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Higher Office(s) Served: Representative, Senator

NEWTON C. BLANCHARD was born in Rapides Parish, Louisiana on January 29, 1849. His education was attained at Louisiana State Seminary of Learning, and at Tulane University, where he earned a law degree in 1870. Blanchard entered politics in 1876, serving as chairman of the Caddo Parish Democratic Committee. He served as a delegate to the 1879 Louisiana Constitutional Convention, and was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1881 to 1894. He was appointed and then elected to the U.S. Senate, serving from 1893 to 1897. He also served as an associate justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court from 1897 to 1903. Blanchard won the 1904 Democratic gubernatorial nomination, was elected governor, and was sworn into office on May 10, 1904. During his tenure, several appointed positions were made into elective offices, public educational programs were advanced, and a state board of forestry was established, as well as a state reform school. Also, a board of charities and corrections was formed, and the Democratic Party primary was initiated. As his term neared an end, he attended the first Conference of Governors in 1908, where he was chosen to head the resolutions committee. After completing his term, Blanchard continued to stay active in public service. In 1913, he served as president of the Louisiana Constitutional Convention, and was a delegate to several Democratic National Conventions. Governor Newton C. Blanchard passed away on June 22, 1922, and was buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Sources:

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

Dawson III, Joseph G. The Louisiana Governors: From Iberville to Edwards. Baton Rouge: Lousiana State University Press, 1990.

Louisiana Secretary of State: The Governors of Louisiana

The Political Graveyard

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789-1978, Vol. 2, Westport, Conn.; Meckler Books, 1978. 4 vols.