Preceded by William Lee D. Ewing Name Joseph Duncan Preceded by Daniel Pope Cook Succeeded by Thomas Carlin | Preceded by District created Resigned December 7, 1838 Profession Politician | |
 | ||
Lieutenant Alexander Jenkins
William H. Davidson Born February 22, 1794
Paris, Kentucky ( 1794-02-22 ) Role Former Governor of Illinois Died January 15, 1844, Jacksonville, Illinois, United States Previous office Governor of Illinois (1834–1838) Political party Democratic Party, Whig Party | ||
Joseph Duncan (February 22, 1794 – January 15, 1844) was an Illinois politician. He served as the sixth Governor of Illinois from 1834 to 1838, the only Whig to ever govern the state. Before becoming governor he served four terms in the United States House of Representatives as a Democrat.
Biography
Duncan was born in Paris, Kentucky. He served in the War of 1812 and the Black Hawk War as a soldier. He moved to Illinois in the year of its statehood, 1818, settling in Brownsville in Jackson County. He moved to Jacksonville in 1830. Before becoming governor, he had a notable political career. He served a term in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1825 to 1829. He was elected to represent Illinois's At-large congressional district in Congress in 1826, defeating long-term Congressman Daniel Pope Cook. Jacksonian Democrats were ascendant in Illinois politics, and Cook had fallen out of favor with them when he voted against Andrew Jackson in the contingent election of 1825. Duncan successfully ran as a Jacksonian, winning 6,322 votes to Cook's 5,619. He was re-elected twice to the at-large district and in 1832 won a fourth term representing the newly created 3rd district.
Duncan first went to Congress as a Jacksonian Democrat, but his relationship with President Jackson's party worsened during his career in Congress. By 1834 he voted more often with the opposition Whigs. His final break with the Democrats occurred in June 1834, when he voted to recharter the Bank of the United States. With the help of Democrats unaware of Duncan's change in politics, Duncan was elected governor that year without campaigning or even visiting Illinois.
In his mid-term address two years later, Governor Duncan asked the legislature to pass a state Internal Improvements Act, which would authorize the construction of numerous roads, railroads, bridges, river and harbor improvements, and canals across the state. Attempting to deal with the national economic Panic of 1837 and seeing the costs of internal improvements piling up, Duncan asked the legislature to repeal the program. Legislators ignored the governor, adding even more projects to the program. While the number of improvements were few, the program accumulated debt that almost forced the state into bankruptcy. The first bill for the $15 million that had been borrowed to pay for the program was more than double the state's annual revenue. The debt from the Internal Improvements Act would not be fully paid off until 1882, costing the state more in interest than in the dollar amounts to actually build the so-called improvements throughout the state.
It was also during Duncan's tenure that the state capital was moved from Vandalia, Fayette County, Illinois, to its current location, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. This was controversially done in large part by the successful leadership skills of Springfield's representatives, known as the "Long Nine," one of whom was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln and the eight other members of his delegation won the capital by trading their votes to win the capital for Springfield for projects for other representatives' districts. This led to the failed internal improvements program.
Duncan died in Jacksonville. Interment is at Diamond Grove Cemetery there.
Duncan's home in Jacksonville, the Joseph Duncan House, has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.