Background
GARDENHIRE, Erasmus Lee was born on November 12, 1815 in Overton County, Tennessee, United States, United States.
congressman lawyer state politician
GARDENHIRE, Erasmus Lee was born on November 12, 1815 in Overton County, Tennessee, United States, United States.
Private school.
Educated at Clinton College in Tennessee, in 1839 he began the practice of law. He married Mary McMillan on December 5, 1839. They had seven children.
Gardenhire was a Mason, a member of the Christian Church (his family was Methodist), and a Democrat. For a time he taught school at Livingston Academy and he also had a small farm. He practiced law in Livingston but moved to Sparta, Tennessee, in 1851.
He served in the state Senate during the 1850s, edited the Sparta Mountain Democrat in 1856-1857, and was elected judge of the Fifth Judicial District in 1858. He resigned his judgeship in 1861. A secessionist, he was elected to the first Confederate Congress and was proadministration.
He held positions on the Claims, Elections, and Enrolled Bills Committees. In 1862, he converted all his real estate into cash in hopes of speculating in cotton. He was soon wiped out.
Gardenhire declined reelection to the second Congress in an effort to recoup his losses. He served in no further capacity in the war. Governor William G. Brownlow described him as a bitter rebel.
In 1875, he represented White and Putnam Counties in the Tennessee legislature and was chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1876, he moved to Carthage, Tennessee, and, in 1883, he was judge of the Court of Referees of west Tennessee.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Spouse Mary McMillan.