U.S. Representative Henry A. Wise served as a U.S. Representative from 1833 to 1844. He was elected Representative in 1832 as a
Jackson Democrat. To settle this election, Wise successfully fought a
duel with his opponent. Wise was re-elected in 1834, but then broke with the Jackson administration over the rechartering of the
Bank of the United States. He became a
Whig but was sustained by his constituents. Wise was re-elected as a Whig in 1836, 1838, and 1840. While in Congress, Wise was the "faithful" opponent of
John Quincy Adams in the latter's attempt to end the
gag rule and force Congress to respond to the many petitions asking it to end
slavery in the District of Columbia. Adams described Wise in his diary as "loud, vociferous, declamatory, furibund, he raved about the hell-hound of abolition". On February 24, 1838, Wise served as the second to
William J. Graves of
Kentucky during the latter's duel with
Jonathan Cilley of
Maine at the
Bladensburg Dueling Grounds, in which Cilley was mortally wounded. He later wrote an account of the event that was published by his son John in the
Saturday Evening Post in 1906. In 1840 Wise was active in securing the nomination and election of
John Tyler as
Vice President on the Whig ticket. Tyler succeeded to the presidency and then broke with the Whigs. Wise was one of a small group of Congress members, known derisively as the "Corporal's Guard," who supported Tyler during his struggles with the Whigs and was re-elected as a Tyler Democrat in 1842. Tyler nominated Wise three times as
U.S. Minister to
France, but the Senate did not confirm the nomination.
U.S. Minister to Brazil In 1844, Tyler appointed Wise as
U.S. Minister (ambassador) to
Brazil. Wise resigned as Representative to take up this office. He served from 1844 to 1847. Wise's plantation comprised 400 acres, and only about half were productive. Wise grew corn, oats, and
sweet potatoes. Wise also raised livestock and maintained peach and pear orchards. His farm most likely profited $500 a year.
Governor of Virginia Wise returned to the United States in 1847 and resumed legal practice. He identified with the Jacksonian Democratic Party and was active in politics. A delegate to the
Virginia Constitutional Convention of 1850, Wise opposed any reforms, insisting that the protection of slavery came first. In the statewide election of 1855, Wise was elected
Governor of Virginia as a Democrat, defeating
Know-Nothing candidate
Thomas S. Flournoy. He was the
33rd governor of Virginia, serving from 1856 to 1860, and the last
Eastern Shore governor until
Ralph Northam was elected
in 2017.
Wise County, Virginia, was named after him when it was established in 1856. Although he was visibly and unapologetically a defender of slavery, he opposed the imposition of the pro-slavery
Lecompton Constitution on
Kansas Territory, as residents of Kansas had not approved it: "And why impose this Constitution of a minority on a majority?
Cui bono? ["Who would that benefit?"] Does any Southern man imagine that this is a practicable or sufferable way of making a slave State?" He said he found it humiliating that Brown's ragtag group could take
Harpers Ferry, Virginia, and hold it for even one hour. He traveled from Richmond to Harpers Ferry immediately and interviewed him at length. After returning to Richmond, in a widely reported speech, he praised Brown, However, Governor Wise did many things to augment rather than reduce tensions: by insisting he was tried in Virginia and turning Charles Town into an armed camp full of state militia units. "At every juncture he chose to escalate rather than pacify sectional animosity." and there was an unfunded project to kidnap Wise and sequester him at sea, on a boat, until Brown was released. Advertisements promoting Wise as a presidential candidate started to appear immediately after Brown's execution. John Brown's body had to pass through Philadelphia on the way to his burial site at the
John Brown Farm, near
Lake Placid, New York. As this provoked indignation among the many Southern medical students studying there, Wise sent them a telegram, assuring them of a hearty welcome if they came to Richmond or other Southern cities to complete their education. So many accepted that there was a special train to take two hundred of them from Philadelphia to Richmond, where they were addressed by Wise and enjoyed an elegant banquet.
Secession crisis In 1857, during the incoming Presidency of
James Buchanan, Wise served as one of Buchanan's chief Southern advisors. Other Southern advisors to Buchanan included Senator
John Slidell of Louisiana and Robert Tyler of Virginia. Tyler was the son of President
John Tyler. Buchanan, although a
Pennsylvania Democrat, held Southern sympathies, was a strict constructionist and detested abolitionists and "Black Republicans". During the secession crisis of 1860–61, Wise was a fervent advocate of immediate secession by Virginia. He was a member of the
Virginia secession convention of 1861. Frustrated with the convention's inaction through mid-April, Wise helped plan actions by Virginia state militia to seize the Federal Arsenal at
Harpers Ferry and the
Gosport Navy Yard in
Norfolk. These actions were not authorized by the incumbent Governor
Letcher or the militia's commanders. These plans were pre-empted by the
bombardment of Fort Sumter on April 12–14 and Lincoln's call on April 15 for troops to suppress the rebellion. After a further day and a half of the debate, the convention voted for secession 85 representatives in favor and 55 against. On April 17, during the latter stage of the debate, Wise irrupted into the debate a gun in hand, declared Virginia was now at war with the United States, and that he would kill anyone who would try to shoot him for treason. •
1850: Wise was elected delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1850 •
1855: Wise was elected governor of Virginia with 53.25% of the vote, defeating Thomas Stanhope Flournoy. •
1861: Wise was elected delegate to the Secession Convention of 1861 ==Civil War==