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{{short description|American congressman for Tennessee}}
{{Infobox Congressman
{{Infobox officeholder
|name=Leonidas Campbell Houk
|name=Leonidas Campbell Houk
|image name=Leonidas-houk-us1.jpg
|image name=Leonidas-houk-us1.jpg
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|profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]]
|profession=[[Politician]], [[Lawyer]]
|resting_place = [[Old Gray Cemetery]]<br/>Knoxville, Tennessee
|resting_place = [[Old Gray Cemetery]]<br/>Knoxville, Tennessee
|religion=[[Methodist]]<ref name=temple />
|footnotes=
|footnotes=
}}
}}
'''Leonidas Campbell Houk''' (June 8, 1836 &ndash; May 25, 1891) was an [[United States|American]] politician and a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] for the [[Tennessee's 2nd congressional district|2nd congressional district]] of [[Tennessee]]. Between 1878 and 1891, Houk was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House, during which time he helped solidify the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] congressional dominance in [[East Tennessee]] that remains to the present day.<ref name=drake>Richard Drake, ''A History of Appalachia'' (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), pp. 155-156.</ref> Houk fought for the Union Army during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], and rose to the rank of colonel within a few months.<ref name=temple>Oliver P. Temple, ''[https://archive.org/stream/notablemenoftenn00temp/notablemenoftenn00temp_djvu.txt Notable Men of Tennessee, From 1833 to 1875, Their Times and Their Contemporaries]'' (New York: Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 128-136.</ref> Largely self-trained as a lawyer, Houk served as a state circuit court judge from 1866 to 1869.<ref name=rothrock />
'''Leonidas Campbell Houk''' (June 8, 1836 &ndash; May 25, 1891) was a lawyer who served in the [[United States House of Representatives]] for the [[Tennessee's 2nd congressional district|2nd congressional district]] of [[Tennessee]]. Between 1878 and 1891, Houk was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House, during which time he helped solidify the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] congressional dominance in [[East Tennessee]] that remains to the present day.<ref name=drake>Richard Drake, ''A History of Appalachia'' (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), pp. 155-156.</ref> Houk fought for the Union Army during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], and rose to the rank of colonel within a few months.<ref name=temple>Oliver P. Temple, ''[https://archive.org/stream/notablemenoftenn00temp/notablemenoftenn00temp_djvu.txt Notable Men of Tennessee, From 1833 to 1875, Their Times and Their Contemporaries]'' (New York: Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 128-136.</ref> Largely self-trained as a lawyer, Houk served as a state circuit court judge from 1866 to 1869.<ref name=rothrock />


==Biography==
==Biography==
Line 25: Line 25:
Houk was born near [[Boyds Creek, Tennessee]] in [[Sevier County, Tennessee|Sevier County]] on June 8, 1836. He lost his father at a young age, and grew up in poverty.<ref name=temple /> Although he attended local schools for less than three months, he managed to educate himself by reading books.<ref name=schlup>Leonard Schlup, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=657 Leonidas Campbell Houk]. ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.</ref> He eventually learned the trade of cabinet-making, and worked in this trade for several years in [[Clinton, Tennessee]].<ref name=temple />
Houk was born near [[Boyds Creek, Tennessee]] in [[Sevier County, Tennessee|Sevier County]] on June 8, 1836. He lost his father at a young age, and grew up in poverty.<ref name=temple /> Although he attended local schools for less than three months, he managed to educate himself by reading books.<ref name=schlup>Leonard Schlup, [http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entry.php?rec=657 Leonidas Campbell Houk]. ''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.</ref> He eventually learned the trade of cabinet-making, and worked in this trade for several years in [[Clinton, Tennessee]].<ref name=temple />


