Representative Newton Cannon

Newton Cannon (May 22, 1781 – September 16, 1841) was an American politician who served as the eighth Governor of Tennessee from 1835 to 1839 and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1814 to 1817 and from 1819 to 1823. A prominent figure in early Tennessee politics, he was a long-time foe of Andrew Jackson and spent much of his political career opposing Jacksonite policies. Cannon was the first member of the Whig Party to be elected governor of Tennessee and was succeeded in that office in 1839 by James K. Polk, then a rising Democratic leader who later became President of the United States.

Cannon was born in Guilford County, North Carolina, the son of Minos Cannon, who had served as a soldier in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Around 1790, the Cannon family moved west to the area that later became Williamson County, Tennessee, where Newton Cannon came of age on the frontier. He received a common school education and, as a young man, tried several occupations, working at various times as a saddler, merchant, and surveyor. He also undertook the study of law before eventually establishing himself as a planter in Williamson County. Like many planters of his era and region, he owned slaves.

Cannon entered public life in the early years of Tennessee statehood. In 1811 he was elected to the Tennessee State Senate, representing Williamson, Rutherford, Maury, Bedford, Lincoln, and Giles counties in the 9th Tennessee General Assembly (1811–1812). When the Creek War broke out in 1813, he served as a colonel in the Tennessee Mounted Rifles under General Andrew Jackson. His military service, however, did not translate into political alliance; Cannon later came to disapprove of Jackson’s military leadership, believing that Jackson had deliberately exposed him and his men to unnecessary dangers, an experience that contributed to the deep and lasting antagonism between the two men.

Cannon first sought federal office in 1813, when he ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives but lost to Felix Grundy. Following Grundy’s resignation, Cannon won the seat in a special election the next year as a Democratic-Republican and entered Congress on September 16, 1814. He was reelected to a full term and served until March 3, 1817. After a brief interval out of Congress, he accepted an assignment in 1819 from President James Monroe to negotiate a treaty with the Chickasaw, reflecting the confidence placed in him in matters of Indian affairs and frontier diplomacy. That same year he returned to the U.S. House of Representatives, winning election to the 16th Congress and reelection to the 17th Congress, serving from March 4, 1819, to March 3, 1823. Over the course of four terms in Congress, representing Tennessee as a member of the Republican tradition, Cannon participated in the legislative process during a formative period in American history, representing the interests of his frontier constituents and contributing to debates over national policy in the era following the War of 1812.

After leaving Congress, Cannon remained active in Tennessee politics. He first sought the governorship in 1827, entering a crowded field that initially included Sam Houston, former governor Willie Blount, Felix Grundy, and veteran frontiersman John Rhea. In the final contest he lost to Houston by 11,314 votes. He subsequently returned to the Tennessee General Assembly as a state senator, representing Rutherford and Williamson counties in the 18th General Assembly (1829–1830). During this period he aligned himself with Andrew Erwin, John Williams, and Davy Crockett in organized opposition to Andrew Jackson and his allies, particularly on questions of executive power and national banking policy. In 1834 Cannon was elected as a delegate to the Tennessee Constitutional Convention, where he served as chairman of the Committee of the Whole and played a significant role in framing the revised state constitution that would soon reshape the powers of the governor’s office.

Cannon again ran for governor in 1835 and this time was successful, defeating incumbent William Carroll by 8,682 votes. Carroll had been a popular and long-serving governor, but his bid for a fourth consecutive two-year term ran up against a constitutional controversy. The original Tennessee Constitution limited governors to three terms, and while Carroll argued that the new constitution adopted in 1834 effectively reset the term limit, Cannon contended that the 1834 document was a revision rather than a replacement and that the original limit still applied. Cannon’s interpretation appeared to resonate with voters. His victory was also aided by divisions among Tennessee Democrat-Republicans over the presidential candidacy of Tennessean Hugh Lawson White, who opposed the national Democratic Party’s choice of Martin Van Buren. With his election, Cannon became the first Whig governor of Tennessee and the first to benefit from the increased executive powers granted by the 1834 constitution. In 1836 he convened the first special session of the Tennessee legislature in the state’s history, underscoring the enhanced authority of the governor under the new constitutional framework.

Cannon was reelected governor in 1837, defeating General Robert Armstrong. During his second term, both houses of the General Assembly were controlled by Whigs, enabling him to advance a program of economic development and institutional reform. The legislature approved the creation of a new state bank and expanded state support for internal improvements, including roads, railroads, and canals, as part of a broader Whig vision of state-sponsored economic modernization. An advocate of public education, Cannon supported measures that designated some of the revenues from the state bank to fund schools. Nonetheless, his administration drew criticism, particularly in East Tennessee, where voters became impatient with what they perceived as his inadequate support for the Hiwassee Railroad and other regional projects. In 1839, determined to unseat Cannon, Tennessee Democrats persuaded James K. Polk, then Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, to run for governor. Cannon and Polk toured the state together, engaging in a series of public debates beginning at Murfreesboro on April 11, 1839. Cannon’s slower, more methodical speaking style contrasted with Polk’s quicker and more incisive manner, and observers generally judged Polk to have the advantage. In the ensuing election, Polk narrowly defeated Cannon by 2,675 votes. Cannon hoped to challenge Polk again in 1841, but Whig leaders, doubting his ability to prevail in a rematch, instead nominated James C. Jones.

Throughout his political career, Cannon was widely known for his personal and political antagonism toward Andrew Jackson. Several episodes have been cited as possible origins of this enmity. One involved the Clover Bottom horse track, which Jackson owned in partnership with brothers William and Patten Anderson; Cannon was said to have lost substantial sums of money and property gambling there and to have suspected that Jackson and the Andersons had fixed the races. Another incident occurred in 1812, when Cannon served on a jury in the trial of Jonathan Magness and his sons David and Perry Green, who were accused of murdering Patten Anderson. After the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, Jackson reportedly shook his fist at Cannon and declared, “I’ll mark you, young man.” Perhaps most consequential was Cannon’s disapproval of Jackson’s conduct as a military commander during the Creek War, when Cannon, serving under Jackson, came to believe that his detachment had been exposed to unnecessary danger. These episodes, taken together, helped shape Cannon’s consistent opposition to Jacksonite policies in both state and national politics.

In his private life, Cannon was married twice. In 1813 he married Leah Pryor Perkins; she died in 1816. Two years later, in 1818, he married Rachel Starnes Willborn. He was the father of ten children. One daughter, Rachel Adeline Cannon Maney, became for many years an owner of the Oaklands estate in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a prominent plantation home that later gained historical significance. A grandson, also named Newton Cannon, served as first sergeant in the 11th Tennessee Cavalry, C.S.A., during the Civil War; his wartime journals were published in 1963 under the title The Reminiscences of Newton Cannon: First Sergeant, 11th Tennessee Cavalry, C.S.A. Cannon died in Nashville on September 16, 1841, at the age of sixty, just two years after his final gubernatorial campaign. He was interred in a cemetery on the grounds of his estate in Williamson County near Allisona. In recognition of his service and influence, Cannon County, Tennessee, established during his governorship, was named in his honor.