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. Early life Etheridge was born in Currituck County, North Carolina, the son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Harvey) Etheridge. In the early 1830s, he moved with his parents to Weakley County, Tennessee, where they settled on a farm near the community of Sharon. Though initially a teacher, he studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1840. He married Fannie N. Bell and they had three children: a son (Bell Etheridge), a daughter (Emma Etheridge Moran), and a third child who died in infancy in 1854. Inspired by Kentucky politician Henry Clay, Etheridge became active in Whig Party politics. He was appointed Clerk of the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1843 and was elected to Weakley's seat in the Tennessee House in 1845. After his term ended in 1847, he resumed the practice of law in Dresden. Congress 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 entered Congress at a time of growing sectional tension between the