Dorchester Illustration no. 2398 Henry Joseph Gardner
Hannah Clap married Henry Gardner, of Stow, Massachusetts, in 1778. Henry had been treasurer of Massachusetts, having been appointed by the Sons of Liberty to that office as early as 1774. Dorchester was one of the towns that voted to pay its tax to Mr. Gardner instead of to the treasurer appointed by the Crown. They had two sons, Henry and Joseph, both doctors of medicine. Henry moved to a house at the base of Jones Hill at the corner of Pleasant Street and Sawyer Avenue. His son Henry Joseph Gardner was elected a member of the Boston Common Council, 1850, ’51, ’52 and ’53, and in ’52 and ’53 was president of that body. He was a member of the House of Representatives, 1851 and ’52, and member of the Constitutional Convention of 1853. Henry, the son, purchased the old Trull estate on Hancock Street on the side of Jones Hill in 1853.
In 1854 Henry Joseph Gardner was elected Governor of Massachusetts on the ticket of the Know Nothing party.
The Commonwealth was faced with the challenges of social and economic changes due to the recent arrival of huge numbers of Catholic immigrants. Although semi-secretive, the Know Nothing party attracted large numbers of supporters who feared foreign influence in the United States and Roman Catholic domination. The party was definitely anti-immigrant. However Gardner’s election also depended on votes of antislavery Free Soilers. Possibly as many as 78% of Massachusetts Free Soilers voted for the Know Nothing ticket in 1854. Part of the party’s success in the election was a high rate of voters who stayed away from the polls, and part of the success was a category of new voters attracted by the attitudes of bigotry and prejudice. In following years many Free Soilers migrated to the growing Republican party.
The general election of November 6, 1855, did not give Gardner an absolute majority; the election was referred to the Senate in accordance with state law; and Gardner was reelected. He won a third term outright in the general election of November 4, 1856.
He may not have been the worst of the bunch. During his terms, legislation was enacted recognizing the property rights of married women and the abolition of imprisonment for debt. Sources give him positive reviews for other pieces of legislation enacted during his terms. “During his administration as chief magistrate of the Commonwealth, much healthy and long needed legislation was accomplished, and many laws enacted which time and experience prove were founded on right and reason, and which remain on the statute-books to-day—notably the homestead act, the alien pauper act, an act to regulate the appropriation of school money, an act regulating the membership of the General Court, and acts relating to the curtailment of the powers of the governor, reform in special election laws, and the “reading and writing” clause in the naturalization laws.”
The popularity of the nativist movement waned, and Gardner was defeated in the election of 1857 by a Republican anti-slavery candidate. Still the Know Nothings wielded some influence. Gardner had supported a constitutional amendment that a foreign-born male, even after obtaining final citizenship papers should have to wait 21 years to vote. The 1856 legislature cut this to 14 years. The measure failed to get the support of two successive legislatures, but in 1858 a limit of two years passed and in 1859 passed again. In the state-wide referendum on the amendment, the Know Nothing adherents voted in great numbers, while many other voters stayed away. The referendum passed. When the Republican party became more popular, the amendment was repealed in the 1860s.
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