James C. Jones

Who was James C. Jones?

James Chamberlain Jones was an American politician who served as the Governor of Tennessee from 1841 to 1845, and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1851 to 1857. A Whig, Jones twice defeated rising politician James K. Polk for the governorship. He was the first native-born Tennessean to be elected governor.

Jones's first gubernatorial term was marked by gridlock with the state senate, which was led by a group of Democratic senators known as the "Immortal Thirteen." His second term was more productive, as his fellow Whigs controlled both houses of the legislature. Though he later joined the Democratic Party, Jones's speaking skills and campaign style helped to solidify Tennessee's Whigs as one of the strongest Whig movements in the South.