Kentucky. Governor (1820-1824 : Adair)

John Adair served as Kentucky's governor from 1820 to 1824. He was the state's eighth chief executive. Adair was affiliated with the Jeffersonian Republicans.

Born in South Carolina in 1757, Adair served in the American Revolution. After the war, he was a member of the South Carolina convention for the ratification of the United States Constitution. Adair migrated west in 1786, settled in Mercer County, Kentucky and saw duty as a major in the Northwest Indian campaigns in 1791. He was a member of the 1792 Kentucky Constitutional Convention and continued his military involvement until the threat of Indian raids was eliminated in 1793.

His military record brought him the reward of political office. He was elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives from Mercer County and served nine terms from 1793 through 1817. In 1806, he was charged with conspiring with Aaron Burr, but several years later was acquitted and awarded damages. During the War of 1812, Adair first served as former governor Isaac Shelby's aide and then as the commander of the Kentucky rifle brigade under Andrew Jackson.

In 1820, Adair was elected governor in a close election, by a margin of less than 600 votes. During his term, he concentrated on progress in education and penitentiary and insane asylum reform. A state university was maintained, and the Deaf and Dumb Asylum was opened. Debtor relief was the most important issue, however. In response to the Panic of 1819 and the ensuing depression, the Bank of the Commonwealth was chartered to allow citizens to borrow money to pay off debts. Debtor prison was also eliminated. Adair approved many other relief bills passed by the General Assembly, a number of which were found to be unconstitutional by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. There was some discussion of attempting to remove some of the judges in order to accomplish Adair's debt relief program, either through the legislative process or by a constitutional convention, but neither came to fruition. Relief or anti-relief was the main issue in the election for Adair's successor.

After leaving the governor's office, Adair served only one term in the United States House of Representatives from 1831 to 1833. He died in May of 1840 at his home in Mercer County, Kentucky. In 1873, his remains were moved to Frankfort.