1867 Tennessee gubernatorial election
{{short description|none}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1867 Tennessee gubernatorial election
| country = Tennessee
| flag_image =
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1865 Tennessee gubernatorial election
| previous_year = 1865
| next_election = 1869 Tennessee gubernatorial election
| next_year = 1869
| election_date = August 1, 1867
| image_size = x150px
| image1 = File:William Gannaway Brownlow-cropped.jpg
| nominee1 = Parson Brownlow
| party1 = Republican Party (United States)
| popular_vote1 = 74,484
| percentage1 = 76.85%
| image2 = File:Emerson Etheridge crop.png
| nominee2 = Emerson Etheridge
| party2 = Conservative Party (United States)
| popular_vote2 = 22,440
| percentage2 = 23.15%
| map_image = 1867 Tennessee gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
| map_size =
| map_caption = County results
Brownlow: {{legend0|#E27F7F|50–60%}} {{legend0|#D75D5D|60–70%}} {{legend0|#D72F30|70–80%}} {{legend0|#C21B18|80–90%}} {{legend0|#A80000|>90%}}
Etheridge: {{legend0|#FFB380|50–60%}} {{legend0|#FF9955|60–70%}} {{legend0|#fb8537ff|70–80%}} {{legend0|#f66614ff|80–90%}} {{legend0|#e5570bff|>90%}}
{{legend0|#808080|No data}}
| title = Governor
| before_election = Parson Brownlow
| before_party = Republican Party (United States)
| after_election = Parson Brownlow
| after_party = Republican Party (United States)
}}
{{ElectionsTN}}
The 1867 Tennessee gubernatorial election was held on August 1, 1867, to elect the governor of Tennessee. Incumbent Republican governor Parson Brownlow defeated Conservative nominee Emerson Etheridge with 76.85% of the vote.
Background
Tennessee was brought back into the United States in 1866, without having gone through Congressional Reconstruction. Governor Parson Brownlow, a Radical Republican, oversaw the passage of legislation that required loyalty oaths in order to vote. Legislation giving suffrage to black people was passed on February 26, 1867.{{sfn|Abbott|1986|p=105}}{{sfn|Parker|1974|p=34-35}}
Campaign
The Tennessee Republican Party held its convention on February 22, 1867, and gave its gubernatorial nomination to Brownlow by acclamation.{{sfn|Herbert|1890|pp=193}}
Twenty-four members of the state legislature who opposed Brownlow called the Conservative Union State Convention.{{sfn|Herbert|1890|pp=193}} The Conservative Party voted unanimously to give its gubernatorial nomination to former Whig congressman Emerson Etheridge, who was nominated by Edmund Cooper, on April 16, 1867. The convention was attended by John Baxter, Elias Polk, William B. Campbell, Dorsey B. Thomas, and others.{{Cite news |date=April 17, 1867 |title=Conservative Convention At Nashville |page=2 |work=Public Ledger |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/public-ledger/131094817/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902185622/https://www.newspapers.com/article/public-ledger/131094817/ |archive-date=September 2, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=April 17, 1867 |title=The Convention |page=1 |work=The Tennessean |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean/131095703/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902190927/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tennessean/131095703/ |archive-date=September 2, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} Etheridge accepted the nomination on April 19.{{Cite news |date=April 25, 1867 |title=The Convention |page=2 |work=Nashville Union and American |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/nashville-union-and-american/131096303/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230902191939/https://www.newspapers.com/article/nashville-union-and-american/131096303/ |archive-date=September 2, 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{sfn|Temple|1912|p=334}}
Brownlow stated that Tennessee was "the only stronghold Republicanism has in the South". The Union League campaigned in the state for Republicans and courted the black vote. The Freedmen's Bureau offered financial assistance to black people whose employment was targeted by Conservatives for registering to vote and supporting Republicans. Brownlow increased the size of the militia to protect black people from intimidation.{{sfn|Abbott|1986|p=105-106}} Brownlow was unable to campaign as he lost his voice and instead had other Republicans, including Secretary of State Andrew J. Fletcher, campaign for him.{{sfn|Temple|1912|p=125}}
General election
Brownlow won the election. The Republicans also won every seat in the concurrent U.S. House of Representatives election and almost every seat in the state legislature.{{sfn|Abbott|1986|p=106}} Brownlow left office in 1869, after being appointed to the United States Senate, and was replaced by Dewitt Clinton Senter.{{sfn|Parker|1974|p=35-36}}{{sfn|Moore|Preimesberger|1994|pp=707}}
{{Election box begin|title = 1867 Tennessee gubernatorial election{{sfn|Moore|Preimesberger|1994|pp=707}}}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link
|party = Republican Party (United States)
|candidate = Parson Brownlow (incumbent)
|votes = 74,484
|percentage = 76.85%
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link
|party = Conservative Party (United States)
|candidate = Emerson Etheridge
|votes = 22,440
|percentage = 23.15%
|change =
}}
{{Election box total|
|votes = 96,924
|percentage = 100.00%
|change =
}}
{{Election box end}}
Endorsements
{{Endorsements box
| title = Emerson Etheridge
| width = 60em
| list =
Federal officials
- Thomas Amos Rogers Nelson, member of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee's 1st congressional district (1859-1861){{sfn|Temple|1912|p=334}}
State legislators
- John Baxter, Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives (1852-1854){{sfn|Temple|1912|p=334}}
- John M. Fleming, member of the Tennessee House of Representatives (1861-1862; 1869-1871){{sfn|Temple|1912|p=334}}
- John Netherland, member of the Tennessee Senate (1833-1835) and Tennessee House of Representatives (1835-1836; 1851-1853){{sfn|Temple|1912|p=334}}
}}
References
{{reflist}}
Works cited
- {{cite book|last=Abbott |first=Richard |title=The Republican Party and the South, 1855-1877: The First Southern Strategy |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |date=1986 |url=https://archive.org/details/republicanparty00abbo |isbn=0807816809}}
- {{cite book|last=Herbert |first=Hilary |author-link=Hilary A. Herbert |title=Why The Solid South? or, Reconstruction And Its Results |publisher=R.H. Woodward & Company |date=1890 |url=https://archive.org/details/whysolidsouth00herb}}
- {{cite book|editor-last1=Moore |editor-first1=John |editor-last2=Preimesberger |editor-first2=Jon |title=Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections |publisher=Congressional Quarterly |year=1994 |edition=3 |isbn=0871879964 |url=https://archive.org/details/congressionalqua0000unse_p4j9}}
- {{cite journal|last=Parker |first=James |title=Tennessee Gubernatorial Elections, I. 1869--The Victory of the Conservatives |journal=Tennessee Historical Quarterly |publisher=Tennessee Historical Society |date=1974 |volume=33 |issue=1 |pages=34–48 |doi=10.2307/42623426 |jstor=42623426 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42623426}}
- {{cite book|last=Temple |first=Oliver |author-link=Oliver Perry Temple |title=Notable Men of Tennessee From 1833 to 1875: Their Times and Their Contemporaries |publisher=Cosmopolitan Press |date=1912 |url=https://archive.org/details/notablemenoftenn00temp}}