George F. Fort

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George Franklin Fort (1809 - April 23, 1872) was a physician, politician, judge, and a Democrat who served as the 16th Governor of New Jersey from 1851-1854. His nephew, John Franklin Fort was a Republican Governor of New Jersey, who served from 1908-1911.

[edit] Early Years

George Fort was born near Pemberton, New Jersey. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1828, began to practice medicine, and in 1830, in Imlaystown, New Jersey, married Anna Marie Wright, daughter of Samuel G. Wright, an iron manufacturer who would later be elected as a Whig candidate to the Twenty-ninth United States Congress.

[edit] Public Career

Fort's public career began when he was elected to the 1844 New Jersey Constitutional Convention as a Democrat from Monmouth County. At the convention, Fort supported universal suffrage, open eligibility for office, and popular election of all state and county officials. Later that year, he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, and, upon finishing a term, was elected to the New Jersey Senate. In 1850, he captured his party's nomination for Governor, and defeated the Whig candidate, John Runk (who had previously been a Congressman in the Twenty-ninth United States Congress). At that time, the Whigs were somewhat splintered, as some were adamantly opposed to the Fugitive Slave Law, while others were more aligned to the Democratic position that supporting the law was necessary in order to support the Union. Whigs also attacked Fort, with some justifcation, as being aligned too closely with the powerful railroad interests in the state. Nevertheless, the Whigs were not united, and Fort won the election fairly soundly.

During his gubernatorial term, major reform legislation passed, including the ten-hour work day, and child protection. At the end of his term, his Democratic successor, Rodman M. Price, appointed him as a judge. After that term, he resumed the practice of medicine. He lived close to the railroad office in New Egypt. He is buried in the United Methodist Church Cemetery in Pemberton.