Henry Joseph Gardner (June 14, 1819 – July 21, 1892) was the 23rd Governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1855 to 1858. Gardner, a Know Nothing, was elected governor as part of the sweeping victory of Know Nothing candidates in the Massachusetts elections of 1854. Born in Dorchester, Gardner was a dry goods merchant from Boston active in the local Whig Party in the early 1850s. With the sudden and secretive rise of the nativist Know Nothings in 1854, Gardner opportunistically repudiated previously-held positions, and joined the movement, winning a landslide victory over Whig Emory Washburn. During his three terms in office the Know Nothing legislatures enacted legislation on a wide-ranging reform agenda, and made several significant changes to the state constitution, including important electoral reforms such as the replacement of majority voting with plurality voting. The Know Nothing movement began to disintegrate not long after its 1854 victory, dividing over slavery. Gardner won reelection in 1856 only with Republican support, given in exchange for Know Nothing support for the Republican presidential candidate, John Frémont. Republican Nathaniel Prentice Banks easily defeated Gardner in 1857, and the Know Nothing movement effectively dissolved. By 1860 Gardner had left politics and returned to his business interests; he died in relative obscurity. Early life Henry Joseph Gardner was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts (then a community separate from Boston) on June 14, 1819, to Henry Gardner and Clarissa Holbrook Gardner. His grandfather, also named Henry Gardner, was a well-respected Harvard graduate, was politically active during the American Revolution and served as the state's treasurer 1774–82. The younger Henry was first educated in private schools in the Boston area, and then attended Phillips Exeter Academy, from which he graduated in 1831. He then attended Bowdoin College, and embarked on a career as a dry goods merchant in Boston, a business in which he remained until 1876. In 1844 he married Helen Cobb of Portland, Maine; they had seven children. Entry into politics In 1850 Gardner, politically a Whig, was elected to the Boston City Council, serving until 1853. He was a moderately conservative Websterite Whig who was involved in the state party organization, serving on its central organizing committee. In 1854 he broke with the Whigs over their support of the pro-slavery Kansas-Nebraska Act, and became involved in the nativist Know Nothing movement. This shift in position was fairly radical on Gardner's part, and was viewed by