Alfred A. Taylor
Encyclopedia
Alfred Alexander Taylor, nickname Alf Taylor (August 6, 1848– November 25, 1931), was a lawyer and politician
, serving as United States Congressman from 1889–1895, and later elected the Governor of Tennessee, serving from 1921 to 1923. Notably, in 1886 he lost the gubernatorial race to his younger brother Robert
, a Democrat.
as the son of Emma Haynes and Nathaniel Green Taylor
, a Methodist minister and twice US Representative as a Whig
from the First District. Alf grew up in a political family; his mother was the sister of Landon Carter Haynes, Democratic Speaker of the House of Tennessee and later a Confederate senator from Tennessee. Alf and his brother Robert Taylor
, who both became active in politics, although for different parties, were first cousins of Nathaniel Edwin Harris
, later Governor of Georgia (1915–1917).
The young Taylor attended Duffield Academy in Elizabethton, Tennessee
; Buffalo Institute (later Milligan College
), also in Tennessee; and the schools of Edge Hill and Pennington Seminary (in Pennington, New Jersey
).
At the age of 19, in 1867 Taylor accompanied his father, then Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Andrew Johnson
, to join the Indian Peace Commission in present-day Kansas in its effort to end the Plains Wars. It negotiated the Medicine Lodge Treaty
of 1867 with southern Plains Indians
, bringing about their removal to reservations in Indian Territory
. The young Taylor had no official role but was witness to historic times. Late in his life, in 1924 Taylor wrote an account and published it in the Chronicles of Oklahoma.
After his study of law, Taylor was admitted to the bar in 1874 and commenced practice in Jonesboro
, Washington County, Tennessee.
, named for his brother, became a United States federal judge.
as a Republican
starting in 1875.
In the 1886 gubernatorial election Alf Taylor was nominated as the Republican candidate, and the Democrats proceeded to nominate his brother Bob Taylor as their candidate. The electoral contest was known as the "War of the Roses
", after the event in English history
in which the related York and Lancaster families fought for the English crown. Robert's supporters wore red roses, while Alfred's backers sported white roses. The two men traveled the state together, debating publicly at every stop and often sleeping at night in the same bed. Robert Taylor won the race, at a time of Democratic political dominance in the state.
Two years later in 1888, Alf Taylor was elected to the United States House of Representatives
; he was re-elected for the next two terms as well, and served from 1889 to 1895. He supported the "McKinley Tariff and the Lodge Federal Elections Bill, a measure to protect African-American voting rights with federal supervision." He continued to support Republican politics between his time in Congress and his 1920 nomination for governor. Although the state as a whole was predominantly Democratic, Taylor's native East Tennessee
was ardently Republican.
After leaving Congress, Alf Taylor and his brother Bob went on the lecture circuit, popular in the late nineteenth century, billing themselves respectively as "Yankee Doodle" and "Dixie." They both also did farming in between.
. When incumbent Democratic governor Malcolm R. Patterson
subsequently withdrew from the race, Taylor's brother Robert, then a United States Senator, was nominated by the Democrats as a replacement. Hooper defeated Bob Taylor in the general election
, giving Hooper a rare accomplishment in politics, the defeat of two brothers, one at a time, in the same year.
In 1920, Alf Taylor was nominated by the Republicans for governor and won the election; he was the oldest nominee ever put forward by either major party for the office. His brother Bob had been deceased for over eight years when Alf Taylor was inaugurated. Alf Taylor was the first governor of Tennessee chosen in an election in which women were eligible to vote; Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
completed its ratification and brought about women's suffrage
on a national basis.
at Wilson Dam
in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
, into an electrical power plant for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Tennessee Valley. (This became part of the Tennessee Valley Authority
over a decade later.) Taylor was defeated for re-election in 1922 by Democrat
Austin Peay
; he was the last Republican chief executive of the state for almost half a century.
, adjacent to his brother Bob.
, governor of the predecessor Southwest Territory
, and Willie Blount
were half-brothers; Neill S. Brown
and John C. Brown
were full brothers. Seven intervening governors served between Bob Taylor's last term and Alf Taylor's only one; seven intervening governors served between the Brown brothers, according to the official list.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, serving as United States Congressman from 1889–1895, and later elected the Governor of Tennessee, serving from 1921 to 1923. Notably, in 1886 he lost the gubernatorial race to his younger brother Robert
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
, a Democrat.
Early life
Alfred A. Taylor was born in the Happy Valley community of Carter County, TennesseeCarter County, Tennessee
Carter County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2010, the population was 57,424. Its county seat is Elizabethton.Carter County is part of the Johnson City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is a component of the Johnson City–Kingsport–Bristol, TN-VA Combined...
as the son of Emma Haynes and Nathaniel Green Taylor
Nathaniel Green Taylor
Nathaniel Green Taylor was an American lawyer, farmer, and politician from Tennessee. He was U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1854 to 1855, and again from 1866 to 1867, and Commissioner of Indian Affairs from 1867 to 1869...
