Editing Thomas R. Marshall (section)

==Governorship (1909–1913)==

===Campaign===

In 1906, Marshall declined his party's nomination to run for Congress. He hinted, however, to state party leaders that he would be interested in running for Indiana governor in the 1908 election.<ref>Bennett 2007, p. 64.</ref> He soon gained the support of several key [[labor union]]s, and was endorsed by Louis Ludlow, a reporter for the ''[[Indianapolis Star]]''. Despite this support, Marshall was a [[dark horse candidate]] at the state convention.<ref>Gray 1977, p. 287.</ref> Initially, [[Thomas Taggart]], Indiana Democratic Party boss, did not support him because of Marshall's support of [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]].<ref>Bennett 2007, p. 66.</ref> Taggart wanted the party to nominate anti-prohibitionist [[Samuel Ralston]], but the prohibitionist and anti-Taggart factions united with Marshall's supporters. To oppose L. Ert Slack, a temperance candidate, Taggart persuaded Ralston's delegates to support Marshall and give him the votes he needed to win the nomination.<ref>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, pp. 235–236.</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|pp=69–71}}</ref><ref name = g288>Gray 1977, p. 288.</ref>

[[File:StateCapitolIndiana.jpg|thumb|left|alt=A view looking down on a large building made of limestone. It is three stories high with two wings sweeping out from a central atrium with a domed stained glass roof|The [[Indiana Statehouse]] in Indianapolis]]

Marshall's opponent in the general election was Republican Congressman [[James E. Watson]], and the campaign focused on temperance and prohibition.<ref name = g288/><ref name = b80>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=80}}</ref> Just as it began, the Republican-controlled state government passed a local-option law that allowed counties to ban the sale of liquor. The law became the central point of debate between the parties and their gubernatorial candidates. The Democrats proposed that the local-option law be changed so that the decision to ban liquor sales could be made at the city and township level.<ref name = g236>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 236.</ref> This drew support from anti-prohibitionists, who saw it as an opportunity to roll back prohibition in some areas, and as the only alternative available to the total prohibition which the Republican Party advocated. The Democratic position also helped to retain prohibitionists' support by allowing prohibition to remain enacted in communities where a majority supported it.<ref name = b80/> The Republican Party was in the midst of a period of instability, splitting along progressive and conservative lines.<ref name = b80/> Their internal problems proved to be the deciding factor in the election, giving Marshall a narrow victory: he received 48.1 percent of the vote to Watson's 48.0 percent.<ref name="Congressional Quarterly 1976, p. 406">Congressional Quarterly 1976, p. 406.</ref> Democrats also came to power in the [[Indiana House of Representatives]] by a small margin, though Republicans retained control of the [[Indiana Senate]].<ref name = g288/><ref name = g236/>

===Progressive agenda===
[[File:Midnight at the glassworks2b.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Two adolescent child laborers with dirty faces working in a glass factory at midnight|Children at an Indiana glass factory. [[Child labor]] was ended in Indiana by Marshall's child labor laws.]]

Marshall was inaugurated as Governor of Indiana on January 11, 1909. Since his party had been out of power for many years, its initial objective was to appoint as many Democrats as possible to patronage positions.<ref name = g237>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 237.</ref> Marshall tried to avoid becoming directly involved in the patronage system. He allowed the party's different factions to have positions and appointed very few of his own choices. He allowed Taggart to manage the process and pick the candidates, but signed off on the official appointments. Although his position on patronage kept peace in his party, it prevented him from building a strong political base.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=90}}</ref>

During his term, Marshall focused primarily on advancing the progressive agenda. He successfully advocated the passage of a [[child labor law]] and [[Political corruption|anti-corruption]] legislation. He supported popular election of U.S. Senators, and the [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|constitutional amendment to allow it]] was ratified by the [[Indiana General Assembly]] during his term.<ref name="Bennett 2007, p. 114">{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=114}}</ref> He also overhauled the state auditing agencies and claimed to have saved the government millions of dollars.<ref name = g237/> Various measures aimed at improving working conditions were also approved,<ref>[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c2740522&seq=9 History of the Indiana democracy, 1816-1916 / by John B. Stoll [and others], P.427-428]</ref> together with a bill that sought to improve tenement housing conditions in Indiana's two largest cities.<ref>[https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Albion_Fellows_Bacon/v_flvpKK1nUC?hl=en&gbpv=0Albion Fellows Bacon Indiana's Municipal Housekeeper By Robert G. Barrows, 2000, P.58]</ref> He was unsuccessful in passing the rest of the progressive platform agenda items or persuading the legislature to call a convention to rewrite the state constitution to expand the government's regulatory powers.<ref>Gray 1977, p. 290.</ref>

Marshall was a strong opponent of Indiana's recently passed [[eugenics]] and [[Compulsory sterilization|sterilization laws]], and ordered state institutions not to follow them.{{sfn|Paul|1965|p=343}} He was an early, high-profile opponent of eugenics laws, and he carried his opposition into the vice-presidency.<ref>Gray 1977, p. 289.</ref> His governorship was the first in which no state executions took place, due to his opposition to [[capital punishment]] and his practice of pardoning and commuting the sentences of people condemned to execution.{{sfn|Quayle Museum staff|2010}} He regularly attacked corporations and used recently created antitrust laws to attempt to break several large businesses.<ref name = g238/> He participated in a number of ceremonial events, including laying the final [[gold]]en brick to complete the [[Indianapolis Motor Speedway]] in 1909.<ref>Gray 1994, p. 14.</ref>

