CXII.
CXII. JAMES LAWSON KEMPER.
CXII. Governor.
CXII. January 1, 1874, to January 1, 1878.
James Lawson Kemper was descended from one of the
families which arrived in Virginia from Oldenburg, Germany,
in April, 1714. These Germans left their native land for the
free exercise of their religion, "The Reformed Calvinistic
Church," and finally settled at a place they called "Germantown,"
about eight miles from what is now, Warrenton,
in Fauquier County, Virginia.
Mr. Kemper was born in Madison County, Virginia, in
1824. After early tuition in primary schools in his native
county he entered Washington College, from whence he
graduated with the degree of Master of Arts. Subsequently
he studied law. In 1847 he was commissioned Captain in
the volunteer service of the United States, by President
James K. Polk, and joined General Zachary Taylor's army
of occupation in Mexico, just after the battle of Buena Vista,
and thus failed in the desired honor of active service in the
Mexican War.
Returning to his home in Virginia, Captain Kemper at
once entered political life, and was sent by his native county
to represent it in the House of Delegates, where he remained
for ten years, serving two years as Speaker, and for a long
period was the Chairman of the Committee on Military affairs.
On the 2d of May, 1861, he was commissioned by the
Virginia Convention, on the nomination of Governor Letcher,
Colonel of Virginia Volunteers, C. S. A., and assigned to the
command of the 7th Regiment of Infantry, which command
he assumed at Manassas, Virginia. From this time on, he
participated in the most sanguinary operations of the war.
Immediately after the battle of Williamsburg, May 5, 1862,
where, with his 7th Regiment, he had been in the hottest of
the fight for nine successive hours, Colonel Kemper was promoted
to the rank of Brigadier-General. Engaging now
constantly in active service in the field, he passed through
many bloody battles, until at Gettysburg he received a desperate
wound. This, for a period, rendered him unfit for
field duty, but, when partially recovered, he was assigned to
the important command of the local forces in and around
Richmond, the oft-beleaguered Capital of the Confederacy.
On March 1, 1864, General Kemper was commissioned
Major-General. Until the evacuation of Richmond, General
Kemper remained in command of the forces protecting that
city. Upon the close of the war he returned to his home in
Madison County, and resumed the practice of law. In 1873
he was elected Governor of Virginia, and assumed the duties
of this office January 1, 1874. His administration was highly
successful, and the old State turned once more to her Chief
Executive as to one whom the people delighted to honor.
Upon the expiration of his term Governor Kemper retired
to his home in Madison County, carrying the honor and
affection of his grateful fellow-citizens with him.
The following Resolutions passed by the General Assembly
during the early part of Governor Kemper's administration,
will show the sentiments then prevalent in the state
concerning the celebrated Civil Rights Bill:
JOINT RESOLUTIONS
Reaffirming the Third Resolution of the Conservative Platform of 1873,
and Protesting against the passage of the Civil Rights Bill, now pending
in the Congress of the United States. Agreed to January 5, 1874.
Resolved by the General Assembly of Virginia, That the sentiments
embodied in the third resolution of the platform of the Conservative party
of Virginia in the late election, ratified as they have been by an unprecedented
popular majority, and commended to the favorable consideration
of the General Assembly by the Governor of Virginia in his inaugural
message, be, and the same are hereby reaffirmed; and this General Assembly
doth declare, that there is no purpose upon their part, or upon the
part of the people they represent, to cherish captious hostility to the present
administration of the Federal Government, but that they will judge it
impartially by its official acts, and will cordially co-operate in every measure
of the administration which may be beneficent in its design and calculated
to promote the welfare of the people and cultivate sentiments of
good will between the different sections of the Union.
2. That this General Assembly recognize the Fourteenth Amendment
to the Constitution of the United States as a part of that instrument, and
desire in good faith to abide by its provisions as expounded by the
Supreme Court of the United States. That august tribunal recently held,
after the most mature consideration, that it is only the privileges and
immunities of the citizen of the United States that are placed by this
clause under the protection of the Constitution, and that the privileges and
immunities of the citizen of the State, "whatever they may be, are not
intended to have any additional protection by this paragraph of the amendment,"
and that the "entire domain of the privileges and immunities of
citizens of the State, as above defined, lay within the constitutional and
legislative power of the States, and without that of the Federal Government."
3. That this amendment, thus construed by the highest judicial tribunal
of the country, is the supreme law of the land—a law for rulers and
people—and should be obeyed and respected by all the co-ordinate departments
of the government.
4. That the bill now before Congress, known as the Civil Rights Bill,
is in violation of this amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court of
the United States; is an infringement on the constitutional and legislative
powers of the States; is sectional in its operation, and injurious alike to
the white and colored population of the Southern States; and that its enforced
application in these States will prove destructive of their systems of
education, arrest the enlightenment of the colored population (in whose improvement
the people of Virginia feel a lively interest), produce continual
irritation between the races, counteract the pacification and development
now happily progressing, repel immigration, greatly augment emigration,
reopen wounds now almost healed, engender new political asperities, and
paralyze the power and influence of the State Government for duly controlling
and promoting domestic interests and preserving internal harmony.
5. That the people of Virginia, through their representatives, enter
their earnest and solemn protest against this bill, and instruct their Senators
and request their Representatives in the Congress of the United
States, firmly, but respectfully, to oppose its passage, not only for the
reasons herein expressed, but as a measure calculated to arrest the growing
sentiments of concord and harmony between the Northern and Southern
States of the Union.
6. That the Governor cause a copy of these resolutions to be forwarded
to each of our Senators and Representatives in the Congress of the United
States, with the request that they present the same in their respective
bodies.
