Opinion: Householder's expulsion not unprecedented in Ohio

The Ohio House of Representatives has expelled Representative Larry Householder, former Speaker and Perry County Republican. Householder decried the action as "unprecedented" as he argued to save his seat.

Householder’s expulsion was not unprecedented. One hundred, seventy-four years earlier, in January 1857, the Ohio House expelled a promising young politician, Hamilton County Democrat John P. Slough.

Slough slugged Republican Rep. Darius Cadwell after Cadwell derided one of Slough’s resolutions as "foolish." Exclaiming, "No man calls me a fool," Slough planted his fist above Cadwell’s left eye.

Many Americans today shake their heads over the seemingly unbridgeable divide that separates Republican and Democratic politicians. But today’s partisanship pales in comparison to the animosity between Republicans and Democrats in the late 1850s.  Both parties fervently believed that the other party wished to destroy the liberties upon which the country had been founded. Both parties fought, violently at times, to defend their rights.

The Ohio House named three Republicans and two Democrats to investigate the Slough-Cadwell altercation. Upon reviewing the evidence, the three Republicans urged the House to vindicate "its outraged honor and dignity" by punishing Slough. The two Democrats refused to pass judgment on their colleague.

A week later, before galleries packed with spectators, the Ohio House of Representatives voted 71-32 to expel Slough. Only one Democrat voted for expulsion.  Only one Republican voted against the punishment.

Ohio’s Democratic newspapers howled with outrage at the blatantly partisan result. The Cincinnati Daily Enquirer complained that Slough had been treated with a "bitter and revengeful spite." The Holmes County Republican replied that the Democratic legislators had coddled "one of its political bullies" by backing Slough.

Slough believed that gentlemen could not ignore insults without losing the respect of their family, friends and colleagues. Gentlemen had to respond to insults, even if that meant resorting to physical chastisement.

The Republicans did not agree. An event the previous year had hardened their resolve to punish Democrats who relied on political violence. On May 22, 1856, Democratic Congressman Preston Brooks savagely caned Republican Senator Charles Sumner on the floor of the United States Senate. Sumner had recently denounced Brooks’ uncle, Congressman Andrew Butler, for his blind loyalty to "the harlot, slavery." Brooks beat Sumner senseless in defense of southern honor.

Ohio’s Republican representatives regarded Slough as an imitator of "bully Brooks" and refused to overlook his indiscretion. Slough’s expulsion clearly signaled their determination to confront Democratic excesses as the nation began its descent into civil war.

The Hamilton County Democratic Executive Committee chose Slough to run for his vacant seat. Much as Rep. Householder claimed his expulsion disenfranchised Perry County voters, the Cincinnati Daily Enquirer urged its readers to avoid disenfranchisement by returning their expelled legislator.

Slough lost the election by 17 votes. Humiliated by his dismissal from the Ohio House and his rejection by Hamilton County voters, he left Cincinnati in June 1857, never to return except for brief visits.

After the Civil War, President Andrew Johnson appointed Slough as Chief Justice of the New Mexico Territorial Supreme Court. He enjoyed initial success on the bench, but soon ran afoul of the territory’s Republicans. In December 1867, Republican legislators in the Territorial Council passed resolutions calling for his removal from office.

The humiliation he had experienced in Ohio 10 years earlier flooded back. Slough sought out the legislator who introduced the resolutions, William Rynerson, and crudely denounced him as a scoundrel, thief and coward. Rynerson responded by shooting Slough dead in the barroom of a Santa Fe hotel.

Larry Householder tried to point out the outlandish nature of his expulsion by noting that the last time the House expelled a legislator, Ohioans had traveled in "buggies and carriages." Householder’s description evokes an almost quaint time. But Ohio politics in 1857 were far from quaint. Partisanship ruled, politicians insulted their opponents, and an increasingly fevered political scene cost John Slough his political career and eventually his life.

Richard L. Miller is a native of Cincinnati who now lives in Seattle. He is the author of "John P. Slough: The Forgotten Civil War General."