Emerson Etheridge

American politician

Henry Emerson Etheridge (September 28, 1819 – October 21, 1902) was an American politician and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Tennessee's 9th congressional district from 1853 to 1857, and again from 1859 to 1861. He also served one term in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1845–1847) and one term in the Tennessee Senate (1869–1871). After Tennessee seceded in 1861, he was elected Clerk of the United States House of Representatives, serving until 1863. One of the most powerful and eloquent speakers of his day, Etheridge was one of the few Southern congressmen to oppose the expansion of slavery and denounce Southern secession on the eve of the Civil War. Though a Southern Unionist, he criticized Abraham Lincoln over the Emancipation Proclamation. In the years following the war, Etheridge was a bitter critic of Governor William G. Brownlow, and ran against Brownlow for governor in a violent campaign in 1867. Though initially a teacher, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840.

The Whig Party gained control of the Tennessee state legislature in 1850 and redrew the state's congressional districts, effectively gerrymandering the 9th district incumbent, Democrat Isham G. Harris, out of office. Etheridge sought the open seat, and running virtually unopposed, was easily elected to the Thirty third Congress in 1853. Etheridge was the only Southern representative to support an 1857 House resolution condemning the repeal of the Missouri Compromise. In February 1857, Etheridge spoke in opposition to the reopening of the African slave trade, calling any such proposition "shocking to the moral sentiment of the enlightened portion of mankind." Following a bitter reelection campaign in 1857, Etheridge was defeated by the Democratic challenger, J. D. C. Atkins, by just 129 votes.

During the spring of 1861, Etheridge returned to Tennessee to campaign against secession, often speaking to bitterly divided audiences. At one stop in Paris, Tennessee, a mob of secessionists broke up the rally, killing one Unionist in the process. He threw his support behind Andrew Johnson, who had by then been appointed Military Governor of Tennessee.

By 1866, Etheridge was a leader among Tennessee's Conservative Republicans, allies of Andrew Johnson who opposed Brownlow and sought a return to pre Civil War conditions. In accepting the nomination, Etheridge blasted the Brownlow administration as an "ignorant, brutal and irresponsible despotism," and stated the goal of the Conservative campaign was to end the "meanest tyranny which was ever hatched in the foul air of distempered times." Brownlow's newspaper, the Knoxville Whig, derided Etheridge as a "blasé party scullion, the Thersites of the stump, the trafficker of the most foul, vulgar and filthy slang ever spewed by an obscene mind upon the hustings" whose "violent passions always carried him to offensive extremes." The Whig further suggested that Conservatives reluctantly chose Etheridge out of desperation after more plausible Conservatives rejected the nomination. Etheridge's campaign stops in East Tennessee frequently turned violent. While Etheridge had been endorsed by prominent East Tennessee Unionists such as T. A. R. Nelson, John Baxter, and John Netherland, the region was also home to Brownlow's fiercest and most loyal supporters. In June, fights broke out between Brownlow and Etheridge supporters at Greeneville and Morristown, and gunfire nearly erupted in Maryville when Etheridge campaigned there in July. Following a speech by Etheridge in Rogersville in late July, a mob of Radicals surrounded the hotel where Etheridge was staying and opened fire, igniting a five minute gun battle that left one person dead and several seriously wounded. On election day in August 1867, Brownlow defeated Etheridge, 74,034 votes to 22,550. In spite of the wide margin, Etheridge's campaign boosted the statewide opposition to Brownlow, which eventually led to the fall of the Radical administration and the restoring of voting rights to ex Confederates in 1870. He spent much of his term calling for the repudiation of the state's debt, which was getting out of control (the state debt would be the dominant issue in state politics over the subsequent decade). He also supported a call for a constitutional convention. This convention, which took place in 1870, restored the right to vote to former Confederates, and as a result, Democrats regained control of the state government. Etheridge moved to Memphis in 1871 after his term in the state senate had ended. He endorsed Horace Greeley for president in 1872, but declined to campaign for him as an elector. In 1874, Etheridge ran for the state senate as a member of the People's Reform Party, or "Dark Lanterns." In October of that year, he delivered a bizarre and rambling speech at the Greenlaw Opera House in Memphis in which, according to one Memphis newspaper, he "abused everybody and everything. He abused the Democracy, Conservatism, Radicalism, funders, the press, the leaders of both parties," and "hurled his invectives and abuse at the world generally." He was easily defeated in the election by the Democratic candidate, Peyton J. Smith. Etheridge had rejoined the Republican Party by 1876, when he endorsed Rutherford B. Hayes for president. He ran on the Republican ticket for state senator, but was defeated by the Democratic candidate, William A. Milliken. In August 1878, the state Republican Party nominated Etheridge as its candidate for governor. His nomination was controversial, as one delegate recalled his attacks on the Republican Party in the late 1860s, and others pointed out that Etheridge's calls for repudiating the state debt ran counter to the party's platform. Etheridge subsequently declined the nomination. His replacement, Chattanooga mayor Eli Wight, was badly defeated in the general election. Etheridge became active in the Prohibition movement in the early 1880s, and helped organize the state's Prohibition ticket in 1882. In 1884, he ran for the 9th district congressional seat on the Republican ticket, but was defeated by the Democratic candidate, Presley T. Glass, 13,481 votes to 11,019. In 1888, Etheridge served alongside Hugh B. Lindsay as an at large elector for the Republican presidential candidate, Benjamin Harrison. In February 1891, Harrison appointed Etheridge Surveyor of Customs at Memphis. He remained in this position until he resigned in March 1894. By the early 1900s, Etheridge's health and intellect had declined. He died in Dresden on October 21, 1902 (age 83 years, 23 days). He is interred at Mount Vernon Cemetery near Sharon. The city of Ethridge in Lawrence County, Tennessee, is believed to have been named for Etheridge.