Charles J. Jenkins

For other people named Charles Jenkins, see Charles Jenkins (disambiguation).

Charles Jones Jenkins
44th Governor of Georgia
In office December 14, 1865 – January 13, 1868
Preceded by	James Johnson
Succeeded by	Thomas H. Ruger
Personal details
Born	January 6, 1805 Beaufort District, South Carolina, US
Died	June 14, 1883 (aged 78) US
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Union University University of Georgia
Profession	Lawyer, Politician

Charles Jones Jenkins (January 6, 1805 – June 14, 1883) was a politician from Georgia, US.

He was born in South Carolina. His family moved to Jefferson County, Georgia, and Jenkins attended the University of Georgia in Athens at a young age; his exact dates of attendance are not known. Jenkins left the university before graduating and finished his education in 1824 at Union College in Schenectady, New York. In 1831 Jenkins succeeded George W. Crawford as attorney general for the State of Georgia, himself succeeded in 1834 by Ebenezer Starnes.^[1]

He first gained widespread attention as the author of the Georgia Platform, a proclamation by a special state convention that endorsed the Compromise of 1850. In the 1852 Presidential election, he ran for Vice President under presidential candidate Daniel Webster for the "Union Party". During the American Civil War, he was appointed by Governor Joseph E. Brown as a justice of the Supreme Court of Georgia.

After a state constitutional convention in 1865 re-established Georgia's state government, he ran as the only candidate for governor. He served as the Governor of Georgia from 1865 to 1868, during Reconstruction. In 1868, he refused to allow state funds to be used for a racially integrated state constitutional convention that was supervised by the U.S. military occupation. In response, General George Meade (of the Third Military District) installed Brig. General Thomas H. Ruger as military governor and Jenkins fled the state, though he later returned.^[2]

In the 1872 U.S. presidential election, he received 2 electoral college votes. In that election, Liberal Republican candidate Horace Greeley died after the election but before the electors convened and so two electors from Georgia cast their votes for Jenkins.

He died on June 14, 1883. He was interred in Summerville Cemetery in Augusta, Georgia. Jenkins County, Georgia is named in his honor.

References

1. Jones, Charles Colcock; Dutcher, Salem (1890). Memorial History of Augusta, Georgia : from Its Settlement in 1735 to 1890. Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers. Retrieved July 16, 2013.
2. Knight, Lucian Lamar (1917). A Standard History of Georgia and Georgians 2. Lewish publishing Company. p. 830. OCLC 1855247.

• History of the University of Georgia by Thomas Walter Reed, Thomas Walter Reed, Imprint: Athens, Georgia : University of Georgia, ca. 1949, pp. 188-190

External links

• Jenkins at Our Georgia History
• Jenkins at The New Georgia Encyclopedia
• Jenkins at Find A Grave