, a Methodist minister and twice US Representative as a Whig
Whig Party (United States)
The Whig Party was a political party of the United States during the era of Jacksonian democracy. Considered integral to the Second Party System and operating from the early 1830s to the mid-1850s, the party was formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic...
from the First District. Alf grew up in a political family; his mother was the sister of Landon Carter Haynes, Democratic Speaker of the House of Tennessee and later a Confederate senator from Tennessee. Alf and his brother Robert Taylor
Robert Love Taylor
Robert Love Taylor was a U.S. Representative from Tennessee from 1879 to 1881, Governor of Tennessee from 1887 to 1891 and from 1897 to 1899, and subsequently a United States Senator from that state from 1907 until his death. He is notable for winning the governor's office in an election against...
, who both became active in politics, although for different parties, were first cousins of Nathaniel Edwin Harris
Nathaniel Edwin Harris
Nathaniel Edwin Harris was an American lawyer and politician, and the 61st Governor of Georgia.-Early life:...
, later Governor of Georgia (1915–1917).
The young Taylor attended Duffield Academy in Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton, Tennessee
Elizabethton is the county seat of Carter County, Tennessee, United States. Elizabethton is also the historical site both of the first independent American government located west of both the Eastern Continental Divide and the original thirteen British American colonies.Elizabethton is also the...
; Buffalo Institute (later Milligan College
Milligan College
Milligan College is a Christian liberal arts college founded in 1866 and located immediately outside of Elizabethton in Carter County, Tennessee, United States. The school has a student population of just over 1,100 students as well as a campus that is located just minutes from downtown Johnson City...
), also in Tennessee; and the schools of Edge Hill and Pennington Seminary (in Pennington, New Jersey
Pennington, New Jersey
Pennington is a Borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 2,585.Pennington was established as a borough by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature on January 31, 1890, from portions of Hopewell Township, based on the results of...
).
At the age of 19, in 1867 Taylor accompanied his father, then Commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson was the 17th President of the United States . As Vice-President of the United States in 1865, he succeeded Abraham Lincoln following the latter's assassination. Johnson then presided over the initial and contentious Reconstruction era of the United States following the American...
, to join the Indian Peace Commission in present-day Kansas in its effort to end the Plains Wars. It negotiated the Medicine Lodge Treaty
Medicine Lodge Treaty
The Medicine Lodge Treaty is the overall name for three treaties signed between the United States government and southern Plains Indian tribes in October 1867, intended to bring peace to the area by relocating the Native Americans to reservations in Indian Territory and away from European-American...
of 1867 with southern Plains Indians
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
, bringing about their removal to reservations in Indian Territory
Indian Territory
The Indian Territory, also known as the Indian Territories and the Indian Country, was land set aside within the United States for the settlement of American Indians...
. The young Taylor had no official role but was witness to historic times. Late in his life, in 1924 Taylor wrote an account and published it in the Chronicles of Oklahoma.
After his study of law, Taylor was admitted to the bar in 1874 and commenced practice in Jonesboro
Jonesborough, Tennessee
Jonesborough is a town in and the county seat of Washington County, Tennessee, in the southeastern United States. The population was 4,168 at the 2000 census...
, Washington County, Tennessee.
Marriage and family
In 1881 Taylor married Jennie Anderson of nearby Buffalo Valley, and they had ten children together. Their son Robert Love TaylorRobert Love Taylor (judge)
Robert Love Taylor was a United States federal judge.Born in Embreeville, Tennessee, Taylor was the son of longtime Tennessee politician Alfred A. Taylor, and was named for Alfred's brother, Robert Love Taylor, also very active in Tennessee politics. Taylor received a Ph.B...
, named for his brother, became a United States federal judge.
Political life
Alf Taylor was elected to the Tennessee state legislatureLegislature
A legislature is a kind of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend, and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law. In addition to enacting laws, legislatures usually have exclusive authority to raise or lower taxes and adopt the budget and...
as a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
starting in 1875.
In the 1886 gubernatorial election Alf Taylor was nominated as the Republican candidate, and the Democrats proceeded to nominate his brother Bob Taylor as their candidate. The electoral contest was known as the "War of the Roses
Wars of the Roses
The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York...
", after the event in English history
History of England
The history of England concerns the study of the human past in one of Europe's oldest and most influential national territories. What is now England, a country within the United Kingdom, was inhabited by Neanderthals 230,000 years ago. Continuous human habitation dates to around 12,000 years ago,...
in which the related York and Lancaster families fought for the English crown. Robert's supporters wore red roses, while Alfred's backers sported white roses. The two men traveled the state together, debating publicly at every stop and often sleeping at night in the same bed. Robert Taylor won the race, at a time of Democratic political dominance in the state.
Two years later in 1888, Alf Taylor was elected to the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
; he was re-elected for the next two terms as well, and served from 1889 to 1895. He supported the "McKinley Tariff and the Lodge Federal Elections Bill, a measure to protect African-American voting rights with federal supervision." He continued to support Republican politics between his time in Congress and his 1920 nomination for governor. Although the state as a whole was predominantly Democratic, Taylor's native East Tennessee
East Tennessee
East Tennessee is a name given to approximately the eastern third of the U.S. state of Tennessee, one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee defined in state law. East Tennessee consists of 33 counties, 30 located within the Eastern Time Zone and three counties in the Central Time Zone, namely...
was ardently Republican.
