Harvey Magee Watterson (November 23, 1811 – October 1, 1891) was an American lawyer,newspaper editor, and politician.Watterson was what hisonly child Henry later described as an "undoubtingDemocrat of the schools ofJefferson andJackson",^[1] active inTennessee politics at both the state and federal level.

Watterson was born inBedford County, Tennessee. He pursuedclassical studies, studied law atCumberland College inPrinceton,Kentucky, was admitted to thebar, and commenced practice inShelbyville,Tennessee.^[2]

Watterson established and edited a newspaper in Shelbyville in 1831. He was a member of theTennessee House of Representatives in 1835.

Elected as aDemocrat to theTwenty-sixth andTwenty-seventh Congresses, representingTennessee'sninth district in theU.S. House of Representatives, Watterson served from March 4, 1839, to March 3, 1843.^[3] His son Henry described those years in his autobiography:^[1]

Immediately succeedingMr. Polk, and such a youth in appearance, he attracted instant attention. His father, my grandfather, allowed him a larger income than was good for him — seeing that theper diem then paid Congressmen was altogether insufficient — and during the earlier days of his sojourn in the national capital he cut a wide swath; his principal yokemate in the pleasures and dissipations of those times beingFranklin Pierce, at first a representative and then a senator from New Hampshire. Fortunately for both of them, they were whisked out of Washington by their families in 1843.

Watterson was sent by PresidentJohn Tyler on a diplomatic mission toBuenos Aires, where he remained for two years.^[1] From 1845 to 1847, he was a member of theTennessee Senate and served as speaker.

The editor and proprietor of theNashville Union from 1847 to 1851, Watterson was also the editor of theWashington Union starting in 1851. With his friend Pierce's election as President of the United States in 1853, theWashington Union became the "organ of the Administration."^[1] Again according to Watterson's son, the two's "rather conspicuous frivolity"^[1] resumed:

[T]he national capital was still rife with stories of their escapades. One that I recall had it that on a certain occasion returning from an excursion late at night my father missed his footing and fell into the canal that then divided the city, and that Pierce, after many fruitless efforts, unable to assist him to dry land, exclaimed, "Well, Harvey, I can't get you out, but I'll get in with you," suiting the action to the word. And there they were found and rescued by a party of passers, very well pleased with themselves.

Watterson was a delegate to theDemocratic National Convention atBaltimore, Maryland in 1860, and was apresidential elector on theDouglas ticket forthat year's presidential election. After theCivil War, he was appointed by PresidentAndrew Johnson as one of a commission to investigate the behavior in the states "lately in rebellion."

Watterson practiced law in Washington, D.C. for fourteen years. He moved toLouisville, Kentucky and was a member of the editorial staff of theLouisville Courier-Journal, the newspaper edited byhis son Henry.^[4]

Watterson died in Louisville on October 1, 1891. He is interred atCave Hill Cemetery.^[5]

• United States Congress."Harvey M. Watterson (id: W000208)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• October 1865 letter from Watterson to President Johnson, from the website of theGeorgia Historical Society

• 1811 births
• 1891 deaths
• Cumberland College (Princeton, Kentucky) alumni
• Democratic Party Tennessee state senators
• Democratic Party members of the Tennessee House of Representatives
• American newspaper editors
• Tennessee lawyers
• Lawyers from Washington, D.C.
• 1860 United States presidential electors
• Burials at Cave Hill Cemetery
• Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee
• Politicians from Louisville, Kentucky
• 19th-century American journalists
• American male journalists
• 19th-century American male writers
• Courier Journal people
• 19th-century American lawyers
• 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives
• 19th-century members of the Tennessee General Assembly

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