page_title: Charles Scott (governor)
section_title: Gubernatorial election of 1808
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Scott (governor) / Later political career / Gubernatorial election of 1808
caption_attribution_description: A portrait of Kentucky legislator Green Clay, who also served in the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The original oil painting hangs in Cassius M. Clay's White Hall estate, now part of White Hall State Historic Site. According to the curator at White Hall State Historic Site, the portrait was donated to the site by a Clay family descendent between 1968 and 1971.
context_page_description: Charles Scott was an 18th-century American soldier who was elected the fourth Governor of Kentucky in 1808. Orphaned in his teens, Scott enlisted in the Virginia Regiment in October 1755 and served as a scout and escort during the French and Indian War. He quickly rose through the ranks to become a captain. After the war, he married and engaged in agricultural pursuits on land left to him by his father, but he returned to active military service in 1775 as the American Revolution began to grow in intensity. In August 1776, he was promoted to colonel and given command of the 5th Virginia Regiment. The 5th Virginia joined George Washington in New Jersey later that year, serving with him for the duration of the Philadelphia campaign. Scott commanded Washington's light infantry, and by late 1778 was also serving as his chief of intelligence. Furloughed at the end of the Philadelphia campaign, Scott returned to active service in March 1779 and was ordered to South Carolina to assist General Benjamin Lincoln in the southern theater. He arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, just as Henry Clinton had begun his siege of the city.
context_section_description: As the celebrations in honor of Scott's military career continued across Kentucky, he began to consider the possibility of running for governor in 1808. By mid-1806, state senator Thomas Posey and Lexington lawyer Thomas Todd had already declared their candidacies. Posey had been chosen speaker pro tem of the state Senate and, with the death of Lieutenant Governor John Caldwell in 1804, had assumed the role of acting lieutenant governor and presiding officer in the Senate. He subsequently lost his senatorial re-election bid, but continued to act as lieutenant governor and preside over the Senate. His opponents claimed that since he was no longer a member of the Senate, he was not qualified to act as lieutenant governor; additionally, they charged that he was sympathetic to the hated Federalist Party, even though he self-identified as a Democratic-Republican. Although he was not successfully unseated as the Senate's presiding officer, the controversy diminished his chances in the 1808 election. In 1807, Todd removed himself from contention as well, accepting Governor Greenup's appointment to the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
  Posey's diminished candidacy and Todd's exit from the race left only one major impediment to Scott's potential candidacy. A movement began in Kentucky to draft former Governor Isaac Shelby as a candidate for another term. Known as "Old King's Mountain" for his heroic role in the Revolutionary War Battle of King's Mountain, Shelby could match Scott's military appeal, and as a former delegate to Kentucky's statehood and constitutional conventions and a former governor, his political experience far exceeded Scott's. Ultimately Shelby declined to run, and Scott officially declared his candidacy on February 11, 1808. John Allen had by then declared his candidacy and Green Clay's announcement followed Scott's by about a month. Scott's campaign was managed by his stepson-in-law, Jesse Bledsoe, a law professor at Transylvania University. Bledsoe was among the most able politicians in the state, though he preferred the role of "kingmaker" to that of candidate.
  Allen and Clay, both lawyers by profession, were hurt by a general distrust of lawyers by the Kentucky electorate. Further, Allen had served as general counsel for Aaron Burr, and several anonymous letters to the state's newspapers accused him of being privy to Burr's alleged scheme to create an independent state in the southwest. Henry Clay was among those who vigorously defended Allen from the charges. Scott also frequently spoke in highly complimentary terms of Allen. As a legislator, Green Clay pushed for measures favorable to debtors; he consequently enjoyed strong support from settlers south of the Green River, many of whom were squatters and land speculators who owed substantial debts to the state. To counter Scott's hero image, Clay supporters pointed to his service with George Rogers Clark in a 1782 expedition against the Shawnee, but the impact of this line of campaigning was minimal. As the most senior Revolutionary War officer in Kentucky, Scott became the recognized leader of the state's veterans' lobby. The Independence Day celebrations held around the state just before the August 1 election provided a boost for his campaign. On election day, he garnered 22,050 votes, compared to 8,430 votes for Allen and 5,516 votes for Clay.
caption: Green Clay, one of Scott's opponents in the 1808 gubernatorial election
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