In 1853, Houk was charged in [[Maryville, Tennessee|Maryville]] with shooting a gun near a public road.<ref name=temple /> At his trial, [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]] lawyer [[Oliver Perry Temple]] (1820&ndash;1907), who happened to be in the courtroom, arose and spoke on Houk's behalf, and convinced the judge to grant Houk leniency. As a result of this incident, Houk became interested in law, and began making regular stops by Temple's [[Gay Street (Knoxville)|Gay Street]] office to borrow books on law and legal theory.<ref name=temple /> In 1859, Houk was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Clinton.<ref name=rothrock />
In 1853, Houk was charged in [[Maryville, Tennessee|Maryville]] with shooting a gun near a public road.<ref name=temple /> At his trial, [[Knoxville, Tennessee|Knoxville]] lawyer [[Oliver Perry Temple]] (1820&ndash;1907), who happened to be in the courtroom, arose and spoke on Houk's behalf, and convinced the judge to grant Houk leniency. As a result of this incident, Houk became interested in law, and began making regular stops by Temple's [[Gay Street (Knoxville)|Gay Street]] office to borrow books on law and legal theory.<ref name=temple /> In 1859, Houk was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Clinton.<ref name=rothrock />


===Civil War===
===Civil War===
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Like most rural East Tennesseans, Houk supported the Union during the Civil War.<ref name=temple /> In 1861, Houk engaged prominent secessionist [[Henry S. Foote]] in a debate in Clinton, and in June of that year he represented [[Anderson County, Tennessee|Anderson County]] at the [[East Tennessee Convention]], which sought to create a separate, Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.<ref name=temple /> In August 1861, Houk travelled to [[Kentucky]], where he enlisted in the Union Army as a private.<ref name=mckinney>Gordon B. McKinney, "The Rise of the Houk Machine in East Tennessee," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', Vol. 45 (1973), pp. 61-78.</ref>
Like most rural East Tennesseans, Houk supported the Union during the Civil War.<ref name=temple /> In 1861, Houk engaged prominent secessionist [[Henry S. Foote]] in a debate in Clinton, and in June of that year he represented [[Anderson County, Tennessee|Anderson County]] at the [[East Tennessee Convention]], which sought to create a separate, Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.<ref name=temple /> In August 1861, Houk travelled to [[Kentucky]], where he enlisted in the Union Army as a private.<ref name=mckinney>Gordon B. McKinney, "The Rise of the Houk Machine in East Tennessee," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', Vol. 45 (1973), pp. 61-78.</ref>


On February 5, 1862, Houk was named colonel of the Third Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. In August of that year, Houk's regiment was vastly outnumbered and nearly surrounded by Confederate forces at [[London, Kentucky]]. Rather than surrender, Houk led his men on a brutal retreat over back roads and mountain passes to safety.<ref name=mckinney /> As a result of this retreat, his health deteriorated, and he was forced to retire from the army on April 23, 1863.<ref name=mckinney /> He spent the remainder of the war writing articles in support of the Union.<ref name=schlup /> He defended the [[Emancipation Proclamation]],<ref name=mckinney /> and served as a presidential elector for the Republican ticket in 1864.<ref name=rothrock />
On February 5, 1862, Houk was named colonel of the Third Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. In August of that year, Houk's regiment was vastly outnumbered and nearly surrounded by Confederate forces at [[London, Kentucky]]. Rather than surrender, Houk led his men on a brutal retreat over back roads and mountain passes to safety.<ref name=mckinney /> As a result of this retreat, his health deteriorated, and he was forced to retire from the army on April 23, 1863.<ref name=mckinney /> He spent the remainder of the war writing articles in support of the Union.<ref name=schlup /> He defended the [[Emancipation Proclamation]],<ref name=mckinney /> and served as a presidential elector for the Republican ticket in 1864.<ref name=rothrock />


