Newton Crain Blanchard

Background

Blanchard was born on January 29, 1849, in Rapides Parish, Louisiana, to Carey H. Blanchard and Frances Amelia Crain Blanchard. He was reared on a cotton plantation in central Louisiana, an agricultural environment that shaped the social world of his early life.

His early education took place in private schools and at the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning. He later studied law in Alexandria and completed his legal education at the University of Louisiana in New Orleans, an institution that subsequently became Tulane University.

Education

Blanchard attended private schools and the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning before studying law in Alexandria, Louisiana. The Louisiana State Seminary of Learning, founded in 1853, was the predecessor of Louisiana State University and formed part of the state's early effort to establish public higher education.

He entered the law department of the University of Louisiana and received a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1870. The University of Louisiana was the institution that later became Tulane University; its law program connected professional legal education with the development of New Orleans as Louisiana's commercial and legal center.

Career

Blanchard was admitted to the Louisiana bar in 1871 and began practicing law in Shreveport. He became active in public affairs in 1876 as chairman of the Caddo Parish Democratic Committee and in 1879 represented Caddo Parish at the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, where he chaired the Committee on Federal Relations. He also served as an aide-de-camp on the staffs of Governors Louis A. Wiltz and Samuel D. McEnery with the rank of major.

Elected as a Democrat to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1880, Blanchard served from March 4, 1881, until his resignation effective March 12, 1894. He chaired the House Committee on Rivers and Harbors during the Fiftieth, Fifty-second, and Fifty-third Congresses and also chaired the Committee on Improvement of the Mississippi River and Its Tributaries during the Fifty-third Congress. His congressional work placed him within the federal system responsible for navigation, levee, and river-improvement policy in the Mississippi Valley.

Blanchard was appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1894 to fill the vacancy created by Edward D. White's resignation and subsequently elected to complete the term, serving until March 3, 1897. He then became an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, serving from 1897 to 1903. The court was Louisiana's highest judicial body, and his appointment marked a transition from federal legislative service to state constitutional and judicial work.

In 1904, Blanchard won the Democratic nomination for governor and served as Louisiana's governor from May 10, 1904, to May 20, 1908. His administration advanced public education, including the addition of school libraries, established a state board of forestry and a state reform school, created a board of charities and corrections, and converted several appointed positions into elective offices. It also instituted the Democratic primary and pursued changes in state administration.

Near the end of his governorship, Blanchard attended the first Conference of Governors at the White House in May 1908 and was chosen to lead its resolutions committee. After leaving office, he resumed legal practice in Shreveport and became associated with Blanchard, Goldstein & Walker. In 1913, he returned to constitutional public service as president of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, and he later remained active in Shreveport civic and professional affairs.

Achievements

• Blanchard served as chairman of major U.S. House committees dealing with rivers, harbors, and improvement of the Mississippi River and its tributaries during the 1880s and 1890s.

• As governor of Louisiana from 1904 to 1908, Blanchard advanced public education, established a state board of forestry and a reform school, created a board of charities and corrections, and supported the introduction of the Democratic primary.

• Blanchard presided over the Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1913, one of the final major public offices of his career.

• At the first Conference of Governors in 1908, Blanchard chaired the committee that drafted the conference resolutions on conservation and natural resources.

Politics

Blanchard was a Democrat whose political career developed during the period when the party dominated Louisiana state politics and represented the principal vehicle for white political leadership in the post-Reconstruction South. He chaired the Caddo Parish Democratic Committee in 1876, represented Louisiana in Congress and the Senate, and later won the governorship through the Democratic nomination.

His public career combined legal and constitutional service with executive administration. As governor from 1904 to 1908, he supported changes that made several offices elective, advanced public education, established a state board of forestry and a reform school, and created a board of charities and corrections. His administration also introduced the Democratic primary as a central mechanism for selecting party nominees. In 1913, he presided over the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, continuing his involvement in the state's Democratic constitutional order.

Membership

Blanchard's documented civic and professional affiliations included service as a trustee of the University of the South at Sewanee, membership on the board of directors of City National Bank of Shreveport, and participation in the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. The University of the South was a church-related institution founded in the nineteenth century, while a bank board and a chamber of commerce represented the civic and commercial institutions through which local leaders participated in regional development.

• Trustee.

  University of the South , United States

• Member of the board of directors.

  City National Bank of Shreveport , United States

• Shreveport Chamber of Commerce , United States

Personality

Contemporary biographical accounts describe Blanchard as formal and aristocratic in manner, reflecting his upbringing in a plantation family and his long career in public office.

Connections

Blanchard was the son of Carey H. Blanchard and Frances Amelia Crain Blanchard. He married Emily Barret on December 16, 1873, and after her death married Charlotte Tracy of Baton Rouge on January 29, 1909.

His children included James Ashton Blanchard, Mary Ethel Blanchard, and Newton Crain Blanchard. His professional and public connections centered on Louisiana legal, political, judicial, educational, and commercial institutions, particularly those of Shreveport and Caddo Parish.

Father:

Carey H. Blanchard

Mother:

Frances Amelia Crain Blanchard

Wife:

Emily Barret

Married Newton Crain Blanchard on December 16, 1873.

Wife:

Charlotte Tracy

Married Newton Crain Blanchard on January 29, 1909.

Son:

James Ashton Blanchard

Daughter:

Mary Ethel Blanchard

Son:

Newton Crain Blanchard

Born in 1911.

References

• Biographical Directory of the United States Congress: Newton Crain Blanchard Documents Blanchard's education, legal career, service in the U.S. House and Senate, Louisiana Supreme Court service, governorship, 1913 constitutional convention presidency, death, and burial.
• Louisiana Supreme Court: Newton Blanchard Summarizes Blanchard's legal education, admission to the bar, judicial service, governorship, public-education work, constitutional convention presidency, death, and interment.
• National Governors Association: Newton Crain Blanchard Provides a summary of Blanchard's governorship, party affiliation, education, federal and judicial offices, administrative reforms, and burial.
• Dictionary of Louisiana Biography: Newton Crain Blanchard Provides biographical details about Blanchard's family, education, marriages, children, legal practice, political offices, and constitutional convention service.
• 64 Parishes: Newton Blanchard Describes Blanchard's legal and political career, gubernatorial reforms, later law practice, civic affiliations, and burial in Shreveport.
  2011