With the end of the war, President Andrew Johnson appointed a temporary governor, Andrew J. Hamilton, and ordered Texas to create a new state constitution and form a new state government loyal to the Union. James W. Throckmorton was elected governor under this process. Throckmorton was in office for a year before General Philip Sheridan, the military commander of the Military District of the Southwest, dismissed him for being an "impediment to the reconstruction of the State", appointing Elisha M. Pease in his place. Pease was a Republican who had lost to Throckmorton in the election.