Representative Emerson Etheridge - Contact Information

Emerson Etheridge served as a Representative from Tennessee in the United States Congress from 1853 to 1861. A member of the Independent Party, Emerson Etheridge contributed to the legislative process during 3 terms in office.

Emerson Etheridge’s service in Congress occurred during a significant period in American history. As a member of the House of Representatives, Emerson Etheridge participated in the democratic process and represented the interests of constituents.

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. After leaving the state senate in 1871, Etheridge remained active in state Republican Party politics. He was offered (but rejected) the party’s nomination for governor in 1878, and ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 1884. He worked as the Surveyor of Customs at Memphis in the early 1890s.