After leaving Congress, Alf Taylor and his brother Bob went on the lecture circuit, popular in the late nineteenth century, billing themselves respectively as "Yankee Doodle" and "Dixie." They both also did farming in between.
Subsequent gubernatorial races
In 1910 Alf Taylor waged a spirited campaign for the Republican gubernatorial nomination against the eventual nominee, Ben W. HooperBen W. Hooper
Ben Walter Hooper was governor of the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1911 to 1915.-Biography:Hooper, who was of illegitimate birth, spent part of his childhood in an orphanage, was unofficially "adopted" by members of his rural Baptist church, and was belatedly acknowledged by his natural father, a...
. When incumbent Democratic governor Malcolm R. Patterson
Malcolm R. Patterson
Malcolm Rice Patterson was the governor of the U.S. state of Tennessee from 1907 to 1911.-Biography:A native of Somerville, Alabama, Patterson was a son of Colonel Josiah Patterson, a distinguished Confederate cavalry officer and a United States Representative for Tennessee, and his wife Josephine...
subsequently withdrew from the race, Taylor's brother Robert, then a United States Senator, was nominated by the Democrats as a replacement. Hooper defeated Bob Taylor in the general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
, giving Hooper a rare accomplishment in politics, the defeat of two brothers, one at a time, in the same year.
In 1920, Alf Taylor was nominated by the Republicans for governor and won the election; he was the oldest nominee ever put forward by either major party for the office. His brother Bob had been deceased for over eight years when Alf Taylor was inaugurated. Alf Taylor was the first governor of Tennessee chosen in an election in which women were eligible to vote; Tennessee's ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920....
completed its ratification and brought about women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
on a national basis.
Governorship
Taylor had a fairly successful administration but struggled with a Democratic-dominated legislature. Highlights included the passage of a tax reform plan. Taylor helped the successful lobbying effort to have the federal government convert a nitrate plant built for World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
at Wilson Dam
Wilson Dam (Alabama)
Wilson Dam is a dam spanning the Tennessee River between Lauderdale County and Colbert County in the U.S. state of Alabama. It impounds Wilson Lake. It is one of nine Tennessee Valley Authority dams on the Tennessee River...
in Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals, Alabama
Muscle Shoals is a city in Colbert County, Alabama, United States. As of 2007, the United States Census Bureau estimated the population of the city to be 12,846. The city is included in The Shoals MSA. It is famous for its contributions to American popular music.-Geography:Muscle Shoals is located...
, into an electrical power plant for the benefit of the inhabitants of the Tennessee Valley. (This became part of the Tennessee Valley Authority
Tennessee Valley Authority
The Tennessee Valley Authority is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected...
over a decade later.) Taylor was defeated for re-election in 1922 by Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
Austin Peay
Austin Peay
Austin Peay was Governor of Tennessee from 1923 until his death in 1927.-Biography:Peay, a native of Kentucky, moved to Clarksville, Tennessee and opened a law practice in 1896. He was first elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1901 and re-elected in 1903...
; he was the last Republican chief executive of the state for almost half a century.
Death
Alf Taylor is buried in Monte Vista Cemetery in Johnson City, TennesseeJohnson City, Tennessee
Johnson City is a city in Carter, Sullivan, and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee, with most of the city being in Washington County...
, adjacent to his brother Bob.
Notability
Alf and Bob Taylor were the second (and to date last) set of full brothers to serve as governors of Tennessee; William BlountWilliam Blount
William Blount, was a United States statesman. He was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention for North Carolina, the first and only governor of the Southwest Territory, and Democratic-Republican Senator from Tennessee . He played a major role in establishing the state of Tennessee. He was the...
, governor of the predecessor Southwest Territory
Southwest Territory
The Territory South of the River Ohio, more commonly known as the Southwest Territory, was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 26, 1790, until June 1, 1796, when it was admitted to the United States as the State of Tennessee.The Southwest Territory was...
, and Willie Blount
Willie Blount
Willie Blount served as Governor of Tennessee from 1809 to 1815. He was the younger half-brother of William Blount, representative of North Carolina to the Continental Congress and governor of the Southwest Territory....
were half-brothers; Neill S. Brown
Neill S. Brown
Neill Smith Brown was Governor of Tennessee from 1847 to 1849.-Biography:Neill Brown was born in Giles County, Tennessee. He taught school in his native county to work his way through college. He was admitted to the bar in 1834, and later fought with the 1st Tennessee in the Second Seminole War...
and John C. Brown
John C. Brown
John Calvin Brown was a Confederate general during the American Civil War and the Governor of Tennessee from 1871 to 1875, the first Democrat to be elected to that position following the war.-Early life:...
were full brothers. Seven intervening governors served between Bob Taylor's last term and Alf Taylor's only one; seven intervening governors served between the Brown brothers, according to the official list.