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Office of Gov. Dennis Daugaard
500 E. Capitol Ave.
Pierre, S.D. 57501
605-773-3212
125th Anniversary Feature
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Contact: Jim Soyer at 605-773-5689 or Jim.Soyer@state.sd.us
First Governor Arthur Mellette Sacrificed His Health And Wealth For South Dakota
By Jim Soyer
As South Dakotans celebrated statehood in late 1889, their joy was tempered by several serious problems. Severe summer drought had left farmers unable to pay their mortgages, several banks had failed and the fear of Indian uprisings had alarmed officials in the new state government in Pierre.
As the last appointed Dakota territorial governor and the first elected South Dakota Governor, Arthur C. Mellette guided the new South Dakota through its first difficult years.
Mellette descended from a family of French Huguenots who came to America to escape religious persecution. He was born on June 25, 1842, in Henry County, Indiana. As a precocious eight-year-old, he argued politics with his Democrat father and advocated the views of the Free Soil Party. He entered Indiana University as a sophomore in 1862 and graduated with distinction in 1863. He then volunteered to serve in the Union forces as a substitute for his invalid brother. However, he never permitted publicity about his sacrifice because he feared it might cause anguish for his brother.
After the Civil War, he entered Indiana University Law School. In 1866, he graduated, married Margaret Wylie and began to practice in Muncie, Indiana. He also managed his law partner’s interest in the Muncie Times newspaper.
In 1870, he was elected the county superintendent of schools and worked to solve the problems of a defective public school fund system. In 1872, he was elected to the Indiana Legislature and created a permanent school fund system that was copied by many other states. In 1876, he helped Benjamin Harrison in his energetic campaign for Governor. Harrison lost, but the friendship established between the two men would reap great benefits for South Dakota in later years when Harrison was elected a U.S. senator and then the president of the United States.
In 1878, Mellette sought a climate that would be a greater benefit to his ailing wife. After visiting Colorado and other western areas, he selected Dakota Territory, settled in Springfield and became the register of the United States Land Office. In 1880, the land office and the Mellettes moved to Watertown. In 1883, he was replaced as the land register by a new federal appointee. He opened a law office and built the Mellette block. In 1885, he built a beautiful brick home on a hill in Watertown that has been preserved and is frequently open to the public today.
Mellette was a staunch believer in Dakota and advocated the division of the territory into two states. In September, 1883, he and 124 other delegates met at the Germania Hall in Sioux Falls to draft a constitution for the yet unborn South Dakota. Despite the fact that the meeting was not authorized by Territorial Gov. Nehemiah Ordway, the delegates produced a lengthy document that with minor changes became the basic law of South Dakota when Congress finally granted statehood six years later.
In March, 1885, the Territorial Legislature authorized the calling of a constitutional convention “for the state of South Dakota” and provided that it be submitted for approval at a fall general election. In September, 1885, delegates met, reviewed the 1883 document and submitted it with minor changes to the voters.
In October, 1885, Republicans nominated Mellette as their candidate for Governor. In November, 1885, Mellette was elected unopposed, the constitution was approved and Huron was chosen as temporary capital. Even though none of the activity was approved by the Congress, Mellette and the “Legislature” met in Huron in December. In his enthusiastic speech to the group, Mellette tried to justify the actions of the statehood forces by saying that prior to the Civil War, states came into being and then were recognized by Congress.
Indiana Sen. Benjamin Harrison promoted Mellette’s calls for statehood by introducing the appropriate legislation in Congress. It passed the Senate twice, but was killed in the House of Representatives both times. Dakota remained a territory.
Between 1885 and 1889, Mellette spent much of his own money on the statehood cause – $16,000 in 1885 alone. In 1888, Mellette joined forces with his friends in Indiana to secure for Harrison the presidential nomination of the Republican Party. Harrison won easily and Mellette was appointed in March, 1889, to be the governor of Dakota Territory one week after his friend’s inauguration.
Lame duck President Grover Cleveland signed the Omnibus Bill on February 22, 1889, that prescribed the procedures to be followed for six new states to be created. It required yet a third constitutional convention which was held in September, 1889, and routinely approved the previous constitution with only minor changes. On Aug. 28, 1889, Republicans had again picked Mellette as their candidate for Governor. In the nominating speech, W.E. Scarritt of Codington County said of Mellette: “…from a happy home in yonder city by the lake where the music of Kampeska’s waters sing an eternal chant of peace, we bring to you a name that is known and loved and honored – the name of a strong, clean, upright manly man, our uncorrupted and incorruptible leader, the Agamemnon of our republican forces, and nominate him as the first governor of the great state of South Dakota – Arthur C. Mellette.”
