Speaker Calvin Graves
Mr. Lawrence cites him as lieiii” the man
who displayed a greater display of political
courage than any other man in the history
of the state.
North Carolina u not
without illustrations of groat
political courage. Secretary of
the Navy John Rranoh resigned from
the cabinet rather than approve cer¬
tain acts of President Andrew Jack-
son. United States Senators William
II. Haywood, Jr., Bedford Brown.
Robert Strange and others, resigned
their high office rather than cast their
votes in the manner directed by the
General Assembly. Rut I do not think
the state furnishes an instance of po¬
litical courage quite as great as that
shown by Sjwaker Calvin Graves, who
went to hi* political death knowingly
and cheerfully, rather than surrender
his fixed convictions.
Speaker Graves was a native of
Caswell County and came of distin¬
guished ancestry. His maternal
grandfather, John Williams, was
Colonel during the Revolution of a
regiment raised in the Hillsboro l>is-
trict, after which ho located in Cas¬
well County and became the first
resident lawyer of that county. His
father,
Л гаг
i ah Graves was a farmer,
and an influential one, as is attested
by tbe fact that ho was several times
in the State Senate from that district.
Attended Bingham School
Speaker Grave* was l*orn in 1804.
lie attended the famous Bingham
School at a time when it> famous
founder, Rev. William Bingham, was
its head muster. Ho then entered the
University, but remained there only
one year, ns lie was anxious to begin
the study of law. lie began bis pro¬
fessional studies under bis brother-
in-law, the distinguished Judge
Thomas Settle, later a Justice of the
Supreme Court; and completed them
at tbe private school of Chief Justice
b.'onurd Henderson in Granville
County. He came to the Rar in 1S27
and immediately entered upon the
practice in his native county.
Ho was a man of great natural
ability and almost from the begin¬
ning he enjoyed a lucrative and ex¬
tensive practice, for tbe people of
bis section bad confidence not only in
his integrity but in his ability as a
lawyer. He was a skillful debater, a
By R. C. LAWRENCE
persuasive orator and was able to bold
his own with tlm older and more ex¬
perienced practitioners with whom he
came in conflict in the arena of the
court room. He soon acquired the rep¬
utation of being one of the outstand¬
ing lawyers of hi> section.
Constitutional Convention
He was soon called into the public
service, being chosen as n member of
the Constitutional Convention of 1835.
Upon the adjournment "f the Con¬
vention, Graves took the stump to ad¬
vocate the ratification by the people of
certain reforms which that Conven¬
tion proposed to embody in the Con¬
stitution, the general tendency of
these being to liberalize the basis of
representation in the legislature, so as
to give the western counties a larger
proportion of representation ; to abol¬
ish the system under which certain
“Borough” towns had the right to elect
representatives in the legislature; to
cuiargc the right of suffrage by abol¬
ishing pr«|>erty ownership as a pre-
3iisite to the exercise of that right ;
to extirpate the la-t trace of re¬
ligious intolerance by removing from
the Constitution the ban against the
holding of public office by Catholics.
The personal character of Speaker
Graves may Ik* fairly judged from
the fact that lie warmly favored all of
these reform measures.
He was a Democrat in his political
affiliations and was elected to the
House of Commons in ISM, where lie
became one of its leading members
although serving his first term. At
the next session he was elected as
Speaker, which was quite a tribute to
A JEFFERSON STANDARD
POLICY
Isa Declaration of Independence
for the Family
his character and ability, as few men
have been elected as Speaker when
serving their second term, lie was
again a member of the Commons in
1844, but as the Whigs were in the
majority, he could not lie reelected as
Speaker. It was another tribute, how¬
ever, that although he was a member
of the minority party, he should have
been elected by his political oppo¬
nents as a trustee of the University.
Eighteen hundred ami forty-six
found him a member of the Senate
where, although the Whigs were in
the majority, he was paid the un¬
usual compliment of being elected a*
Speaker pro (cm when the regular
Speaker was taken ill. The following
session was the one at which Graves
exhibited tbe moral courage which lias
engraved his name deep in the politi¬
cal history of the state.
As was the ease when he was serv¬
ing in the House, Graves was now
elected as S|maker of the Senate al¬
though serving bis second term as a
member of that body. This was one
of the most important sessions of the
legislature ever held in the state. It
was at this time that a hill was passed,
over hitter opposition, to establish
а
hospital for the insane — a measure
which received the hearty support of
Speaker Graves. so much >o that in a
supplemental act he was named as one
of the commissioners to select the site
for the institution and superintend the
erection of the buildings.
The Railroad Controversy
The major contest of the session,
however, was over the proponed con
.struct ion of
и
railroad from Golds¬
boro to Charlotte. This hill originated
in the House, and provided that the
State should subscribe to two million
dollars in the stock of the road w hen¬
ever private interest* should subscribe
to one million. At (hi* time, the Hem-
oeratie Party to which Speaker
(■raves licloiigid was opposed to >lale
aid for internal improvement.; where-
as the Whig Party favored -licit ini
provcmeiits. The bill encountered
strong resistance in the House, where
it was fiercely debated, but when the
(Con limed on page sixteen)
