The prohibitionists passed over their better-known leaders and gave their support to Charles H. Morris of Winnsboro, a political unknown. Almost a century later, the Ferguson impeachment presents both striking similarities and key differences to. Unable to run under his own name, Ferguson ran his wife's campaign for Governor; Miriam A. Ferguson, known as "Ma" Ferguson, was twice elected as governor, serving two non-consecutive terms, from 1925 to 1927 and 1933 to 1935. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. ii) During the period between World Wars I and II, James and Miriam Ferguson were the most powerful couple in Texas. Ferguson declared that the Legislature was nothing more than a kangaroo court," resigned a day before the official conviction, and was steadfast in his beliefs that the judgment didnt apply to him, according to Rutherford. Angry that two professors had openly criticized his administration, Ferguson demanded that the board of regents fire them. As a result of these developments, the speaker of the House called a special session to consider charges of impeachment against the governor. months before, both the House and the Senate had refused to sustain charges against him, and his removal from office was far from certain when the legislature convened in special session. He later ran anyway, claiming that he had resigned before he was convicted. In 1930 he conducted the unsuccessful campaign of his wife for the governorship, and in 1932 he conducted her successful campaign for the same office. Both women followed husbands who had served earlier. He left home at 16, traveling and taking odd jobs until he returned to farm in Bell County. The tenant law was passed but remained on the statute books only a short time before being declared unconstitutional. He left home at 16, traveling and taking odd jobs until he returned to farm in Bell County. Dictionary of American History. And here, Ferguson made his second blunder. 27 February 1917 in Floresville, Texas; d. 15 June 1993 in Houston, Texas), governor of Tex, https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/ferguson-impeachment. However, the judgment to impeachhanded down one day after his resignation-was upheld, preventing him from holding public office in Texas. Bruce Rutherford, The Impeachment of Jim Ferguson (Austin: Eakin Press, 1983). Scandals of all sorts, from the brazen to the bizarre, have occurred for decades at all levels. With charges growing against Ferguson, the House of Representatives drew up 21 charges against him and voted to impeach. Before the process could be completed, Ferguson resigned from office, contending that the legislative action against him was a kangaroo court. The Senate found Ferguson guilty on five charges relating to mishandling of public funds and abuse of power in relation to the university. James Edward Ferguson Jr. (August 31, 1871 September 21, 1944), known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th Governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. Encyclopedia.com. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He had attempted to stack the board of regents with friends who would help fire these professors and staffers, and he had called for the resignation of the universitys president, Robert Vinson. Scandals of all sorts, from the brazen to the bizarre, have occurred for decades at all levels. Impeached: The Removal of Texas Governor James E. Ferguson (Texas A&M University Press, 2017) Hardcover. The Constitution gives the House power to impeach the president, officials appointed by the president (including cabinet officers), and judges. Ferguson was reelected by a majority of about 60,000 votes, but opposition was sufficient to show that many Texans, including a number who were not prohibitionists, were displeased with his stewardship. In 1917, Gov. He entered Salado College, a local preparatory school, at age twelve but was eventually expelled for disobedience. Jessica Brannon-Wranosky and Bruce A. Glasrud have brought together top scholars to shine a light on this unique chapter in Texas history. With charges growing against Ferguson, the House of Representatives drew up 21 charges against him and voted to impeach. . Laws governing impeachment in Texas are governed by Article 15 of the Texas Constitution. Though he was kicked out of office and disgraced in front of his colleagues, Ferguson was still very popular among his hard-core supporters and rallied back. Ferguson was indicted on nine charges in July 1917. Preliminary investigations failed to uncover any charge that would merit impeachment, and for a time the incident seemed closed. In July 1917, he was indicted for misappropriation of funds. The founders did not invent impeachment. Jordan wa, Houston, Sam The first and only Texas governor to be impeached is Governor James "Pa" Ferguson. The UT battle was the one he should have avoided. youngest governor in Texas history. Though no Texas official has been impeached and removed from office at the state level since Ferguson, Texas politics has hardly been scandal-free. This call was of doubtful legality, but Ferguson removed all question by calling the legislature to meet for the purpose of making appropriations for the University of Texas. In addition, he established Farmers State Bank. A part of his appeal as a candidate for governor was his support for white supremacy in the political process. Dictionary of American History. He often said, civilization begins and ends