At the Oct. 1, 1889, general election, the constitution was approved, Pierre was selected as the temporary capital and Mellette was elected Governor with 69 percent of the vote.
On Nov. 2, 1889, President Benjamin Harrison signed the proclamation that made South Dakota a state. Mellette’s first act as governor was the issuance of the Thanksgiving proclamation.
In his message to the first Legislature on Jan. 8, 1890, Mellette urged protection of the school fund, stressed the importance of the railroads and advocated the protection of the wage earner’s interests and of the ballot. But, those issues would not dominate his administration. Prolonged drought would overpower all other issues. In December, 1889, Mellette personally visited destitute farmers in Clark, Faulk and Miner counties. Instead of levying more taxes, he appealed to people for donations. He also traveled to Chicago and other eastern cities to seek help. When less than 40 percent of the $100,000 goal was achieved, Mellette spent $3,600 of his own money to administer the aid. His reward was criticism of his efforts by those who said he should not have carried negative messages out of state.
In 1890, Mellette was re-elected governor, but he received only 44 percent of the vote in the three man race. Many Republicans defected to the Farmer’s Alliance movement which championed free silver and inveighed against railroad rates, bankers, low farmer prices and the ”Big Boys” in the east.
Immediately after the election, Mellette received word of another impending crisis. James “Scotty” Philip rode to Pierre and told Mellette about the spread of ghost dancing among the Teton Sioux. Mellette alerted the militia in Walsworth and Campbell counties, and bears no blame for events that ensued: the killing of Sitting Bull on Dec. 15, 1890, and the massacre at Wounded Knee on Dec. 29, 1890.
The replacement of an experienced agent at the Pine Ridge Agency by an appointee of Sen. Richard Pettigrew proved unfortunate. The new agent did not understand Indian problems and lacked courage. He panicked and called for troops. The officers of the first soldiers sent into the area did not have agency experience.
Mellette’s second term was also dominated by dire economic conditions. He told the 1891 Legislature, “The State’s financial condition could scarcely be more embarrassing and her revenue system could scarcely be worse.”
In addition, Mellette suffered a debilitating accident during his second term. Having been petitioned to organize Gregory County, Mellette decided to conduct a personal inspection. On the trip, he drove alone. His horse became unmanageable and threw him from the carriage. He never fully recovered from the injuries.
After completing his second term as governor in 1893, he returned to Watertown and resumed his law practice. His health declined again during 1894, but he refused to divulge his condition. At this same time, Mellette became one of several bondsmen for the state treasurer, William Walker Taylor, a Redfield banker.
In January, 1895, Taylor took $367,000 of the state’s money and fled to Latin America. Several of the bondsmen quickly shifted their assets to other persons to avoid any state claims. However, when word reached Mellette of Taylor’s misdeeds, the ex-Governor immediately went to Pierre and arranged for all of his properties to be transferred to the state. Mellette lost everything except his law library.
Taylor was returned to the United States and served a penitentiary sentence. Nearly $100,000 was recovered. In 1897, the Legislature enacted a law to return Mellette’s home in Watertown to his family, but Governor Andrew E. Lee refused to execute the deed. Mellette’s widow contested the state’s ownership. In 1907, the State Supreme Court ordered the home returned to her, stating that Mellette’s obligations under his bond for Taylor had more than been satisfied with the sacrifice of his other assets.
Broke and humiliated, Mellette had already moved his family to Pittsburg, Kansas, in 1895. He died on May 25, 1896, of Bright’s disease at the age of fifty-three. In adherence to his wishes, his remains were returned to the soil of the state he helped create and first governed. He is buried in Mt. Hope Cemetery in Watertown. Mrs. Mellette remained in Kansas until her death in 1938. She is buried next to her husband in Mt. Hope Cemetery.
Faced with adversity from the day he took office, Mellette never had the opportunity to introduce any innovative policies. His task became to make the government work while contending with severe drought, dispossessed farmers leaving the land, Indian unrest and dissenting elements within the Republican party. He brought with him political experience from the territorial system and a fervent belief that South Dakota must succeed. To this cause he committed and sacrificed his personal wealth and well-being.
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