William Woods Holden (November 24, 1818 – March 1, 1892) was an American politician who served as the
38th and 40th governor of North Carolina
The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...
. He was appointed by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
in 1865 for a brief term and then elected in 1868. He served until 1871 and was the leader of the state's
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
during the
Reconstruction Era
The Reconstruction era was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865) and lasting until approximately the Compromise of 1877. During Reconstruction, attempts were made to rebuild the country after the bloo ...
.
Holden was the second governor in American history to be
impeached
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
, and the first to be removed from office through that process. His impeachment was politically motivated due to his suppression of the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
. After Republicans lost the 1870 election, Democrats impeached him on eight charges for supposed actions during the
Kirk–Holden war
The Kirk–Holden war was a police operation taken against the white supremacist organization Ku Klux Klan by the government in the state of North Carolina in the United States in 1870. The Klan was using murder and intimidation to prevent rece ...
. He is the only North Carolina governor to have been impeached. In 2011, Holden was posthumously pardoned by the
North Carolina Senate.
Life
Early years
Holden was born on November 24, 1818, and raised near
Hillsborough, North Carolina. At age of 10, he began a six-year apprenticeship with Dennis Heartt at the ''
Hillsborough Recorder'' newspaper in
Hillsborough, North Carolina. By age 19, Holden was working as a printer and writer at the ''Raleigh Star'', in
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
. He then studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1841, and became a member of the
Whig party. However, he never practiced law and instead participated in the newspaper business.
In 1843, he became owner and editor of the ''North Carolina Standard'' in Raleigh. He changed the newspaper's party affiliation to the
Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to:
*Democratic Party (United States)
Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to:
Active parties Africa
*Botswana Democratic Party
*Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
*Gabonese Democratic Party
*Demo ...
. When Holden took over the newspaper, it was struggling financially. Under his leadership, it became one of the most widely read newspapers in the state. He continued as owner and editor of the newspaper until he was elected governor.
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NCPEDIA
Political career
In December 1843, Holden became a delegate to the Democratic state party convention, where he was elected to the
North Carolina Democratic Party
The North Carolina Democratic Party (NCDP) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Democratic Party. It is headquartered in the historic Goodwin House, located in Raleigh.
Governor Roy Cooper is a North Carolina Democrat. Since the 2010 passage of ...
state executive committee.
In 1846, Holden was elected to represent
Wake County in the
North Carolina House of Commons and chose to only serve one term.
During the 1850 elections he served a major role in ending the Whig dominance in the state.
By 1858, he was chairman of the party. That year, he unsuccessfully attempted to gain the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, but was defeated by
John W. Ellis
John Willis Ellis (November 23, 1820 – July 7, 1861) was the 35th Governor of the U.S. state of North Carolina from 1859 to 1861. He was born in Rowan County, North Carolina.
Ellis attended the University of North Carolina, studied law under ...
, and then his party passed him over for a Senate seat.
Throughout the 1840s and 1850s, Holden advocated for Southern rights to expand slavery and sometimes supported the right of secession, but by 1860 he had shifted his position to support the Union.
Holden and his newspaper fell out of favor with the state Democratic Party, and he was removed as the state's printer when he editorialized against secession in 1860.
In 1861, Holden was sent to a state convention to vote against secession representing
Wake County.
As the
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
progressed, Holden became critical of the
Confederate
Confederacy or confederate may refer to:
States or communities
* Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities
* Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...
government, and became a leader of the North Carolina peace movement. In 1864, he ran against incumbent Governor
Zebulon B. Vance
Zebulon Baird Vance (May 13, 1830 – April 14, 1894) was the 37th and 43rd governor of North Carolina, a U.S. Senator from North Carolina, and a Confederate officer during the American Civil War.
A prolific writer and noted public speake ...
as a peace candidate, but Vance defeated him in a landslide receiving over eighty percent of the vote.
When the Civil War ended on May 9, 1865, Holden was appointed Governor on May 29, by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
. During
Reconstruction
Reconstruction may refer to:
Politics, history, and sociology
*Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company
*''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
he served a major role in North Carolina and placed the ''Standard'' newspaper in the hands of his son,
Joseph W. Holden. However, he was defeated by
Jonathan Worth in a special election for governor in 1865.
Johnson then nominated Holden to be
minister to El Salvador, but the Senate rejected his nomination, so he returned to editing the ''Standard'', and became president of the North Carolina
Union League, and organized the North Carolina
Republican Party
Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party.
Republican Party may also refer to:
Africa
*Republican Party (Liberia)
* Republican Part ...
in 1866–67.
Governor
![Address to the Colored People of North Carolina Raleigh December 19 1870](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Address_to_the_Colored_People_of_North_Carolina_Raleigh_December_19_1870.jpg)
While voters were approving the new state constitution, Holden was elected governor at the head of the Republican ticket in 1868, defeating
Thomas Samuel Ashe
Thomas Samuel Ashe (July 21, 1812 – February 4, 1887) was a slave owner, member of the Confederate Congress, and U.S. Congressman from North Carolina.
Early years
Born in Hawfields, Orange County, North Carolina, he attended Bingham's Aca ...
. When he was elected governor, Holden gave up editorship and ownership of the ''Standard''.
