attempts of the Know-Nothing movement to undermine the citizenship of the foreign-born or slow down immigration. As promised, he opposed and vetoed the temperance law, despite the fact that the referendum had demonstrated popular support for the measure. However, allegations of financial impropriety emerged again, this time related to the use of public school funds and improper influence on state-backed loans and other expenses appropriated by his allies in the Democrat-dominated 1854 Legislature. Although he was able to secure renomination by the Democrats in 1853, Barstow lost support within his party as well as in Wisconsin generally. Disputed election When Barstow ran for reelection in 1855, he was initially declared the winner over his Republican opponent, Coles Bashford, by a mere 157 votes. However, Bashford claimed the result was fraudulent, and it was soon substantiated that Barstow's win was due to forged election returns from nonexistent precincts in the sparsely populated northern part of the state, in addition to other irregularities such as two separate canvassing boards claiming legitimacy in Waupaca County and attempting to submit conflicting certifications. As rival militia units converged on the state capital in Madison, threatening to start a civil war within the state, Barstow was inaugurated in a full, public ceremony on January 7, 1856. On the same day, Bashford was also sworn in quietly as governor in the chambers of the Wisconsin Supreme Court by Chief Justice Edward V. Whiton. The Wisconsin Attorney General, George Baldwin Smith, filed quo warranto proceedings in the Wisconsin Supreme Court to remove Barstow, who threatened that he would not "give up his office alive." After challenging the court's jurisdiction without success and noting that the tide of public opinion had turned against him, Barstow declined to contest the fraud allegations and sent his resignation to the legislature on March 21, 1856, leaving the lieutenant governor, Arthur MacArthur, as acting governor. On March 24, the court unanimously awarded the governorship to Bashford by a count of 1,009 votes in the case Atty. Gen. ex rel. Bashford v. Barstow. Later life Barstow moved to Janesville, Wisconsin, where he opened a bank and promoted various railroad construction schemes, becoming president of the St. Croix and Lake Superior Railroad. His business ventures were mostly unsuccessful as his bank failed in the Panic of 1857, and his railroad company was consumed in another bribery scandal. He remained involved in Democratic politics, however, and