William H. Wisener (April 22, 1812 – December 24, 1882) was an American politician, active primarily at the state level in Tennessee during the mid-19th century. He served four terms in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1847–1849, 1851–1855, and 1859–1861), including one term as Speaker (1853–1855). A Southern Unionist, he led the opposition to secession in the House on the eve of the Civil War. After the war, he served in the Tennessee Senate, where he introduced the 13th Amendment for ratification in April 1865.
Wisener was the Republican nominee for governor in 1870, but was defeated by the Democratic candidate, John C. Brown.
Early life and career
Wisener was born in what is now Marshall County, Tennessee, which at the time was still part of Bedford County. He studied law, and moved to the county seat of Bedford, Shelbyville, in April 1835. He joined the burgeoning Whig Party around this time, and began publishing a pro-Whig newspaper, The People's Advocate, in 1836. He sold this paper in 1838 to focus on his law practice.
In 1847, Wisener ran for Bedford's seat in the Tennessee House of Representatives, and won by a narrow margin. As Bedford was almost evenly divided between Whigs and Democrats, all of Wisener's electoral victories prior to the Civil War were by margins of less than 200 votes out of about 3,000 cast. He did not seek a second consecutive term in 1849, but ran again in 1851, having received his party's nomination over former congressman Daniel L. Barringer, and was reelected in the general election. In his 1853 reelection bid, he defeated his Democratic challenger, E.N. Bobo, 1,278 votes to 1,103. He was elected Speaker in October 1853, defeating William Wallace of Blount County by a vote of 43-30.
Wisener supported funding for internal improvements, judicial reform, and tax reduction. He voted in favor of a failed prohibition measure in February 1854, and delivered a speech in support of a bill that would sell state-owned lands to fund public schools that same month. In March 1854, he voted for a resolution expressing the legislature's support for the Kansas-Nebraska Act.
Following the collapse of the Whig Party, Wisener, like many Tennessee Whigs, threw his support behind the American Party (Know Nothings). Though he didn't run for reelection after his third term in the House, he served as the 6th district elector for American Party presidential candidate Millard Fillmore in the 1856 presidential election. In May 1857, Wisener presided over the state's American Party convention in Nashville.
Secession and the Civil War
In March 1859, Wisener represented Bedford County at the state convention of the Opposition Party, which had been formed by Unionists and former Whigs to oppose the rising separationist sentiments among Southern Democrats. That year, he once again sought Bedford's seat in the state house, and defeated his Democratic opponent by a slim margin. His assignments included the House Committee on Banks and the House Judiciary Committee.
Although bank reform dominated the first few days of the 1859 state legislative session, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry in October 1859 thrust the issue of slavery back to the forefront. While the pro-Union faction of the legislature was increasingly outnumbered, Wisener provided persistent opposition to secessionist initiatives throughout most of his term. In late November 1859, he attempted to amend a House resolution condemning Northern Republicans for destabilizing the Union to extend the blame to "disunionists" and "secessionists," arguing they were equally at fault. He "occupied nearly the whole of the morning session" on December 1 speaking in favor of this amendment, but it was eventually tabled. In January 1860, Wisener opposed a bill expelling free men of color from the state. In March 1860, he introduced a bill instructing the state's two U.S. senators to procure land in Mexico for the expelled free men of color, which failed.
The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in November 1860 increased calls for secession, and the Tennessee state legislature called for a convention to consider secession in January 1861. Wisener was one of just five representatives to vote against holding this convention. He introduced a series of resolutions on January 8, 1861, stating that secession was unconstitutional and "a remedy for no existing evil." He argued the United States government was adequate for the protection of Southern states' rights.