Charles Slaughter Morehead papers, 1838-1857

Descriptive Summary

Title
Charles Slaughter Morehead papers, 1838-1857
Creator
Morehead, Charles Slaughter, 1802-1868.
Extent
4 pieces.
Subjects
Clay, Henry, 1777-1852.
Crittenden, John J. (John Jordan), 1787-1863.
Morehead, Charles S. (Charles Slaughter), 1802-1868.
Webster, Daniel, 1782-1852.
Galt House (Louisville, Ky.)
United States.--Congress.--Senate.
Whig Party (U.S.)
Hotels--Kentucky--Louisville.
Presidents--United States--Election.
United States--Politics and government--1845-1861
Arrangement
Arranged by accession number.
Finding Aid Author
Processed by: Archives Staff ; machine-readable finding aid created by:Eric Weig
Repository
University of Kentucky

Collection Overview

Biography / History
Kentucky Governor, U.S Congressman. Morehead, a native of Nelson County, Ky. received a law degree from Transylvania University. His political career included six years as state attorney general, lengthy service in the Kentucky House of Representatives, and two terms as House Speaker. Morehead represented Kentucky in the U.S. House of Representatives as a Whig and was a presidential elector for Winfield Scott on the 1852 Whig ticket. With the demise of that political party, Morehead joined the American or "Know- Nothing" Party, which esposed nativist principles.
He was the Whigs' gubernatorial candidate in 1855, winning the election by a narrow margin in a race marred by the anti-foreign riot in Louisville known as "Bloody Monday." He declared the rights of slaveholders inviolate in any territory when he was governor and as a private citizen, strongly advocated neutrality for Kentucky as a private citizen at the beginning of the Civil War. Morehead was imprisoned after criticizing the cutoff of trade with the South. Paroled in 1862, Morehead fled the country rather than take an oath of allegiance. He returned to a plantation in Mississippi after the war, where he died in 1868.
Scope and Content
These papers contain four letters written by Charles Slaughter Morehead while U.S. Congressman (1848-1851) and Governor of Kentucky (1855- 1859). One letter is from Morehead to Daniel Webster, promising support for the 1852 Whig presidential nomination (64M73). Two others also concern politics. One, written in 1838 to J. J. Crittenden, discusses Henry Clay's presidential prospects (62M9). The other, to Leslie Combs in 1848, analyzes Crittenden's resignation from the U.S. Senate (63M96). The fourth letter concerns accommodations at the Galt House hotel in Louisville (61M9).

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You may come across language in UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center collections and online resources that you find harmful or offensive. SCRC collects materials from different cultures and time periods to preserve and make available the historical record. These materials document the time period when they were created and the view of their creator. As a result, some may demonstrate racist and offensive views that do not reflect the values of UK Libraries.

If you find description with problematic language that you think SCRC should review, please contact us at SCRC@uky.edu.