William Gannaway Brownlow

William Gannaway Brownlow

William Gannaway "Parson" Brownlow (August 29, 1805 – April 29, 1877) was an American newspaper editor, minister, and politician. He served as Governor of Tennessee from 1865 to 1869 and as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 1869 to 1875. He rose to prominence in the 1840s as editor of the Whig, a polemical newspaper that promoted Whig Party ideals and opposed secession in the years leading up to the Civil War. Brownlow's uncompromising and radical viewpoints made him one of the most divisive figures in Tennessee political history and one of the most controversial politicians of the Reconstruction-era South.

Beginning his career as a Methodist circuit rider in the 1820s, Brownlow was both censured and praised by his superiors for his vicious verbal debates with rival missionaries from other religions. As a newspaper editor, he became notorious for his relentless personal attacks against his religious and political opponents, sometimes to the point of being physically assaulted, while at the same time building a large base of fiercely loyal subscribers. As a result of his persistent opposition to secession after the outbreak of the Civil War, he was jailed in December 1861, and was subsequently forced into exile in the North.

As governor he adopted the stance of the Radical Republicans and spent much of his term opposing the policies of his longtime political foe Andrew Johnson. His gubernatorial policies, which have been described as both autocratic and progressive, helped Tennessee become the first former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union after the war. Brownlow's policy of disfranchising ex-Confederates and enfranchising former slaves led to the rise of the Ku Klux Klan in the late 1860s.