baker left the army in 1864 to run again as lieutenant governor on the ticket with oliver morton and was elected with a 20,000-vote majority. morton took a period of poor health in 1865 after suffering a paralytic stroke. he continued his duties briefly, but decided to attempt to seek a cure to the paralysis. he left the state and left baker to serve as acting governor for five months until his health recovered. when morton was elected to the senate in 1866, baker succeeded him as governor. while completing morton's term, he began to advocate school reform. his primary goal was to improve the quality of teachers, which he sought to do by creating incentives to encourage teachers to consider their job as a permanent career. at that time, teaching was considered a temporary position by most teachers, until they could find a superior job elsewhere. the general assembly accepted his plan and passed legislation to enact it.