Joseph Desha (December 9, 1768 – October 11, 1842) was an American politician who was a U.S. Representative from Kentucky from 1807 to 1819 and the ninth governor of Kentucky from 1824 to 1828. First known as an Indian fighter from Middle Tennessee, Desha settled in Mason County, Kentucky, where he parlayed his military record into several terms in the state legislature.
In 1807, Desha was elected to the first of six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives. A Democratic-Republican, he was considered a war hawk, supporting the War of 1812. In 1813, he volunteered to serve in the war and commanded a division at the Battle of the Thames. Returning to Congress after the war, he was the only member of the Kentucky congressional delegation to oppose the unpopular Compensation Act of 1816. Nearly every other member of the delegation was defeated for reelection after the vote, but Desha's opposition to the act helped him retain his seat. He did not seek reelection in 1818, and made an unsuccessful run for governor in 1820, losing to John Adair. By 1824, the Panic of 1819 had ruined Kentucky's economy, and Desha made a second campaign for the governorship almost exclusively on promises of relief for the state's large debtor class. He was elected by a large majority, and debt relief partisans captured both houses of the General Assembly. After the Kentucky Court of Appeals overturned debt relief laws favored by Desha and the majority of the legislature, the legislators abolished the court and created a replacement court, to which Desha appointed several debt relief partisans. The existing court refused to acknowledge the legitimacy of the move, and during a period known as the Old Court – New Court controversy, two courts of last resort existed in the state.
Although popular when elected, Desha's reputation was damaged by two controversies during his term. The first was his role in the ouster of Horace Holley as president of Transylvania University. While the religious conservatives on the university's board opposed Holley because they considered him too liberal, Desha's opposition was primarily based on Holley's friendship with Henry Clay, one of Desha's political enemies. After Desha bitterly denounced Holley in an address to the legislature in late 1825, Holley resigned. Desha's reputation took a further hit after his son, Isaac B. Desha, was charged with murder. Partially because of Desha's influence as governor, two guilty verdicts were overturned. After the younger Desha unsuccessfully attempted suicide while awaiting a third trial, Governor Desha issued a pardon for his son. These controversies, along with an improving economy, propelled Desha's political foes to victory in the legislative elections of 1825 and 1826. They abolished the so-called "Desha court" over Desha's veto, ending the court controversy. In a final act of defiance, Desha threatened to refuse to vacate the governor's mansion, although he ultimately acquiesced without incident, ceding the governorship to his successor, National Republican Thomas Metcalfe. At the expiration of his term, he retired from public life and ultimately died at his son's home in Georgetown, Kentucky, on October 11, 1842.
Early life and career Joseph Desha was born to Robert and Eleanor (Wheeler) Desha in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on December 9, 1768.Harrison, p. 264 He was of part French Huguenot ancestry, and his ancestors had fled from France to Pennsylvania after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which had largely protected the Huguenots from religious persecution.Cisco, p. 170 He obtained a limited education in the state's rural schools."Kentucky Governor Joseph Desha". National Governors Association In July 1781, Desha's family relocated to Fayette County, Kentucky, and the following year, they settled in what was then known as Cumberland district near the present-day city of Gallatin, Tennessee.Morton, p. 14 Desha's younger brother, Robert, would later represent Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives."Desha, Joseph". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Like most frontier settlers, the Desha family frequently found themselves in conflict with American Indians after moving to Tennessee, and between the ages of 15 and 22, Joseph Desha volunteered in several military campaigns against them.Allen, p. 90 In one such campaign, two of his brothers were killed while fighting alongside him.Allen, p. 91 Following the war, Desha lived with William Whitley in the town of Crab Orchard, Kentucky.Young, p. 119 He married Margaret "Peggy" Bledsoe in December 1789. The couple had thirteen children over the course of their marriage.Powell, p. 28 In 1792, the family moved to Mason County, Kentucky, where Desha worked as a farmer. In 1794, he served in the Northwest Indian War under Lieutenant William Henry Harrison.Tucker, p. 191 He participated in General "Mad" Anthony Wayne's rout of the Indians at the August 20 Battle of Fallen Timbers.Young, p. 118
Desha entered politics in 1797, when he was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Kentucky House of Representatives. When the House debated the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798, he chaired the Committee of the Whole.Young, p. 120 He again served in the House from 1799 to 1802, and was elected to the Kentucky Senate from 1802 to 1807. Concurrent with his legislative career, he continued to serve in the state militia. On January 23, 1798, he was appointed as a major in the 29th Regiment.Trowbridge, "Kentucky's Military Governors" He was promoted to colonel on March 23, 1799, and on September 5, 1805, he was promoted to brigadier general and given command of the 7th Brigade of the Kentucky Militia. On December 24, 1806, he was made a major general, remaining with the 7th Brigade. He owned slaves.