===Postwar activities===
===Postwar activities===


Houk first ran for the 2nd District's congressional seat in 1865, but lost to [[Horace Maynard]].<ref name=mckinney /> In March 1866, however, he was elected circuit court judge of Tennessee's 17th judicial district. At first, Houk supported the policies of [[Radical Republican]] governor [[William Gannaway Brownlow|William G. Brownlow]], including a bill that disfranchised former Confederate officers, and a bill giving African-Americans in the state the right to vote.<ref name=mckinney /> However, after a particularly bitter defeat against Maynard (a Brownlow ally) for the Republican nomination during the congressional election of 1868, Houk began distancing himself from the Brownlow regime.<ref name=mckinney />
Houk first ran for the 2nd District's congressional seat in 1865, but lost to [[Horace Maynard]].<ref name=mckinney /> In March 1866, however, he was elected circuit court judge of Tennessee's 17th judicial district. At first, Houk supported the policies of [[Radical Republican]] governor [[William Gannaway Brownlow|William G. Brownlow]], including a bill that disfranchised former Confederate officers, and a bill giving African-Americans in the state the right to vote.<ref name=mckinney /> However, after a particularly bitter defeat against Maynard (a Brownlow ally) for the Republican nomination during the congressional election of 1868, Houk began distancing himself from the Brownlow regime.<ref name=mckinney />


Houk resigned from the bench in 1869 and moved to Knoxville, where he formed a successful law firm with [[Henry R. Gibson]].<ref name=temple /> In 1872, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature, but served just one term. He again sought his party's nomination for Congress in 1874 against [[Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh|Jacob Thornburgh]] (Maynard had been [[gerrymandered]] out of the district in 1872), but withdrew after another particularly divisive campaign.<ref name=mckinney />
Houk resigned from the bench in 1869 and moved to Knoxville, where he formed a successful law firm with [[Henry R. Gibson]].<ref name=temple /> In 1872, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature, but served just one term. He again sought his party's nomination for Congress in 1874 against [[Jacob Montgomery Thornburgh|Jacob Thornburgh]] (Maynard had been [[gerrymandered]] out of the district in 1872), but withdrew after another particularly divisive campaign.<ref name=mckinney />


===The Houk Machine===
====The Houk Machine====


A member of the [[Stalwart (politics)|Stalwart]] faction in the House, Houk supported Grant in his run for a third non-consecutive presidential term in [[United States presidential election, 1880|1880 election]].<ref name=schlup/> He also expressed sympathy for the struggles of poor farmers, reflecting a [[populist]] bent in his district due to the mountainous geographic nature stifling development and thus contributing to poverty.
⚫
After Thornburgh retired in 1878, Houk finally gained the Republican nomination for Congress, narrowly defeating ''Knoxville Chronicle'' editor [[William Rule (American editor)|William Rule]], and was elected to the [[46th United States Congress|Forty-sixth Congress]] later that year.<ref name=mckinney /> Sensing that East Tennesseans were weary of national issues, Houk focused on local concerns, namely veterans' issues and the demand for federal government seed. He was chairman of the House Committee on War Claims during the [[47th United States Congress|Forty-seventh congress]],<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000818 Leonidas C. Houk]. ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.</ref> and went to great lengths to get compensation for East Tennessee Unionists who suffered property damage during the war.<ref name=mckinney />

Largely focusing on local as opposed to national issues, Houk emphasized constituents services and provided aid to veterans.<ref name=knoxvillefocus>Hill, Ray (October 6, 2013). [https://knoxfocus.com/archives/congressman-leonidas-campbell-houk/ Congressman Leonidas Campbell Houk]. ''The Knoxville Focus''. Retrieved January 30, 2022.</ref> He managed to consolidate political power within the state GOP, subsequently gaining control of [[patronage]]. This ultimately led to an alliance with some [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] in the state, which elicited substantial criticisms.<ref name=knoxvillefocus/>

