His peculiarities did not end
with this act. In 1850 he was elected to the House for the year 1851,
as a Coalition Democrat. He voted for Sumner, but he was greatly
annoyed by the charge of the Whigs that there had been an unholy
coalition between a portion of the Democratic Party and the Free-
soilers. In replying to the allegations, he made the counter charge
that there was a coalition between the Whigs and the "old hunker
Democrats" as they were called. They were, in fact, the Democrats
who would not vote for Sumner. A member called upon Wood for the
evidence. This question he had not anticipated, and after staggering
for a reply, he said--"I have seen them whispering together." As legal
evidence the answer was faulty, but in a moral point of view it was not
without force.
Governor Morton was a man of solid qualities. He had been upon the
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court of the State for many years and in
the fellowship of such jurists as Chief Justice Shaw, Judges Wilde,
Putnam, Hubbard, and others, and he had borne himself with credit and
perhaps even with distinction. He was a favorite of the Democratic
Party and for many years he had been its candidate for Governor, and
always without opposition. His election in 1839 was due to the public
dissatisfaction with the Temperance Act passed in 1838 and known as the
Fifteen-Gallon Law.
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