David P. Lewis Biography

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David Peter Lewis (1820 – July 3 1884) was the Republican Governor of Alabama from 1872 to 1874. He had previously been a delegate to the Confederate Provisional Congress in 1861. In 1868 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention. In 1869 he joined the Republican Party. As a well-known north Alabama unionist who never-the-less did support the Confederacy he was an attractive candidate for Governor and won decisively over the Democrat Thomas H. Herndon. The 1872 election was highly controversial and conflicting election returns resulted in the seating of two different legislatures controlled by each party. During his term unsuccessful attempts were made to pass Civil Rights legislation to bar discrimination on common carriers and in hotels, schools and theaters. The Panic of 1873 was widely blamed on Governor Lewis and it along with the controversy over Civil Rights lead to his defeat in 1874. He later unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the Federal bench. Disillusioned by politics, he returned to the practice of law in Huntsville. He is buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville.

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