Democratic Party campaign literature emphasized Marshall's record as governor, with one Democratic textbook from 1912 listing various laws enacted during his time in office by his instance. These included acts to investigate industrial and agricultural education; to permit night schools In cities; to prevent traffic in white slaves; to establish uniform weights and measures; to provide police court matrons; to protect against loan sharks; to strengthen the pure food act; to establish public play grounds; to provide free treatment for [[Rabies|hydrophobia]]; to regulate the sale of cocaine and other drugs; to prevent blindness at birth; to require hygienic schoolhouses to permit medical examination of school children; to regulate the sale of cold storage products; to curtail child labor; and to “require medical supplies as part of a train equipment, etc.” The textbook also listed various laws “intended to protect the toilers” that were also championed by Marshall. These included laws to require storm windows for locomotives; to require full switching crews; to require standard cabooses; to require inspection of locomotive boilers; to provide efficient headlights on locomotives; to require safety devices on switch engines; to require full train crews; to establish free employment agencies; to create a bureau of inspection for factories, workshops, mines and boilers; and to “provide a weekly wage; etc.”<ref>The Democratic Text-book 1912, P.70</ref>

===Marshall's constitution===

[[File:Jacob Piatt Dunn.JPG|thumb|right|alt=A photo of the head and shoulders of a man wearing a three piece suit and bow tie. In his forties, his hairline is partially receded and one eyebrow is noticeably higher than the other.|[[Jacob Piatt Dunn]] Jr., with whom Marshall wrote a proposed constitution for Indiana]]

Rewriting the state constitution became Marshall's central focus as governor, and after the General Assembly refused to call a constitutional convention he sought other ways to have a new constitution adopted. He and [[Jacob Piatt Dunn]], a close friend and civic leader, wrote a new constitution that increased the state's regulatory powers considerably, set minimum wages, and gave constitutional protections to unions.<ref>Gray 1977, pp. 290–291.</ref> Many of these reforms were also in the [[Socialist Party of America|Socialist Party]] platform under its leader, [[Terre Haute]] native [[Eugene V. Debs]]. Republicans believed Marshall's constitution was an attempt to win over Debs' supporters, who had a strong presence in Indiana.<ref name="Bennett 2007, p. 114"/><ref name = g238/> The constitution also allowed direct-democracy [[Popular initiative|initiative]]s and [[referendum]]s to be held. The Democratic controlled assembly agreed to the request and put the measure on the ballot. His opponents attacked the direct-democracy provisions, claiming they were a violation of the [[United States Constitution]], which required states to operate [[republic]]an forms of government.<ref name = g238>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 238.</ref><ref name = b116>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=116}}</ref> The 1910 [[mid-term election|midterm election]]s gave the Democrats control of the Indiana Senate, increasing the constitution's chances of adoption. Marshall presented it to the General Assembly in 1911 and recommended that they submit it to voters in the 1912 election.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=115}}</ref>

Republicans opposed the ratification process, and were infuriated that the Democrats were attempting to revise the entire constitution without calling a [[Constitutional convention (political meeting)|constitutional convention]], as had been called for in the state's two previous constitutions.<ref name = b116/> Marshall argued that no convention was needed because the existing constitution did not call for one.<ref>Gray 1977, p. 291.</ref> Republicans took the issue to court and the Marion County Circuit Court granted an injunction removing the constitution from the 1912 ballot. Marshall appealed, but the [[Charles E. Cox#Indiana Supreme Court|Indiana Supreme Court]] upheld the decision in a judgment which stated that the [[Constitution of Indiana]] could not be replaced in total without a constitutional convention, based on the precedent set by Indiana's first two constitutions.<ref>{{harvnb|Bennett|2007|p=117}}</ref><ref>{{cite court|litigants=Ellingham v. Dye|vol=172|reporter=Ind.|opinion=336|url=https://cite.case.law/ind/178/336/|date=July 5, 1912}}</ref> Marshall was angry with the decision and delivered a speech attacking the court and accusing it of overstepping its authority. He launched a final appeal to the [[United States Supreme Court]] but left office in January 1913 while the case was still pending. Later that year, the court declined the appeal, finding that the issue was within the sole jurisdiction of the state courts. Marshall was disappointed with the outcome.<ref>Gray 1977, p. 292.</ref><ref>{{cite court|litigants=Marshall v. Dye|vol=231|reporter=U.S.|opinion=250|url=https://cite.case.law/us/231/250/|date=December 1, 1913}}</ref> Subsequent scholars such as Linda Gugin and legal expert James St. Claire have called the process and the document "seriously flawed" and argued that had the constitution been adopted, large parts would probably have been ruled unconstitutional by the federal courts.<ref>Gugin and St. Clair, eds., 2006, p. 239.</ref>