⚫
After Thornburgh retired in 1878, Houk finally gained the Republican nomination for Congress, narrowly defeating ''Knoxville Chronicle'' editor [[William Rule (American editor)|William Rule]], and was elected to the [[46th United States Congress|Forty-sixth Congress]] later that year.<ref name=mckinney /> Sensing that East Tennesseans were weary of national issues, Houk focused on local concerns, namely veterans' issues and the demand for federal government seed. He was chairman of the House Committee on War Claims during the [[47th United States Congress|Forty-seventh congress]],<ref>[http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=H000818 Leonidas C. Houk]. ''Biographical Directory of the United States Congress''. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.</ref> and went to great lengths to get compensation for East Tennessee Unionists who suffered property damage during the war.<ref name=mckinney />


In 1881, Houk thwarted Rule's attempt to become Knoxville's postmaster, and instead helped his old mentor Oliver P. Temple get the appointment.<ref name=mckinney /> An enraged Rule ran against Houk for the Republican nomination, and after a hostile campaign, both claimed the nomination and ran against one another in the general election. Houk won handily, and afterward ran virtually unopposed for four subsequent terms.<ref name=mckinney /> During this period, he went to considerable lengths to broaden the party's reach beyond its radical roots. With Brownlow and the party's older leaders dead or retired, Houk became the leader of Tennessee's Republicans, and thus controlled the party's presidential patronage.<ref name=mckinney /><ref name=langsdon>Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 219-220.</ref>
In 1881, Houk thwarted Rule's attempt to become Knoxville's postmaster, and instead helped his old mentor Oliver P. Temple get the appointment.<ref name=mckinney /> An enraged Rule ran against Houk for the Republican nomination, and after a hostile campaign, both claimed the nomination and ran against one another in the general election. Houk won handily, and afterward ran virtually unopposed for four subsequent terms.<ref name=mckinney /> During this period, he went to considerable lengths to broaden the party's reach beyond its radical roots. With Brownlow and the party's older leaders dead or retired, Houk became the leader of Tennessee's Republicans, and thus controlled the party's presidential patronage.<ref name=mckinney /><ref name=langsdon>Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 219-220.</ref>

Like nearly all Stalwarts, Houk ultimately caved into supporting [[civil service system|civil service reform]] as a means of compromise in the 1880s, voting for the [[Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act]] in 1883 which ended the traditional [[spoils system]] Republicans utilized in the post-war [[Reconstruction era|Reconstruction]] period.<ref>[https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/47-2/h272 TO PASS S. 133, A BILL REGULATING AND IMPROVING THE U. S. CIVIL SERVICE. (J.P. 163).]. ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved November 7, 2021.</ref>


By the late-1880s, Houk had formed an unspoken alliance with the state's Democrats (who now dominated state politics) in which he traded federal influence during Republican presidencies for a say in state affairs.<ref name=langsdon /> In 1888, however, [[Henry Clay Evans]], who disliked what he perceived as Houk's subservience to state Democrats, captured the 3rd District's House seat, and immediately began fighting with Houk over distribution of patronage.<ref name=langsdon /> Although the 3rd District was gerrymandered to ensure Evans's defeat in 1890, he and Houk continued bickering over patronage and political appointments, and after Houk's death, his son, [[John C. Houk]], struggled with Evans for several years for control of the state Republican Party.<ref name=mckinney /><ref name=langsdon />
By the late-1880s, Houk had formed an unspoken alliance with the state's Democrats (who now dominated state politics) in which he traded federal influence during Republican presidencies for a say in state affairs.<ref name=langsdon /> In 1888, however, [[Henry Clay Evans]], who disliked what he perceived as Houk's subservience to state Democrats, captured the 3rd District's House seat, and immediately began fighting with Houk over distribution of patronage.<ref name=langsdon /> Although the 3rd District was gerrymandered to ensure Evans's defeat in 1890, he and Houk continued bickering over patronage and political appointments, and after Houk's death, his son, [[John C. Houk]], struggled with Evans for several years for control of the state Republican Party.<ref name=mckinney /><ref name=langsdon />
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===Death===
===Death===