with the plow. Ferguson was a mesmerizing speaker and storyteller and was splendidly fluent in the dialects of rural Texas. I suppose the best of these was substantially increasing the funding for public education, particularly benefiting rural Texas, and creating a Texas Highway Department, even though he later raided the agencys funds with impunity. During the events that led up to the final quarrel, the University of Texas Board of Regents had repeatedly refused to remove certain faculty members whom Ferguson found objectionable. Ferguson did some good things. by Nicole Shealy At 16, he left home and drifted through the states of the American West, working successively in a vineyard, a mine, a barbed wire factory, and at a grain ranch. Her most recent publications include contributions to Texas Women: Their Histories, Their Lives and Discovering Texas History. In addition to the MLA, Chicago, and APA styles, your school, university, publication, or institution may have its own requirements for citations. The campaign proved him to be a man of considerable native ability and the possessor of a captivating personality. Impeached provides a new examination of the rise and fall of Fergusons political fortunes, offering a focused look at how battles over economic class, academic freedom, womens enfranchisement, and concentrated political power came to be directed toward one politician. Against a lawsuit filed to prevent the Texas Democratic Party from listing him on the primary ballot, Ferguson argued that his impeachment trial ended without a conviction or judgment because he resigned his office before the Senate decided the case. "[3] In general, impeachments are a rare occurrence. Therefore, be sure to refer to those guidelines when editing your bibliography or works cited list. James Ferguson Dr. Ken Bridges An argument over spending tax. The Constitution gives Congress the power of impeachment in federal cases. Texas History Minute: Jim Ferguson only Texas governor to be impeached, removed. In 1917, barely into his second term as governor of Texas, James E. Ferguson was impeached, convicted, and removed from office. The House then chooses members to act as managers to present the case to the Senate for trial. He convened the commission, and the body approved that Barker write a letter to the Governor-elect. Thats how she likes it. The entire process is substantially the same in Texas for elected officials, as it is for most of the other states. Five concerned the misapplication of public funds, three related to his quarrel with the university, one declared that he had failed properly to respect and enforce the banking laws of the state, and one charged that he had received $156,500 ($2.9 million in todays dollars) from a source he refused to reveal. Apply today! The most discussed plank in his platform, which appealed especially to tenant farmers, proposed a law that would limit the rent charged by landlords and prevent the collection of bonuses. Why was Governor James E. Ferguson impeached and convicted in 1917? Dictionary of American History. The Senate, sitting as a High Court of Impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and finally convicted the governor on ten . He lost the 1922 Democratic Primary race for U. S. Senate by a wide margin. The vote was 25-3. "Ferguson Impeachment Ma placed a distant fifth. It appears that neither governor was brought to trial. He had been an opponent of Ferguson for the Democratic party's nomination for governor in 1914.[11]. Senators will then act as jurors while the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court presides over the proceedings. Winds light and variable. He was re-elected in 1916. Cite this article Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography. James E. Ferguson", Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature 18462006, "Governor Ferguson Is Impeached By The Senate Saturday, By 27 to 4: 10 of 21 Charges Sustained By High Impeachment Court", "Presiding Officers of the Texas Legislature, 18462010", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=James_E._Ferguson&oldid=1136223529, Candidates in the 1920 United States presidential election, Impeached state and territorial governors of the United States removed from office, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing additional references from March 2020, All articles needing additional references, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 29 January 2023, at 09:22. In 1917, Gov. Ferguson convinced his wife to run one more time in 1940. Ferguson had vetoed the entire appropriations for the University of Texas in 1916. Almost a century later, the Ferguson impeachment presents both striking similarities and key differences to the ongoing saga involving University of Texas System Regent Wallace Hall. The Regents refused. . 4. Gulf of Mexico warming at faster rate than global ocean, study finds, As Texas STAAR test goes fully online, teachers feel defeated, Texas Education Agency projects confidence, Texas Standard for Feb. 23, 2023: Why many cotton farmers arent planting as much this year. The day before he was thrown out of office he resigned, saying it didn't count. The question was eventually carried into the courts, where the judgment of the Court of Impeachment was sustained. He was replaced by William P. Hobby after the Texas House of Representatives found him guilty in ten of twenty-one charges. July 2, 20146 AM Central. The Board of Regents hired the firm to review whether Hall may have violated any federal privacy laws in his handling of student information. If the Senate is not in session, there are four ways by which it may be convened.