James Garrard was an American politician. He was a governor of Kentucky and Baptist clergyman.
Background
James Garrard was a native of Stafford County, Virginia, a member of a family of considerable local importance. His father, William, was county-lieutenant of Stafford County, and James in 1781, held the rank of colonel in the Stafford County regiment of the Virginia militia.
Career
How much actual fighting the young Garrard saw during the Revolution it is impossible to ascertain, but it is certain that his military life was interrupted by a year in the House of Delegates, 1779, when he represented Stafford County.
In 1783, accompanied by his wife, Garrard had removed to Kentucky, where he settled on Stoner Creek in the present county of Bourbon, then Fayette. Here three years later, he built his residence, “Mt. Lebanon, ” where he lived until his death.
For many years after his removal to Kentucky, Garrard’s interests seemed to vacillate between religion and politics.
For ten years, he was one of the ministers of this church and seems to have been active not only in his work here but also in the organization of Baptist congregations in other parts of Kentucky.
In 1785, he was elected as representative of Fayette County in the Virginia House of Delegates. One apparent result of his second service in the Virginia legislature was the creation of Bourbon County out of Fayette and the establishment of Mt. Lebanon as the temporary county seat.
He also represented Fayette and then Bourbon County in the conventions which marked Kentucky’s prolonged struggle for statehood, and was a member of the convention which made the first constitution, but he seems not to have played a leading part in any of these meetings.
In 1796, Garrard was one of four candidates for the governorship of Kentucky. He was chosen over Benjamin Logan by the electoral college on the second ballot, although Logan had received a plurality of the votes on the first.
The doubtful constitutionality of this election caused considerable discontent and had its influence in bringing about a revision of the constitution a few years later.
Garrard’s popularity with the Kentucky legislature was attested by the fact that his name was given to a newly created county; his popularity with the people was shown by his election as governor by popular vote at the conclusion of his first term in 1800.
During his eight years as governor, however, he did not display unusual ability.
After 1804, Garrard lived quietly at his home without holding or seeking further office.
Achievements
Religion
While governor, Garrard fell very much under the influence of his secretary of state, Harry Toulmin, a Unitarian. He came to have very pronounced Unitarian views and succeeded in spreading his ideas in his own congregation at Cooper’s Run.
As a result, he was dropped from the church and from the Baptist Association in 1803. This act closed Garrard’s ministry and closed also his connection with the Baptist Church. His fellow Baptists seem always to have deplored his political ambitions but never lost faith in his integrity.
Politics
As a Republican leader, Garrard followed Jefferson in denouncing the Alien and Sedition laws and used his influence in securing the adoption of the Kentucky Resolutions of 1798.
In one of his messages to the legislature, he brought considerable ridicule on himself by advocating an increase of importations up the Mississippi as a measure for remedying the defective paper currency in Kentucky.
Membership
Garrard had been a member of the Baptist Church in Virginia, and soon after coming to Kentucky he helped organize, in 1787, the Cooper’s Run church near Mt. Lebanon.
Personality
Garrard was survived by twelve children, one of whom, James, played a prominent part in Kentucky history and is often confused with his father.
Connections
On December 20, 1769, James Garrard married Elizabeth Mountjoy Garrard. They had seven children.