On May 24, 1891, Houk accidentally drank a bottle of arsenic solution at DePue's drug store in Knoxville, and died the following day.<ref>Jack Neely, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120310124251/http://www.metropulse.com/news/2008/may/28/detour-de-knoxville/ Detour de Knoxville]. ''Metro Pulse'', 28 May 2008. Accessed at the Internet Archive, 2 October 2015.</ref> He was [[burial|interred]] in [[Old Gray Cemetery]]. Houk's son, John Chiles Houk, succeeded him as the 2nd District's congressman. He held the seat until 1895, and continued to play a role in East Tennessee politics into the 20th century.<ref name=langsdon />
On May 24, 1891, Houk accidentally drank a bottle of arsenic solution at DePue's drug store in Knoxville, which he mistook for a glass of ice water, and died in pain the following day.<ref name=knoxvillefocus/><ref>Jack Neely, "[https://web.archive.org/web/20120310124251/http://www.metropulse.com/news/2008/may/28/detour-de-knoxville/ Detour de Knoxville]. ''Metro Pulse'', 28 May 2008. Accessed at the Internet Archive, 2 October 2015.</ref><ref>May 26, 1891. [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1891/05/26/103310340.pdf DEATH OF CONGRESSMAN HOUK.; TOOK ARSENIC BY MISTAKE FOR A GLASS OF ICE WATER.]. ''The New York Times''. Retrieved January 30, 2022.</ref> He was [[burial|interred]] in [[Old Gray Cemetery]]. Houk's son, John Chiles Houk, succeeded him as the 2nd District's congressman. The younger Houk held the seat until 1895, and continued to play a role in East Tennessee politics into the 20th century.<ref name=langsdon />


Houk's broadening of the Republican platform solidified Republican control of East Tennessee's 1st and 2nd congressional districts.<ref name=drake /> As of 2012, no Democrat has been elected to Congress in either district since Houk's day.
Houk's broadening of the Republican platform solidified Republican control of East Tennessee's 1st and 2nd congressional districts.<ref name=drake /> As of 2022, no Democrat has been elected to Congress in either district since Houk's day.


==See also==
==See also==
⚫
{{Portal|Biography}}
*[[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)]]
*[[List of United States Congress members who died in office (1790–1899)]]


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==External links==
==External links==

⚫
{{Portal|Biography}}
* {{CongBio|H000818}}
* {{CongBio|H000818}}
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/houghtaling-housley.html#349.95.30 Leonidas Campbell Houk entry] at [[The Political Graveyard]]
* [http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/houghtaling-housley.html#349.95.30 Leonidas Campbell Houk entry] at [[The Political Graveyard]]
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[[Category:1836 births]]
[[Category:1836 births]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:1891 deaths]]
[[Category:Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives]]
⚫
[[Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Clinton, Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Clinton, Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:People from Sevier County, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Tennessee lawyers]]
[[Category:Tennessee lawyers]]
[[Category:Tennessee Republicans]]
[[Category:Southern Unionists in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Southern Unionists in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee]]
[[Category:19th-century American politicians]]
[[Category:Accidental deaths in Tennessee]]
[[Category: Accidental deaths in Tennessee]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Stalwarts (Republican Party)]]
⚫
[[Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives]]
[[Category:19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly]]

Latest revision as of 10:43, 11 December 2024

Leonidas Campbell Houk
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1879 – May 25, 1891
Preceded byJacob Montgomery Thornburgh
Succeeded byJohn C. Houk
Personal details
Born(1836-06-08)June 8, 1836
Boyds Creek, Tennessee, U.S.
DiedMay 25, 1891(1891-05-25) (aged 54)[1]
Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Resting placeOld Gray Cemetery
Knoxville, Tennessee
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Elizabeth Smith
Mary Belle Von Rosen[1]
ProfessionPolitician, Lawyer

Leonidas Campbell Houk (June 8, 1836 – May 25, 1891) was a lawyer who served in the United States House of Representatives for the 2nd congressional district of Tennessee. Between 1878 and 1891, Houk was elected to seven consecutive terms in the House, during which time he helped solidify the Republican congressional dominance in East Tennessee that remains to the present day.[2] Houk fought for the Union Army during the Civil War, and rose to the rank of colonel within a few months.[3] Largely self-trained as a lawyer, Houk served as a state circuit court judge from 1866 to 1869.[1]