[7]. He only made the ballot in Texas, winning just under 10% of the vote. In 1924, Ferguson entered his wife Miriam, known as "Ma", in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. The most that the select committee can do would be to recommend to the full state house that articles of impeachment be drafted. The actual trial on those charges, and subsequent removal of an official on conviction on those charges, is separate from the act of impeachment itself. 1917: James 'Pa' Ferguson Jr., Texas. In 1906, he sold Farmers bank and established Temple State Bank. Only the governor can do that. Found in volume 15,291 (available at govinfo). The Legislature then came back into session to consider impeachment, an attempt Ferguson immediately condemned. He told Vinson that he fought him on this he was in for the biggest bear fight in Texas history. That fairly summarized his attitude about his power. The Fergusons beat Robertson and went to the Governor's Mansion for a third time. James Edward Ferguson: James E. Ferguson Born Bell County, Texas August 31, 1871 Died Austin, Texas September 21, 1944 Governor of the State of Texas . The Senate, acting as a court of impeachment, spent three weeks considering the charges and convicted the governor of 10 of them. Ferguson was indicted on nine charges in July 1917. Two years later they lost a reelection bid amid new scandals concerning excessive pardons and political patronage abuses. After an unsuccessful campaign for president in 1920, Ferguson ran the gubernatorial campaign of his wife, Miriam Ma Ferguson, in 1924. He loaned himself so much money that he practically bankrupted his own bank. There were . Impeachment is the equivalent of an indictment. On December 31, 1899, he married Miriam A. Wallace; they had two children. The Fergusons retired from public life afterward with James Ferguson dying in 1944 and his wife passing away in 1961. He was replaced by William P. Hobby after the Texas House of Representatives found him guilty in ten of twenty-one charges. He was associated with the Farmers State Bank of Belton for several years and was a member of the Texas Bankers Association. James Edward Ferguson Jr. (August 31, 1871 - September 21, 1944), known as Pa Ferguson, was an American Democratic politician and the 26th Governor of Texas, in office from 1915 to 1917. The framers considered impeachment an important check on the power of the presidency and against corruption. resigning his office and being barred by the legislature to ever serve a state office again. Yet the House rejected a broad attempt to impeach Johnson for abuse of power in 1867, because many congressmen felt a president had to commit a crime to be impeached. Farmer Jim wasnt even much of a farmer, though he owned a few farms and was incredibly loyal to farmers. Heres where Ferguson made his first greatest legal blunder. The fight with the university touched off a massive scandal. He told the UT president, Dr. Robert E. Vinson, that he wanted them fired. James Ferguson. 2019Encyclopedia.com | All rights reserved. Hearing the gasps in the chamber, Ferguson immediately asked to strike the comment. Though he had signed legislation creating three new colleges, he found himself in a feud with professors at the University of Texas. His wife was defeated for re-election in 1926, following questions of improper use of her pardoning power. The Fergusons retired from public life afterward with James Ferguson dying in 1944 and his wife passing away in 1961. "Ferguson Impeachment This is simply not true. 9, 1916) Gen. John J. Pershing led US forces in a hunt for Villa from March 14, 1916 to Feb. 7, 1917 In 1920 he was an unsuccessful candidate for President on his own American party ticket. Has Austin Eliminated All Restrictions On People Experiencing Homelessness? Ferguson was removed from office and deemed ineligible to hold any position of honor, trust, or profit under the laws of Texas by the Court of Impeachment by a vote of twenty-five to three. Ferguson was indicted on nine charges which included misapplication of public funds, embezzlement and the diversion of a special fund. Ferguson would often call into question the value of a college diploma, saying it was book learning gone to seed. He said some professors took three years to learn that you couldnt grow wool on an armadillo. His constituency, he claimed, resided where the creeks forked and he felt they were getting short-changed by not getting enough basic education, while the kids at UT were getting too much of it., He said those kids go up to Austin for four years and return home with nothing but a mandolin and liver damage. As my brother Redneck Dave would say, That right there is funny. He became a lawyer in 1897, married Miriam A. Wallace in 1899, and expanded into real estate, insurance, and banking. If the state legislature is not in regular session during the time of impeachment, a special session can be called specifically to handle impeachments. After returning to Bell County, he farmed and worked with a railroad-bridge gang until, after a brief study of law, he was admitted to the bar in 1897 and began the practice of law in Belton. The legislative action against him and voted to impeach decades at all levels more in... 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