page_title: James Garrard
section_title: A new constitution
hierarchical_section_title: James Garrard / Political career / A new constitution
caption_attribution_description: English: William Garrard, son of Kentucky Governor James Garrard
context_page_description: James Garrard was an American farmer, Baptist minister and politician who served as the second governor of Kentucky from 1796 to 1804. Because of term limits imposed by the state constitution adopted in 1799, he was the last Kentucky governor elected to two consecutive terms until the restriction was eased by a 1992 amendment, allowing Paul E. Patton's re-election in 1999.
  After serving in the Revolutionary War, Garrard moved west to the part of Virginia that is now Bourbon County, Kentucky. He held several local political offices and represented the area in the Virginia House of Delegates. He was chosen as a delegate to five of the ten statehood conventions that secured Kentucky's separation from Virginia and helped write the state's first constitution. Garrard was among the delegates who unsuccessfully tried to exclude guarantees of the continuance of slavery from the document. In 1795, he sought to succeed Isaac Shelby as governor. In a three-way race, Benjamin Logan received a plurality, but not a majority, of the electoral votes cast.
context_section_description: The difficulties with Garrard's election over Benjamin Logan in 1795 added to a litany of complaints about the state's first constitution. Some believed that it was undemocratic because it required electors to choose the governor and state senators and many offices were appointive rather than elective. Others opposed life terms for judges and other state officials. Still others wanted slavery excluded from the document, or to lift the ban on ministers serving in the General Assembly. In the aftermath of the disputed 1795 election, all parties involved agreed that changes were needed. The present constitution provided no means for amendment, however. The only remedy was another constitutional convention.
  Calling a constitutional convention required the approval of a majority of voters in two successive elections or a two-thirds majority of both houses of the General Assembly. In February 1797, the General Assembly voted to put the question before the electorate in the upcoming May elections. Of the 9,814 votes cast, 5,446 favored the call and 440 opposed it, but 3,928 had not voted at all, and several counties recorded no votes on the issue either way. This cast doubt in the minds of many legislators regarding the true will of the people. Opponents of the convention claimed that the abstentions should be counted as votes against the call; this position had some merit, as it was well known that many Fayette County voters had abstained as a protest against the convention. When all of the irregularities were accounted for, the General Assembly determined that the vote had fallen short of the required majority.
  On February 10, 1798, Garrard's son William, still serving in the state senate, introduced a bill to hold another vote on calling a constitutional convention. In May 1798, 9,188 of the 16,388 votes were in favor of calling a convention. Again, almost 5,000 of the ballots contained no vote either way. On November 21, 1798, the House of Representatives voted 36–15 in favor of a convention, and the Senate provided its requisite two-thirds majority days later. No official tally of the Senate's vote was published. The Assembly's vote rendered moot any doubts about the popular vote.
  Delegates to the July 22, 1799, convention were elected in May 1799. Neither Garrard nor his son William were chosen as delegates, mostly due to their anti-slavery views. Garrard had been a more active governor than his predecessor, frequently employing his veto and clashing with the county courts. As a result, the delegates moved to reign in some of the power given to the state's chief executive. Under the 1799 constitution, the governor was popularly elected, and the threshold for overriding a gubernatorial veto was lowered from a two-thirds majority of each house of the legislature to an absolute majority. Although the governor retained broad appointment powers, the state senate was given the power to approve or reject all gubernatorial nominees. New term limits were imposed on the governor, making him ineligible for reelection for seven years following the expiration of his term. The restriction on ministers serving in the legislature was retained and extended to the governor's office. Historian Lowell Harrison held that this restriction was "a clear snub to Garrard", but Garrard biographer H. E. Everman maintained that it was "definitely not a blow aimed at Garrard". Garrard was personally exempted from both the succession and ministerial restrictions, clearing the way for him to seek a second term.
caption: Garrard's son William introduced legislation to call a constitutional convention.
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