To combat the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
, Holden hired two dozen detectives from 1869 to 1870, and although the detective unit was not overly successful in limiting Klan activities, his efforts to suppress the Klan exceeded those of other Southern governors. With new powers granted to him by the state legislature under the 1870
Shoffner Act, he called out the militia against the Klan in 1870, imposed martial law in two counties, and suspended the writ of ''
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...
'' for accused leaders of the Klan in what became known as the
Kirk–Holden war
The Kirk–Holden war was a police operation taken against the white supremacist organization Ku Klux Klan by the government in the state of North Carolina in the United States in 1870. The Klan was using murder and intimidation to prevent rece ...
. The result was a political backlash, accompanied by violence at the time of the election to suppress the black vote. The Republicans lost the legislative election.
After the Democratic Party regained majorities in both houses of the state legislature in 1870, Governor Holden was
impeached
Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In ...
by the
North Carolina House of Representatives
The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...
on December 14, 1870.
During his trial in the Senate he was defended by
Nathaniel Boyden
Nathaniel Boyden (August 16, 1796 – November 20, 1873) was a U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1847 and 1849 and later between 1868 and 1869.
Born in Conway, Massachusetts in 1796, Boyden attended the common schools and then s ...
and
William Nathan Harrell Smith
William Nathan Harrell Smith (September 24, 1812 – November 14, 1889) was a United States Representative from North Carolina, and a chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.
Biography
William N. H. Smith was born in Murfreesboro, North ...
, but he was convicted on six of the eight charges against him by Democratic members of the
North Carolina Senate in party-line votes on March 22, 1871. Holden's son-in-law, state senator
Lewis P. Olds
Lewis P. Olds was a North Carolina lawyer and politician who served as North Carolina Attorney General from 1869 to 1870.
In 1868, he was offered the presidency of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Kemp P. Battle wrote, "As there ...
, was among those who voted against removal. The other two charges received majority votes, but not the required two-thirds majorities.
The main charges against Holden were related to the rough treatment and arrests of North Carolina citizens by state militia officer Colonel George W. Kirk during the enforcement of Reconstruction civil rights legislation. Holden had formed the state militia to respond to the assassination of Republican senator
John W. Stephens
John W. Stephens (October 13, 1834 – May 21, 1870) was a state senator from North Carolina. He was stabbed and garroted by the Ku Klux Klan on May 21, 1870.[Wyatt Outlaw
Wyatt Outlaw (1820February 26, 1870) was an American politician and the first African-American to serve as Town Commissioner and Constable of the town of Graham, North Carolina. He was lynched by the White Brotherhood, a branch of the Ku Klux Kla ...]
, a black police officer in the town of
Graham
Graham and Graeme may refer to:
People
* Graham (given name), an English-language given name
* Graham (surname), an English-language surname
* Graeme (surname), an English-language surname
* Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer
* Clan G ...
in
Alamance County
Alamance County (), from the North Carolina Collection's website at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 18, 2012. is a county in North Carolina. As of the 2020 census, the population was 171,415. Its county seat ...
, as well as numerous attacks by the
Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
.
Holden was the first governor in American history to be impeached, convicted, and removed from office. Governor
Charles L. Robinson
Charles Lawrence Robinson (July 21, 1818 – August 17, 1894) was an American politician who served in the California State Assembly from 1851-52, and later as the first Governor of Kansas from 1861 until 1863. He was also the first governor of ...
of Kansas was the first American governor to be impeached, however, without conviction and removal.
Later life
Following his impeachment and removal from office he moved to
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, where he resumed working on the ''Daily Chronicle''. In 1873, President
Ulysses Grant
Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant ; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was an American military officer and politician who served as the 18th president of the United States from 1869 to 1877. As Commanding General, he led the Union Ar ...
appointed him as postmaster for Raleigh and he served until 1881. President
James A. Garfield
James Abram Garfield (November 19, 1831 – September 19, 1881) was the 20th president of the United States, serving from March 4, 1881 until his death six months latertwo months after he was shot by an assassin. A lawyer and Civil War gene ...
was later asked by Raleigh Republicans to not re-appoint him and Holden left the Republican party after losing his position.
Holden died on March 1, 1892, and was buried at
Historic Oakwood Cemetery
Historic Oakwood Cemetery was founded in 1869 in North Carolina's capital, Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh, near the North Carolina State Capitol in the city's Historic Oakwood neighborhood. Historic Oakwood Cemetery contains two special areas ...
in Raleigh. He was recognized as "one of the foremost men in intellectual power and daring that were ever born here" by North Carolinian
Walter Hines Page.
In 2011, Holden was posthumously pardoned by the
North Carolina Senate in a 48–0 vote.
[, see als]
the text of the resolution pardoning him
References
Bibliography
Primary sources
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Secondary sources (chronologically)
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* , Fulltext online in Ebsco
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Holden, William Woods
1818 births
1892 deaths
19th-century American politicians
Activists from North Carolina
American anti-war activists
American proslavery activists
Burials at Historic Oakwood Cemetery
Governors of North Carolina
History of North Carolina
Holden family
Impeached state and territorial governors of the United States removed from office
Members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
North Carolina Democratic Party chairs
North Carolina Democrats
North Carolina politicians convicted of crimes
North Carolina postmasters
North Carolina Republicans
North Carolina Whigs
People from Durham County, North Carolina
People from Orange County, North Carolina
People of North Carolina in the American Civil War
People who have received posthumous pardons
Republican Party governors of North Carolina
Southern Unionists in the American Civil War
Washington, D.C., Republicans