John N. Pharr
| Murphy James Foster | |
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United States Senator from Louisiana |
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In office March 4, 1901 – March 4, 1913 |
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| Preceded by | Donelson Caffery |
| Succeeded by | Joseph E. Ransdell |
| 31st Governor of Louisiana | |
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In office May 10, 1892 – May 8, 1900 |
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| Lieutenant |
Charles Parlange Hiram R. Lott Robert H. Snyder |
| Preceded by | Francis T. Nicholls |
| Succeeded by | William Wright Heard |
| Member of the Louisiana Senate | |
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In office 1880–1892 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 12, 1849 Franklin, Louisiana |
| Died | June 12, 1921 (aged 72) Franklin, Louisiana |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Spouse(s) |
(1) Florence Daisy Hine Foster (married and died in 1877) |
| Relations | Murphy James Foster Jr. (grandson) |
| Children | Ten children |
| Parents | Thomas J. and Martha P. Murphy Foster |
(1) Florence Daisy Hine Foster (married and died in 1877)
Murphy James Foster (January 12, 1849 – June 12, 1921) was a Louisiana politician who served two terms as the 31st Governor of Louisiana from 1892 to 1900. Foster adopted the Louisiana Constitution of 1898, which effectively disfranchised the black majority, who comprised most of the Republicans, thus leading to Louisiana's becoming essentially a one-party (Democratic) state for several generations and excluding African Americans from the political system.
Louisiana followed Mississippi (1890) and other southern states in adopting a new constitution with devices to disfranchise blacks, then a majority in the state, chiefly by making voter registration more difficult. This situation of discriminatory political exclusion was not corrected until after enforcement of constitutional rights by the federal government under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Foster was born in 1849 on his family's sugar cane plantation near Franklin, the seat of St. Mary Parish, to Thomas J. Foster and the former Martha P. Murphy. His father owned 50 slaves in 1860, marking him as a major planter. Murphy Foster was educated in public schools and attended Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, and graduated from Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1870. He studied law at the University of Louisiana (later Tulane University) in New Orleans and was admitted to the bar in 1871 during the Reconstruction era (United States).
On May 15, 1877, Foster married Florence Daisy Hine, the daughter of Franklin merchant T.D. Hine. She died on August 26, 1877, at age 19. In 1881, he married Rose Routh Ker, daughter of Captain John Ker and the former Rose Routh of Ouida Plantation in West Feliciana Parish near Baton Rouge. The couple had ten children, nine of whom lived to maturity. These included Murphy James Foster II, the father of future Governor Murphy (Mike) Foster. By and large the family has been Episcopalian.
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Wikipedia