidence to tie Northern interests to the funding and arming of Brown's force, and Andrew was summoned to testify to his connections with Brown.Pearson, pp. 1:105–110 Andrew led efforts to raise money to help Brown's family.
Andrew's actions on behalf of Brown and his family were highly popular in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Republican Committee published his speeches and testimony on Brown's behalf in a pamphlet to distribute to voters.
Andrew's popularity made him the choice to head the Massachusetts delegation to the 1860 Republican National Convention.Pearson, pp. 1:111–113 He was nominated for governor at the state convention that year, despite an attempt by the more moderate Governor Banks to secure the nomination for Henry L. Dawes. Banks sought to put off the announcement of his retirement until the last possible moment, but state Republican chairman William Claflin leaked the news to Andrew supporters.Pearson, pp. 1:119–120 Andrew won the nomination by a wide margin, and defeated Constitutional Union Party candidate Amos A. Lawrence in the general election.Pearson, pp. 1:123–128
War Governor of Massachusetts
When Andrew took office on January 2, 1861, on the eve of the American Civil War, the Albany Argus called him "a lawyer of a low type and a brutal fanatic" who "proposes to maintain the condemned [personal liberty] statutes of [Massachusetts], and to force upon the South by arms, an allegiance to the Constitution thus violated."Brooklyn Daily Eagle, January 10, 1861, p. 2 In the early war years that followed, Andrew was a persistent radical voice, pressuring President Abraham Lincoln on the conduct of the war and the need to end slavery.McKitrick, p. 222
Shortly after taking office, Andrew began to ready the Massachusetts militia for duty, promoting younger and more vigorous leaders, and contracting for updated armaments, equipment, and supplies.O'Connor, p. 48 He also wrote to the governors of Maine and New Hampshire, urging them to also step up preparations.Pearson, p. 1:143 Once hostilities broke out, he also took the lead to update the state's coastal defenses, which were in poor condition and largely obsolete. Taking this step without federal authorization or funding, he secured bank loans from major Boston banks to fund the effort in the interim.O'Connor, pp. 64–65 With the war already underway in late 1861, Andrew engaged in a highly public dispute with General Benjamin Franklin Butler, who sought to appoint officers of regiments he recruited. Andrew ended up winning in the disagreement, and (in a response viewed at the time as somewhat petulant) refused to appoint any of Butler's choices to those positions.O'Connor, pp. 88–89
Andrew was a regular voice, although somewhat muted in public statements, in the drive to declare an end to slavery. When Lincoln announced his Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in September 1862 (shortly after the Union victory in the Battle of Antietam), Andrew was supportive, but called it "a poor document but a mighty act", and complained that it was too limited in scope and late in becoming effective.O'Connor pp. 115–117 Still, he distributed copies of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation printed by John Murray Forbes to Union soldiers ahead of the final issuance. Andrew was one of the leading state executives at the Loyal War Governors' Conference in Altoona, Pennsylvania, held in late September 1862, which ultimately backed the Emancipation Proclamation and the continued war effort.Pearson, pp. 2:48–56