John Staniford Robinson (November 10, 1804 – April 25, 1860) was an American lawyer and politician. He is most notable for his service as the 22ndgovernor of Vermont, from 1853 to 1854.[1]
Robinson opened his own law office in Bennington and continued to practice until his death.[4] He served in local offices including justice of the peace, and was a member of the Vermont House of Representatives from 1832 to 1833 and the Vermont Senate from 1838 to 1840.[4] Robinson's political aspirations were thwarted by the fracturing of the Democratic Party over slavery. After 1848, the Vermont Democratic Party split between the regular Democrats and the anti-slavery Democrats, who joined with anti-slavery Whigs and Liberty men to form the Free Soil Party. Robinson was the regular Democratic candidate for governor in 1851, when he finished third behind the Whig and Free Soil candidates. In 1852 he was nominated again by the Democrats and finished second; no candidate received a majority of the votes, and the election went to the Vermont General Assembly, who elected Erastus Fairbanks.[6][7] He placed second in the 1853 election, but again no candidate received a majority.[4] After several unsuccessful ballots during the month of October, the legislature chose Robinson over Fairbanks, after a number of Free Soil legislators who had supported Lawrence Brainerd switched their support to Robinson.[4] Serving from 1853 to 1854, he was the first Democratic Governor of Vermont and remained the only Democrat elected to the governorship for the next 110 years.[8] The Republican winning streak ended when Democrat Philip H. Hoff won the governorship in 1962.[9]
