GABRIEL SLAUGHTER, 1767-1830 G•OVERNOR OF KENTUCKY ...

340 The Filson Club History Quarterly [Vol. 40
named as one of the five members of the Committee of Enrollments and
although his name appeared last in the listing in the ]ournal, he probably
acted as its chairman since he made the reports of the Committee. TM
During this session he supported a bill to reduce the price of ungranted
land south of the Green River, a measure that failed. In connection
with the agitation for a new Constitutional Convention and elimination
of a written ballot, a bill was presented to require that in all elections
the voter should hand his ballot to the sheriff who would publicly read
the vote cast unless it was requested that it not be read. He voted
against this measure but did support an amendment requiring that when
an election ran for more than one day the ballots must be counted and
the totals announced at the end of each day.s°
In 1798 he either did not stand for re-election or was an unsuccessful
candidate. The Legislature this year, however, incorporated Harrodsburg
Academy and named Gabriel Slaughter as one of the trustees. *
He was again elected to the House of Representatives in 1799. During
this session he was a member of the joint committee to report on the
state of the Auditor's, Treasurer's, and Register's offices; was a member
of the Committee on Privileges and Elections; and was a member of the
Committee of Enrollments (on which he had served two years earlier).
He was named to a number of committees appointed to prepare bills for
the consideration of the House and on November 25, 1799, when the
House sat as a committee of the whole, Slaughter was in the chair.22
He was re-elected to the House of Representatives in 1800.2s In
1801 he was returned as the member of the Kentucky Senate from
Mercer County and after serving out the four-year-term continued as a
member of that body until 1808, and as Lieutenant Governor and its
Speaker presided over the Senate until 1812.2'
On December 19, 1801, the Kentucky River Company was chartered
to improve navigation of rivers of the state and to clear out the obsrtuctions
in the Kentucky River from its mouth to the mouth of is
south fork. Ten thousand dollars in capital stock was provided, with
shares at fifty dollars each. For Mercer County the commissioners were
Gabriel Slaughter, James Birney, and James Moore, who were assigned
to sell twenty-two shares.2
During the session of 1803 he opposed a bill to change the method
of choosing the electors to elect the President and Vice-President of
the United States. When it was defeated by the close vote of twelve
to eleven, he brought in another bill to take its place but it was too late
in the .session for action to be taken on his proposal.2e He supported
a resolution calling the poll tax unequal and inconsistent with a republican
government, but found himself with the minority on this
question.27 His last action in the session of 1803-04 was to report that