Charles S. Morehead

Charles Slaughter Morehead (July 7, 1802 – December 21, 1868) was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky, and served as the 20th governor of Kentucky. Though a member of the Whig Party for most of his political service, he joined the Know Nothing, or American, Party in 1855, and was the only governor of Kentucky ever elected from that party.

Morehead's political service began in the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1828. In 1832, he was appointed state attorney general. He served in this capacity for five years, and later returned to the Kentucky House, where he was chosen Speaker of the House three times. He was elected to Congress in 1848 and served two terms. After his congressional tenure, he joined the Know Nothing Party and was chosen as the party's candidate for governor in 1855. The campaign was marred by anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic rhetoric that touched off the "Bloody Monday" riots in Louisville.

Morehead was a delegate to the Peace Conference of 1861 and the Border States Convention that attempted to stave off the Civil War. Although he favored Kentucky's neutrality, Morehead sympathized with the South and was an open critic of the Lincoln administration. He was imprisoned for disloyalty in September 1861, although no formal charges were ever brought against him. He was released from prison in January 1862, and afterward fled to Canada, Europe, and Mexico. After the war, he returned to the United States and settled on his plantation in Greenville, Mississippi, where he died on December 21, 1868.

Early life Charles Slaughter Morehead was born near Bardstown, Kentucky, on July 7, 1802. He was the son of Charles and Margaret (Slaughter) Morehead and a first cousin to Kentucky's twelfth governor, James Turner Morehead. His father served in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly. After graduation, he became a tutor at the university and earned a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1822. She died July 5, 1829, at the age of twenty-five.

Political career Morehead was elected as a Whig to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1828 and was re-elected in 1829. He was appointed as state attorney general in 1832 and served for five years. In 1834, he co-authored A Digest of the Statute Laws of Kentucky with Mason Brown.

Morehead was elected the Thirtieth and Thirty-first Congresses, serving from March 4, 1847, until March 3, 1851. The voting for speaker began December 3, 1849. The caucus first chose Robert C. Winthrop as their candidate, but after several ballots, Winthrop was still unable to obtain a majority because of sectional rivalries within the caucus. Some Whigs from northern states voted for David Wilmot, a Free Soiler, while five southern Whigs steadfastly voted for Meredith Gentry. especially if he gained the support of southern Democrats. Rather than further fracture the caucus, Morehead withdrew his name from consideration. Cobb was finally elected on the sixty-third ballot on December 22.

Governor of Kentucky Following his congressional tenure, Morehead resumed his law practice and management of his plantations. In Kentucky, many former Whigs associated with the Know Nothing Party.

Morehead's term as governor was an active one. He approved the appropriation of funding for the first Kentucky State Fair, which was seen as a vehicle for encouraging improvements in agriculture.

Early in his term, Morehead approved two new bank charters, but he later vetoed several others, beginning with the proposed Bank of Harrodsburg. The three were taken to Indianapolis, Indiana, and the next day, Louisville circuit court judge John Catron issued a writ of habeas corpus for Morehead. Shortly after this, a grand jury was convened but failed to return any charges against Morehead. Petitions for Morehead's release were delivered to President Lincoln, but Lincoln told Secretary of State Seward that Morehead and those arrested with them would be released "when James Guthrie and James Speed [friends of Lincoln's in Kentucky] think they should be". Later, Guthrie told Lincoln that Morehead's arrest had "not been beneficial" to their cause in Kentucky. Morehead was paroled on January 6, 1862, on the condition that he swear an oath not to take part in the Confederate insurgence. On March 19, 1862, he was unconditionally discharged from his parole.

Morehead returned to his home in Louisville, but feared his refusal to take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution would lead to another arrest. In June 1862, he fled to Canada, then to Europe, and finally to Mexico. Following the war, Morehead returned to the United States and lived on his plantation in Greenville, Mississippi. He died there on December 21, 1868, and was buried on the grounds. On May 31, 1879, he was reburied in the Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky.