PART I: SETTING THE SCENE
"Brownlow's Whig (Jonesboro, TN) -- Oct. 7, 1840: pg.3"

In October of 1840, an election for President of the United States was gaining steam. In Jonesborough, TN, one "Parson" Brownlow who owned and edited the Jonesborough Whig, a newspaper, wrote an article about the electioneering. In this article he used the term 'Malungeon.' This mention of the word 'malungeon' is one of a very few early historical uses of the word that can be found in print.

First let us take a look at that piece of Brownlow's writings on the supposed historical Melungeons that we are given. The original was recovered from Brownlow's Whig reel 2, McClung Collection, Knoxville, TN. Here it is in it entirety:

"NEGRO SPEAKING! Oct. 7, 1840: pg.3 Jonesborough Whig

We have just learned, upon undoubted authority, that Gen. Combs, in his attempt to address the citizens of Sullivan County, on yesterday, was insulted, contradicted repeatedly, limited to one hour and a half, and most shamefully treated, and withall an effort was made, to get an impudent Malungeon from Washington Cty, a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian, and who has actually been speaking in Sullivan, in reply to Combs!

Gen. Combs, however, declined the honor of contending with Negroes and Indians _ said he had fought against the latter, but never met them in debate!

This is the party, reader, who are opposed to the gag-law, and to abolition! Bigotry and democracy in Sullivan county, well knowing that their days on earth are numbered, are rolling together their clouds of blackness and darkness, in the person of a free negroe, with the forlorn hope of obscuring the light that is beaming in glory, and a gladness, upon this country, through the able and eloquent speeches of Whig orators.

David Shaver replied to Gen. Combs, we are informed. This is the same Davy, Mr. Netherland gave an account of, some time since, and who, Col. James gave us the history of, in an address, at our late convention.

When Davy had finished, the big Democratic Negro came forward, and entertained the brethren. These two last speakers were an entertaining pair!

In this piece Brownlow notes something that happened during this election. A General Combs was speaking for the Whig Party and two men were speaking for the Democrats. One of these Democrats was David Shaver. It was this second man, unnamed, about whom Brownlow was aghast and whom he called a Malungeon.

Why do we use this one mention of the word 'malungeon' in our Melungeon research? Do we use this article to prove WHAT the term Melungeon means or do we use it to show that it was in common use in one particular area? I personally think that people today are using it in both ways. It means this and/or it was used there!

But, what did Brownlow mean when he used this term in writing about a 'Negro' who was speaking politically? Was this word one that was common in the time period and the place where it was used? Was it known outside of the area where Brownlow used it? Did its meaning change or the word change when it was used elsewhere? How can we know if the word was common and known outside of the area where Brownlow used it and what it meant?

Michael Korloff in his Fugitive Nation: The Secret History says that "In the post-civil war period anybody in the Melungeon area who was dark-skinned yet not obviously African American was called a Melungeon, including dark-skinned Mediterranean people and south Asians." That doesn't appear to be the meaning that Brownlow attached to the word. I think it is important that we know exactly what Brownlow's meaning was in 1840 before the Civil War.

I found Brownlow's writing hard to follow. The spelling and grammar check that my computer program uses also found it 'different' from its programmed uses of spellings and grammar. I had a difficult time getting it to accept Brownlow's particular type of rhetoric without changing it. To better understand this piece, the racial overtones of Brownlow's writings and to try to decide what he meant by using the word 'malungeon,' I needed to know more about the race question. I also needed to know more about Brownlow, the man, and editor, as well as the political times of this purported statement. By taking a look at Brownlow's life and other writings, as well as the history of the time period, we can bring the author of this NEGRO SPEAKING piece into clearer focus and understand more nearly what he intended in his writing. So I set out to do a little reading on these areas.

PART II: RACE
In her paper, Race, Face, and Place: On Becoming Color-Minded, Darlene Wilson writes that "When people ask me for a definition of 'Melungeon,' I like to say that it depends on the century in which someone chose to wear the word as a self-label. In the sixteenth-century, to say 'I'm a Melungeon' might have been a way of saying, 'Don't kill me, I'm not English!' In the seventeenth, it could easily have been a way of saying: 'Don't kill me, I'm not a Virginian or a Carolinian!' But, by the eighteenth-century, the lingo had so changed that to say, 'I'm a Melungeon,' probably meant: 'Don't kill me, I'm not White!' since it was, along Appalachia's ridge tops and river-bottoms, mostly 'Whites' who caused grief and misery for anyone who displayed anything other than a lily-white face and features."

