Seabury Ford
Seabury Ford (* October 15, 1801 in Cheshire, Connecticut; † May 5, 1855 in Burton, Ohio ) was an American politician and from 1849 to 1850 the 20th Governor of the state of Ohio.
Early years
Even in childhood Ford moved with his parents to Burton in Ohio. There he attended the Burton Academy. Between 1821 and 1825 he studied at Yale University. After a subsequent law studies he started to work as a lawyer in Burton. In Ohio, he was also a member of the militia, in which he brought it up to Major General.
Political career
Ford was a member of the Whig Party, which was in opposition to the Democratic Party. In 1835 he was first elected to the House of Representatives from Ohio, where he spent three legislative periods. There he was at times also President of Parliament. Between 1841 and 1848 he was a member of the State Senate.
In 1848 he was elected as the last candidate of the Whig Governor of Ohio. The election result was still the scarcest result in gubernatorial elections in that State. Ford won with 311 votes ahead of Democrat John B. Weller. The election campaign was dominated by the debate over the question of slavery and the consequences of the war against Mexico. Because of the tight election result, there were recounts and discussions about the validity of the election. Therefore, Ford's inauguration to six weeks to January 22, 1849 had to be postponed.
His nearly two-year tenure was overshadowed by violent internal political tensions in Ohio. Even in the discussion about the election, Democrats and Whigs could hardly some in the legislature. A major theme of the conflict was the issue of slavery and its expansion into the territories that fell after the peace with Mexico to the United States. Governor Ford was an opponent of slavery and a supporter of the Union. During his tenure, Ford was able to achieve little because of this political situation. However, he managed to have pick up the so-called "Black Laws " which discriminated against African Americans in Ohio. In 1850, a conference to revise the State Constitution was convened. Another incident of his tenure was a cholera epidemic in 1849 that hit the country. Among other things, this disease triggered in the prison of Ohio from chaotic states. The governor rewarded prisoners who participated in the containment of the disease, with an amnesty. Ford's term of office ended on 12 December 1850.
Further CV
Soon after his return to Burton, he suffered a stroke from which he never recovered properly. His left half of the body was paralyzed. On the consequences of this attack he is also deceased in May 1855. Seabury Ford was married to Harriet Cook, with whom he had five children.