Biography

[edit]

Early life

[edit]

Houk was born near Boyds Creek, Tennessee in Sevier County on June 8, 1836. He lost his father at a young age, and grew up in poverty.[3] Although he attended local schools for less than three months, he managed to educate himself by reading books.[4] He eventually learned the trade of cabinet-making, and worked in this trade for several years in Clinton, Tennessee.[3]

In 1853, Houk was charged in Maryville with shooting a gun near a public road.[3] At his trial, Knoxville lawyer Oliver Perry Temple (1820–1907), who happened to be in the courtroom, arose and spoke on Houk's behalf, and convinced the judge to grant Houk leniency. As a result of this incident, Houk became interested in law, and began making regular stops by Temple's Gay Street office to borrow books on law and legal theory.[3] In 1859, Houk was admitted to the bar, and commenced practice in Clinton.[1]

Civil War

[edit]

Like most rural East Tennesseans, Houk supported the Union during the Civil War.[3] In 1861, Houk engaged prominent secessionist Henry S. Foote in a debate in Clinton, and in June of that year he represented Anderson County at the East Tennessee Convention, which sought to create a separate, Union-aligned state in East Tennessee.[3] In August 1861, Houk travelled to Kentucky, where he enlisted in the Union Army as a private.[5]

On February 5, 1862, Houk was named colonel of the Third Tennessee Volunteer Infantry. In August of that year, Houk's regiment was vastly outnumbered and nearly surrounded by Confederate forces at London, Kentucky. Rather than surrender, Houk led his men on a brutal retreat over back roads and mountain passes to safety.[5] As a result of this retreat, his health deteriorated, and he was forced to retire from the army on April 23, 1863.[5] He spent the remainder of the war writing articles in support of the Union.[4] He defended the Emancipation Proclamation,[5] and served as a presidential elector for the Republican ticket in 1864.[1]

Postwar activities

[edit]

Houk first ran for the 2nd District's congressional seat in 1865, but lost to Horace Maynard.[5] In March 1866, however, he was elected circuit court judge of Tennessee's 17th judicial district. At first, Houk supported the policies of Radical Republican governor William G. Brownlow, including a bill that disfranchised former Confederate officers, and a bill giving African-Americans in the state the right to vote.[5] However, after a particularly bitter defeat against Maynard (a Brownlow ally) for the Republican nomination during the congressional election of 1868, Houk began distancing himself from the Brownlow regime.[5]

Houk resigned from the bench in 1869 and moved to Knoxville, where he formed a successful law firm with Henry R. Gibson.[3] In 1872, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature, but served just one term. He again sought his party's nomination for Congress in 1874 against Jacob Thornburgh (Maynard had been gerrymandered out of the district in 1872), but withdrew after another particularly divisive campaign.[5]

The Houk Machine

[edit]

A member of the Stalwart faction in the House, Houk supported Grant in his run for a third non-consecutive presidential term in 1880 election.[4] He also expressed sympathy for the struggles of poor farmers, reflecting a populist bent in his district due to the mountainous geographic nature stifling development and thus contributing to poverty.

Largely focusing on local as opposed to national issues, Houk emphasized constituents services and provided aid to veterans.[6] He managed to consolidate political power within the state GOP, subsequently gaining control of patronage. This ultimately led to an alliance with some Democrats in the state, which elicited substantial criticisms.[6]

After Thornburgh retired in 1878, Houk finally gained the Republican nomination for Congress, narrowly defeating Knoxville Chronicle editor William Rule, and was elected to the Forty-sixth Congress later that year.[5] Sensing that East Tennesseans were weary of national issues, Houk focused on local concerns, namely veterans' issues and the demand for federal government seed. He was chairman of the House Committee on War Claims during the Forty-seventh congress,[7] and went to great lengths to get compensation for East Tennessee Unionists who suffered property damage during the war.[5]

