Joseph Duncan (politician)

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Joseph Duncan (1794–1844) was a U.S. political figure. He served as governor of Illinois from 1834 to 1838. He was a Democrat and a former two-term U.S. Congressman.

Duncan lived in Jacksonville, Morgan County, Illinois. He was born in Paris, Bourbon County, Kentucky. He served in the War of 1812 as a soldier. Before becoming governor, he had a notable political career, serving in the Illinois House of Representatives from 1825 to 1829, and later as a U.S. Congressman.

Duncan was the governor who requested the legislature create an Internal Improvements Act, which paved the way for numerous roads, state highways, bridges and canals across the state. He later changed his mind, deciding the costs would be too high, but the legislature ignored this plea. The improvements were made, oftentimes by building roads between small towns that had little need of such monumental structures, and it forced the state into near-perpetual bankruptcy that guided economic decisions for generations. The debt from the Internal Improvements Act would not be fully paid off until 1882, costing the state more in interest than in the dollar amounts to actually build the so-called improvements throughout the state.

It was also during Duncan's tenure that the state capital was removed from Vandalia, Fayette County, Illinois, to the current location, Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois. This was controversially done in large part by the successful leadership skills of Springfield's representatives, one of whom was Abraham Lincoln, who was accused of a type of bullying called Logrolling.

Duncan died in Jacksonville. Interment is at Diamond Grove Cemetery there.