Joseph Duncan (politician)

Joseph Duncan ( born February 22, 1794 in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky; † January 15, 1844 in Jacksonville, Illinois ) was an American politician and from 1834 to 1838, the sixth Governor of Illinois. He also represented this state of 1827-1834 as a deputy in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Early years and political rise

Joseph Duncan participated as an officer in the British -American War of 1812 and received an award from the Congress for his gallant conduct in the defense of Fort Stephenson in Ohio. Since 1823, he had the rank of general in the National Guard. The early 1830s he also took part in the Black Hawk War. In 1821 he settled in Kaskaskia in Illinois. Until 1823 he was Justice of the Peace in Jackson County. Between 1824 and 1826 Duncan was in the Illinois Senate. Subsequently, he represented his state in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington DC There he remained 1827-1834.

Governor of Illinois

In 1834 Duncan was put forward by the Democratic Party as a candidate for election for governor and then elected by the voters of Illinois at this office. He began his four-year term on December 3, 1834, sat down first for the Internal Improvement Act a, a major program to improve infrastructure. Thus, roads and canals on a large scale should be strengthened. When the governor recognized the cost of the program, he refrained. The State Parliament but had already set the law in force and was determined to enforce it too. The work began and led to the expected high costs. In 1841, the program was stopped because Unbezahlbarkeit. The resulting debt burdened the state budget by the year 1882. Regardless of this program in 1837, adopted the construction work had begun in 1836 at the Illinois - Michigan Canal.

In Duncan's tenure, the capital was moved from Illinois from Vandalia to Springfield (1839 ). The settlement was founded in 1833 called Chicago was officially confirmed as a city. Duncan sat down also committed to improving the school system. Also during his tenure John Deere invented his steel plow. In later years, his company should be one of the largest companies in Illinois are.

More career

Due to a constitutional clause Duncan could not stand directly after the expiry of his term of office. So he had to resign from his post on December 7, 1837. He initially retired to his home in Jacksonville. In 1842 he applied, changed in the meantime to the Whigs to a return to the Office of the Governor, but was defeated by Democrat Thomas Ford with 45:54 percent of the vote. He died in January 1845. Joseph Duncan was married to Elizabeth Caldwell Smith, with whom he had ten children.

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