In 1881, Houk thwarted Rule's attempt to become Knoxville's postmaster, and instead helped his old mentor Oliver P. Temple get the appointment.[5] An enraged Rule ran against Houk for the Republican nomination, and after a hostile campaign, both claimed the nomination and ran against one another in the general election. Houk won handily, and afterward ran virtually unopposed for four subsequent terms.[5] During this period, he went to considerable lengths to broaden the party's reach beyond its radical roots. With Brownlow and the party's older leaders dead or retired, Houk became the leader of Tennessee's Republicans, and thus controlled the party's presidential patronage.[5][8]

Like nearly all Stalwarts, Houk ultimately caved into supporting civil service reform as a means of compromise in the 1880s, voting for the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act in 1883 which ended the traditional spoils system Republicans utilized in the post-war Reconstruction period.[9]

By the late-1880s, Houk had formed an unspoken alliance with the state's Democrats (who now dominated state politics) in which he traded federal influence during Republican presidencies for a say in state affairs.[8] In 1888, however, Henry Clay Evans, who disliked what he perceived as Houk's subservience to state Democrats, captured the 3rd District's House seat, and immediately began fighting with Houk over distribution of patronage.[8] Although the 3rd District was gerrymandered to ensure Evans's defeat in 1890, he and Houk continued bickering over patronage and political appointments, and after Houk's death, his son, John C. Houk, struggled with Evans for several years for control of the state Republican Party.[5][8]

Death

[edit]

On May 24, 1891, Houk accidentally drank a bottle of arsenic solution at DePue's drug store in Knoxville, which he mistook for a glass of ice water, and died in pain the following day.[6][10][11] He was interred in Old Gray Cemetery. Houk's son, John Chiles Houk, succeeded him as the 2nd District's congressman. The younger Houk held the seat until 1895, and continued to play a role in East Tennessee politics into the 20th century.[8]

Houk's broadening of the Republican platform solidified Republican control of East Tennessee's 1st and 2nd congressional districts.[2] As of 2022, no Democrat has been elected to Congress in either district since Houk's day.

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1972), pp. 429-430.
  2. ^ a b Richard Drake, A History of Appalachia (Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, 2001), pp. 155-156.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Oliver P. Temple, Notable Men of Tennessee, From 1833 to 1875, Their Times and Their Contemporaries (New York: Cosmopolitan Press, 1912), pp. 128-136.
  4. ^ a b c Leonard Schlup, Leonidas Campbell Houk. Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture, 2002. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Gordon B. McKinney, "The Rise of the Houk Machine in East Tennessee," East Tennessee Historical Society Publications, Vol. 45 (1973), pp. 61-78.
  6. ^ a b c Hill, Ray (October 6, 2013). Congressman Leonidas Campbell Houk. The Knoxville Focus. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
  7. ^ Leonidas C. Houk. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved: 28 October 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d e Phillip Langsdon, Tennessee: A Political History (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), pp. 219-220.
  9. ^ TO PASS S. 133, A BILL REGULATING AND IMPROVING THE U. S. CIVIL SERVICE. (J.P. 163).. GovTrack.us. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  10. ^ Jack Neely, "Detour de Knoxville. Metro Pulse, 28 May 2008. Accessed at the Internet Archive, 2 October 2015.
  11. ^ May 26, 1891. DEATH OF CONGRESSMAN HOUK.; TOOK ARSENIC BY MISTAKE FOR A GLASS OF ICE WATER.. The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2022.
[edit]
  • United States Congress. "Leonidas C. Houk (id: H000818)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
  • Leonidas Campbell Houk entry at The Political Graveyard
  • Leonidas C. Houk at Find a Grave
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Tennessee's 2nd congressional district
March 4, 1879 – May 25, 1891 		Succeeded by
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