Viewing Douglas A. Hedin: "James Gilfillan vs. Christopher G. Ripley: The Contest for the Republican Nomination for Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, 1869."

Douglas A. Hedin: "James Gilfillan vs. Christopher G. Ripley: The Contest for the Republican Nomination for Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court, 1869."

On July 14, 1869, Governor William R. Marshall appointed James Gilfillan Chief Justice of the Minnesota Supreme Court replacing Thomas Wilson who had resigned to run for United States Senator. Gilfillan was a respected member of a prominent St. Paul law firm and a Civil war veteran. He was, of course, a Republican, the dominant party at the time.

Under the Constitution he was required to run for election to a full term in November. But first he had to win the endorsement of the Republican Party at its state convention on September 9th. One potential opponent, Attorney General F. R. E. Cornell decided to seek re-election to his current post. That left Christopher G. Ripley, a sole practitioner from the Village of Chatfield in Fillmore County, who had never held public office before. The Convention selected Ripley by a wide margin, 158 votes to 81, with nine votes being fraudulent.

This article raises and answers the question: How did Ripley do it?

It is the second of a series of articles on Supreme Court elections in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries posted on this website.

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