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  Briggs, George Nixon
CANDIDATE DETAILS
AffiliationWhig  
 
NameGeorge Nixon Briggs
Address
Pittsfield, Massachusetts , United States
EmailNone
WebsiteNone
Born April 12, 1796
DiedSeptember 12, 1861 (65 years)
ContributorThomas Walker
Last ModifedJuan Croniqueur
Oct 21, 2023 08:57pm
Tags
InfoGeorge Nixon Briggs (1796-1861)

Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
1844-1851

George Nixon Briggs began his life in rural Adams, Massachusetts. He was the son of a blacksmith and attended only one year of grammar school before studying law in the office of Luther Washburn, in Washburn, Massachusetts.

Mr. Briggs won election to the U.S. Congress, where he served from 1831-1843. He ran for Governor as a Whig, winning a plurality against perennial candidates Marcus Morton and Samuel Sewell. Because no candidate won a majority of the vote, the election was thrown to the Senate which elected Briggs.

In 1844, Briggs sent former Congressman and legal expert Samuel Hoar to South Carolina to investigate reports of freed black sailors on Massachusetts ships being sold into slavery unless their captains paid bribes. Because of this, Hoar and his daughter were threatened by residents and rebuked by South Carolina legislators. This intransigence contributed to Massachusetts opposing the admission of additional slave states to the union.

In response to critics seeking to end death penalty use, Briggs advocated reforms, which maintained the death penalty, but only in murder cases. In 1850, Governor Briggs denied clemency to Professor John Webster, who was convicted and executed in the sensationalized Parkman Murder case.



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RACES
  11/08/1859 MA Governor Lost 13.20% (-40.83%)
  11/11/1850 MA Governor Lost 46.78% (+17.10%)
  11/12/1849 MA Governor Won 49.33% (+21.89%)
  11/13/1848 MA Governor Won 49.69% (+20.66%)
  11/08/1847 MA Governor Won 50.97% (+13.60%)
  11/09/1846 MA Governor Won 53.78% (+21.21%)
  11/10/1845 MA Governor Won 48.75% (+13.42%)
  11/11/1844 MA Governor Won 51.83% (+11.07%)
  11/13/1843 MA Governor Won 47.74% (+3.02%)
  05/31/1841 US House Speaker Lost 0.45% (-54.30%)
  01/13/1841 MA US Senate Lost 0.25% (-68.89%)
  11/09/1840 MA District 7 Won 54.47% (+8.94%)
  11/12/1838 MA District 7 Won 54.58% (+9.17%)
  11/14/1836 MA District 7 Won 54.64% (+9.28%)
  11/10/1834 MA District 7 Won 59.30% (+18.61%)
  04/01/1833 MA District 7 Won 66.04% (+34.96%)
  11/01/1830 MA District 7 (Berkshire) Won 61.98% (+32.03%)
  11/07/1828 MA District 7 (Berkshire) Lost 24.64% (-28.72%)
ENDORSEMENTS