William Gannaway Brownlow - Governor

Governor

Brownlow was nominated for governor by a convention of Tennessee Unionists in January 1865. He was the only nominee. This convention also submitted state constitutional amendments outlawing slavery and repealing the Ordinance of Secession. The military governor, Andrew Johnson, had enacted a series of measures that essentially prevented ex-Confederates from voting, and on March 4, Brownlow was elected by a 23,352 to 35 vote, and the amendments passed by a similarly lopsided margin. The vote met President Lincoln's "1/10th test," which recognized elections in Southern states if the total vote was at least 1/10th the total vote in the 1860 presidential election.

In early April 1865, Brownlow arrived in Nashville, a city which he despised, having called it a "dunghill," and stating it had a "deadly, treasonable exhalation." He was sworn in April 5, and submitted the 13th Amendment for ratification the following day. After this amendment was ratified, Brownlow submitted a series of bills to punish former Confederates. He disfranchised for at least five years anyone who had supported the Confederacy, and, in cases of Confederate leaders, fifteen years. He later strengthened this law to require prospective voters to prove they had supported the Union. He tried to impose fines for wearing a Confederate uniform, and attempted to bar Confederate ministers form performing marriages.

After a few months in office, Brownlow decided Johnson was too lenient toward former Confederate leaders, and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans, a group which dominated Congress and vehemently opposed Johnson. In the elections for the state's congressional seats held in August 1865, Brownlow tossed nearly one-third of the total vote to allow Radical candidate Samuel Arnell to win in the 6th District. A small group of state legislators, led by state Speaker of the House William Heiskell, turned against Brownlow, fearing his actions were too despotic, and aligned themselves with Johnson. By 1866, Brownlow had come to believe that some Southerners were plotting another rebellion, and that Andrew Johnson would be its leader.

In 1866, Brownlow began calling for civil rights to be extended to freed slaves, stating that "a loyal Negro was more deserving than a disloyal white man." In May, he submitted the 14th Amendment for ratification, which the Radicals in Congress supported, but Johnson and his allies opposed. The Pro-Johnson minority in the state house attempted to flee Nashville to prevent a quorum, and the House sergeant-at-arms was dispatched to arrest them. He rounded up two– Pleasant Williams and A.J. Martin– and confined them to the House committee room, giving the House the necessary number of members present to establish a quorum. After the amendment passed by a 43-11 vote, Heiskell refused to sign it and resigned in protest. His successor signed it, however, and the amendment was ratified. In transmitting the news to Congress, Brownlow taunted Johnson, stating, "My compliments to the dead dog in the White House." Tennessee was readmitted to the Union shortly afterward.

The Radicals nominated Brownlow for a second term for governor in February 1867. His opponent was Emerson Etheridge, a frequent critic of the Brownlow administration. That same month, the legislature passed a bill giving the state's black residents the right to vote, and Union Leagues were organized to help freed slaves in this process. Members of these leagues frequently clashed with disfranchised ex-Confederates, including members of the burgeoning Ku Klux Klan, and Brownlow organized a state guard, led by General Joseph A. Cooper, to protect voters (and harass the opposition). With the state's ex-Confederates disfranchised, Brownlow easily defeated Etheridge, 74,848 to 22,548.

By 1868, Klan violence had increased significantly. The organization had sent Brownlow a death threat, and had come close to assassinating Congressman Samuel Arnell. General Nathan B. Forrest joined the Klan, becoming its first Grand Wizard, partially in response to the disfranchisement policies of Brownlow. Forrest and twelve other Klan members submitted a petition to Brownlow, stating they would cease their activities if Confederates were given the right to vote. Brownlow rejected this, however, and set about reorganizing the state guard and pressing the legislature for still greater enforcement powers.

Brownlow endorsed Ulysses S. Grant for president in 1868, and asked for federal troops to be stationed in 21 Tennessee counties to counter rising Klan activity. The state legislature granted him the power to throw out entire counties' voter registrations if he thought they included disfranchised voters. In October 1868, prior to the election, Brownlow discarded all registered voters in Lincoln County. Following the election, two of the Radicals' congressional candidates, Lewis Tillman in the 4th District and William J. Smith in the 8th District, were initially defeated. Brownlow, believing Klan intimidation to be the reason for their defeat, tossed the votes from Marshall and Coffee counties, allowing Tillman to win, and tossed the votes from Fayette and Tipton counties, allowing Smtih to win.

In February 1869, as Brownlow's final term was near its end, he placed nine counties under martial law, arguing it was necessary to quell rising Klan violence. He also dispatched five state guard companies to occupy Pulaski, where the Klan had been founded. After Brownlow left office in March, Forrest ordered the Klan to destroy its costumes and cease all activities.