Francis H Pierpont

Francis H. Pierpont became Virginia Governor of the Restored Government of Virginia after the Second Wheeling Convention on June 11, 1861. Pierpont opposed Virginia secession but remained a moderate Republican. His moderate political actions through failure to punish former Confederates enraged Republican Unionists. Pierpont encountered Republican opposition when the party called for his removal from office. Therefore, he urged the Virginia General Assembly to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to Freedmen and punished former Confederates from holding public office. Pierpont believed that the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment became the only way to readmit Virginia to the Union. The General Assembly ignored Pierpont’s ideas and he failed to obtain a seat at the Virginia Constitutional Convention. Union General John M. Schofield replaced Pierpont with Henry Wells as Virginia Governor on April 14, 1868. Radical Republicans and Alexandria Freedmen were angered by Pierpont's views as a moderate Republican and they believed he did not do enough to help enforce Black Suffrage. Nevertheless, Pierpont convinced the Virginia General Assembly that Black Suffrage became inevitable that helped advance Alexandria Freedmen's goals.