Message Of Gov. John Gill Shorter, To The General Assembly Of The State Of Alabama: At The Called Session, Begun And Held On The Twenty-seventh October, 1862
John Gill Shorter was an American politician and a representative in the Confederate Congress, jurist. He also served as the Governor of Alabama from 1861 to 1863.
Background
John Shorter was born on April 23, 1818, in Monticello, Georgia, the United States. He was the son of Reuben Clark and Martha Gill Shorter. His father was a physician and planter who came originally from Virginia, settled in Georgia in his young manhood, and became a leader in the Democratic party in the state. John Gill was one of three sons who attained prominence in Alabama political life, the other two being Henry Russell, who served for some years as state railroad commissioner, and Eli Sims, who was a congressman.
Education
John Gill Shorter graduated from Franklin College (now the University of Georgia) in 1837 and immediately went to Eufaula, Alabama, where he studied law.
In 1838 Shorter was admitted to the bar. He spent four years in practice and was then appointed a solicitor for the district in which he lived. He held this post until 1845 when he was elected to the state Senate. After two years in that body, he declined to serve again and returned to his law practice.
In 1851 he was elected to the lower house of the state legislature but gave up his seat to accept an appointment to the circuit bench. Completing his term, he was elected to the office in 1852 and reelected six years later without opposition. He was an enthusiastic supporter of secession, and when Governor Moore appointed him Alabama's commissioner to the secession convention of the state of Georgia, he resigned his position on the bench to accept the appointment.
Later he was chosen to represent his district in the provisional Confederate Congress, in the work of which he took an active part. In August 1861, while he was in Richmond attending the third session of the provisional Congress, he was elected governor of Alabama, his election was an expression of the loyalty which the voters of Alabama accorded the Confederate government.
Entering upon the duties of his office in a trying time, he was at first given enthusiastic support by the people. He exerted every effort to construct defenses where they were needed and tried especially to defend the port at Mobile. He was tireless in raising and equipping troops and in caring for the families of soldiers. Gradually, however, he lost popular support. Union troops invaded the state and devastated many parts of it.
In the election of 1863, he was defeated by a vote of more than three to one. He then returned to Eufaula and resumed the practice of law, taking no further part in political life.
History records John Shorter as a member of the planter class and an ardent secessionist. An unwavering supporter of President Davis, he voted to sustain all of Davis's vetoes and favored all measures which he recommended.
His governorship was devoted to dealing with the problems and issues of the civil war as well as Alabama's relationship with the Confederate government. Predominate issues included the defense of Mobile, raising troops (especially for the home front), caring for the indigent families of soldiers, taxes, slave impressment, raising arms, conscription, military training, military desertion, food supplies, the ban on wartime distillation, the scarcity of salt, the relationship between the state's civil and military authorities, state's rights (especially in regard to providing supplies to the Confederate government) and financing the war.
Consistent with his prewar hostility toward government provision of welfare for the poor, Shorter opposed legislation to expand a state aid program for the families of soldiers to include all citizens in need. When the legislature began consideration of laws to control soaring prices so people could afford food, Shorter argued that such legislation would make matters worse. The governor did not stop the passage of the bill, but the version that he signed was much weaker thanks to his opposition. By 1863, however, Shorter could no longer ignore the popular demand for government action to help all indigents. Thus he supported a measure passed in 1863 that appropriated funds to be distributed to counties for indigent citizens. He also employed state agents to purchase needed foodstuffs for distribution throughout the state.
Views
Shorter devoted much energy to persuading his constituents that proposals to limit slavery were the first steps toward the eventual abolition of the institution where it already existed.
Membership
John Gill Shorter was an ardent secessionist and a member of the so-called "Eufaula Regency," a small group of lawyer/planters in Barbour County who were instrumental in taking Alabama out of the Union in 1861.
Connections
On January 12, 1843, John Shorter married Mary Jane Battle of Eufaula, by whom he had one daughter.