page_title: Caleb Strong
section_title: First term as governor
hierarchical_section_title: Caleb Strong / First term as governor
caption_attribution_description: English: Senate Vice Presidential Bust Collection Marble, Modeled 1891/1892, Carved 1892 Overall (bust) measurement Height: 32.5 inches (82.6 cm) Width: 28 inches (71.1 cm) Depth: 18.25 inches (46.4 cm) Signature (under subject's truncated right arm): HERBERT ADAMS / MDCCCXCII Cat. no. 22.00005.000
context_page_description: Caleb Strong was a Massachusetts lawyer and politician who served as the sixth and tenth Governor of Massachusetts between 1800 and 1807, and again from 1812 until 1816. He assisted in drafting the Massachusetts State Constitution in 1779 and served as a state senator and on the Massachusetts Governor's Council before being elected to the inaugural United States Senate. A leading member of the Massachusetts Federalist Party, his political success delayed the decline of the Federalists in Massachusetts.
  A successful Northampton lawyer prior to 1774, Strong was politically active in the rebel cause during the American Revolutionary War. He played an influential role in the development of the United States Constitution at the 1787 Philadelphia Convention, and, as a US Senator, in the passage of its 11th Amendment. He also played a leading role in the passage of the Judiciary Act of 1789, which established the federal court system.
context_section_description: In the election of 1800 Strong was nominated by the Federalists as their candidate for governor; his principal opponent was Elbridge Gerry, nominated by the Democratic-Republicans.  Strong was criticized by his opponents for his lack of military service and for the fact that he was a lawyer; he countered by asserting his patriotism through his association with Joseph Hawley.  His popularity in the western part of the state was decisive: the wide margin by which he won there overcame the smaller advantage by which Gerry carried the east.  Acting Governor Moses Gill died ten days before Strong took office at the end of May.
  Strong won annual reelection to the governor's seat until 1807.  During this tenure the state introduced a new penitentiary system and reformed the judiciary, reducing the number of judges. Strong's time as governor was also marked by virulent political debate in the state, principally over foreign policy related to British interference with Massachusetts maritime trade.  That interference was a consequence of the ongoing Napoleonic Wars engulfing Europe.  Over the years of Strong's tenure the Republicans gradually gained in power both nationally and in Massachusetts.
  In the 1806 election the Republicans secured a majority in the Massachusetts assembly, and the gubernatorial election was notably close.  Running mainly against James Sullivan, Strong barely received a majority of the votes cast.  With fewer than 200 votes in the balance, the Republican-controlled legislature scrutinized the returns in a partisan manner, discarding ballots that had misspelled Strong's name while retaining those that misspelled Sullivan's and performing tallies in ways that favored their candidate.  This process concluded with a finding that Strong in fact lacked a majority of votes, which was what was then required to carry the election, as opposed to the modern plurality requirement.  Strong's Federalist allies in the legislature were able to publicize the partisan nature of the analysis, resulting in a hostile public backlash.  He was proclaimed the winner after further, less biased, analysis corrected the count in his favor.  However, in the 1807 election the rising tide of Republicanism swept Strong (along with other New England Federalists) out of office.  Federalists asked him to run in 1808, but he refused, noting that he had "done his part" and that his home base in Hampshire County was strongly Federalist.
caption: Bust of Elbridge Gerry, Strong's frequent gubernatorial opponent (Herbert Adams, 1892)
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