Service in the House and the War of 1812 Desha was elected without opposition to the first of six consecutive terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1807.Doutrich, p. 23 Though he was known as a capable orator, he did not speak often, claiming it was best "to think much and speak but little." He opposed renewing the charter of the First Bank of the United States because most of the bank's investors were foreigners.Geisst, p. 16 Specifically, he was concerned about the fact King George III of Great Britain was a major shareholder. (It was thought by many that the British monarch was on the verge of madness at this time.) The bank's charter ultimately was not renewed in 1811.Geisst, p. 17
Early in his career, Desha advocated an adequate army to defend American territory from Great Britain and France. He supported President Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 and related enforcement legislation.Heidler and Heidler, p. 152 He was considered a war hawk, and House Speaker Henry Clay, a fellow Kentuckian and leader of the War Hawks in the House, selected him to serve on the House Foreign Relations Committee during the Twelfth Congress (1811–13). Consistent with Clay's expectations, Desha consistently supported the war measures brought before the House, including bills to arm merchant ships, increase the number of regular troops in the U.S. Army, and authorize President James Madison to accept volunteer units for military service. Proclaiming his dissatisfaction with Macon's Bill Number 1, he maintained that all embargoes and sanctions would fail as long as "the British have a Canada or a Nova Scotia on the continent of America", although he acknowledged the high cost in both money and lives that annexation of Canada would entail.White, p. 66 On June 4, 1812, he voted in favor of a declaration of war on Great Britain, officially beginning the War of 1812.
Desha returned to Kentucky after the congressional session. He responded to Governor Isaac Shelby's call for volunteers to serve in William Henry Harrison's campaign into Upper Canada. He was commissioned a major general and given command of the 2nd Division of Kentucky militia. The 3,500-man division, composed of the 2nd and 5th Brigades and the 11th Regiment, assembled on the Ohio River at Newport, Kentucky. They joined Harrison in forcing the British retreat from Detroit and held the Indian allies of the British off his left flank during the American victory at the Battle of the Thames on October 5, 1813. According to historian Bennett H. Young, Desha's old friend William Whitley had a premonition of his own death the night before the battle and gave his rifle and powderhorn to Desha, asking him to convey it to his widow, along with a message of his affection. Whitley was indeed killed in the fighting the following day.
Desha resumed his service in Congress at its next term. He was disappointed at the decision not to pursue the annexation of Upper Canada and to ignore British impressment of American mariners in favor of pursuing peace with the British. Ultimately, he was dissatisfied with the Treaty of Ghent that ended the war. When William Henry Harrison was being considered by Congress for the position of general-in-chief in late 1813 and early 1814, Desha opposed giving him the title because he claimed that Harrison had determined not to pursue British General Henry Procter following the Battle of the Thames and had only done so after strenuous urging by Isaac Shelby.Quimby, p. 288 Desha's charge was a contributing factor in Congress's decision to remove Harrison's name from a resolution of thanks for service in the Northwest Army and withhold from him a Congressional Gold Medal. Both Harrison and Shelby denied Desha's account, and as the issue began to damage Desha's reelection chances, he partially recanted his story.Quimby, pp. 288–289 He claimed that he had only told some friends that Harrison was wary of pursuit during a council of war held at Sandwich, Ontario, after the battle, but that he had not personally witnessed a disagreement over the pursuit between Harrison and Shelby.
Desha gradually became more conservative after his return to the House, consistently resisting expansion of the U.S. Navy.Risjord, p. 184 He also opposed Secretary of War James Monroe's request to maintain a standing peacetime army of 20,000 men.Wills, p. 372 Desha argued that a large standing army provided the advocates of a larger federal government with an excuse to increase taxes, and proposed that the standing army should consist of only 6,000 men. A coalition of Federalists and conservative Democratic-Republicans in the House united to adopt Desha's suggestion by a vote of 75–65.Risjord, p. 160 The version of the bill passed by the Senate, however, required a standing army of 15,000 men. The legislation was referred to a conference committee, which ultimately adopted a compromise of 10,000 men.
During the Fourteenth Congress (1815–17), he was the only member of the twelve-member Kentucky congressional delegation to oppose the Compensation Act of 1816.Schoenbachler, p. 35 The act, sponsored by fellow Kentuckian Richard Mentor Johnson, modified congressional compensation, paying each member a flat salary of $1,500 a year instead of a $6 per diem while Congress was in session. The measure proved extremely unpopular with the electorate. Every member of the Kentucky delegation that voted for the bill – excepting Johnson and Henry Clay, who were both extremely popular – lost his congressional seat, either because he did not seek reelection or because he was defeated by another candidate.Schoenbachler, p. 36
Desha served as chairman of the Committee on Public Expenditures during the Fifteenth Congress (1817–19). On March 14, 1818, he voted with the minority against a resolution introduced by South Carolina's William Lowndes asserting Congress's power to appropriate federal funds for the construction of internal improvements.Risjord, p. 200 He did not run for reelection in 1818.
Gubernatorial election of 1820