Brownlow can certainly be counted as one of those 'whites' that caused grief. By the nineteenth century, his application of the term 'malungeon' changed the meaning of that term, yet again. We must read the term in the context of his time and place. It is this changeable feature of the word 'malungeon'/Melungeon, that is of interest here. We must ask this question; what did Brownlow mean when he used the term 'malungeon?' It is not what did the word Melungeon originally mean. It is not where did the word come from or any of the other meanings that it became over time.

N. Brent Kennedy author of The Melungeons: The Resurrection of a Proud People, wrote that Wilson's work at the University of Kentucky will, in his opinion, revolutionize the way that we look at race in the Appalachian mountains. "Wilson's premise -- well researched -- is that as Melungeons and other mixed race groups migrated into sparsely settled areas, they successfully "reinvented" themselves as "whites" thus making their way into the political process and, occasionally, even re-defining both the political process and even the definition of "white."

Michael Korloff appears to agree in the following statement "that before the French and Indian War people of different races were banding together in the face of repression… That's the true positive result from looking at this secret history: the example set by the fugitives in surviving the demand to assimilate." The Melungeons did band together but they also eventually assimilated. Some merged into the white community. Some assimilated into either the Native American or Black communities. Is it any wonder that some Melungeon researchers do not find their ancestors listed as 'M' or FPC (Free Person of Color) if this is indeed so? And I do believe it is.

Wilson was also fascinated by the other names and labels that, along with Melungeon, signified similar patterns of class and race-based persecution. She believes that "personal histories and local conflicts spawn micro-labels at the level of community so that a person called Melungeon in one community might, if he or she moved, be renamed a Brass Ankle or a Guinea or a Lumbee." I certainly agree. But I question Wilson's further statement that she is beginning to "suspect that even short geographic distances between us can mean 'a thousand vernacular miles' when localized by a ridge or two that serve as social and political barriers." I believe that this might indeed have been true in earlier time periods. I would estimate, however, that by 1840 if not earlier, the vernacular was peculiar to a region and not just to a single community within that region. I believe that by the 1800s in particular, ridges did not serve to divide as they had previously and that terms understood in one community would be understood in other nearby communities. The time of which we speak was 1840 and while communication was not as it is now, there was much communication back and forth. Washington, D.C. and Tennessee were in touch. Tennessee and the surrounding and nearby states were in touch. The political news being digested by the people of Jonesborough and surrounding areas was the same as that being read in Virginia and North Carolina. Ridges did not isolate this little corner of Tennessee, at least then.

PART III: PLACE
Certainly this 'impudent Malungeon' of Brownlow's piece was trying to work his way into the political process. In order to understand why Brownlow used this term for and about him, in connection with race and politics, we need to take a look at race, face and place in Jonesborough, TN. We also need to look at these things in the state of Tennessee and in fact in the United States at that particular time period. Brownlow's use of the word indicates an intimate knowledge of the term. This use shows that he knew the people. It is not likely a word that he had learned but a few weeks prior. It is more likely a word that had been in his vocabulary for some time.

It will be useful to know the location of both Elizabethton and Jonesborough. The closeness of the ties between this area and that of North Carolina, and Virginia show clearly here. Kentucky is not far away, nearer still to Sneedville and Newman's Ridge, a known refuge of the Melungeons where the word was also known. A word that is heard in one area is likely to be heard and understood in a near or even not so nearby area.

In 1840, news of the elections was known in all these areas. It is not unreasonable to believe that other news was also known. It is likely that the Negro speaker was known outside of Tennessee as well. On the following website page, we can note the nearness of these cities to both Virginia and North Carolina and not far from Kentucky. Even in the 1840 conditions of travel they are not far from each other. This map shows both Elizabethton and Jonesborough in 1895. Scroll to the far right and top of the page: http://fermi.jhuapl.edu/states/1895/tn_1895.jpg

As far as I can find, Brownlow used the term Malungeon ONLY once in all his writings. He spelled it with an 'a' and that is only one of several spellings of this word to be found in early documents. I find the use of many different spellings to be one that was fairly normal for that early time period. It would be more unusual were all the early mentions spelled the same. All the mentions of the word do indicate that the term was one that indicated the lowest of the low, a name given and meant to be derogatory. I wonder why he never used again.

From the July 1862, The Ladies' Repository, which was published by the Methodist Episcopal Church, North in Cincinnati, Ohio, we can find information on the estimable William G. "Parson" Brownlow. Brownlow was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church - North and a circuit-riding preacher. I think this is interesting in and of itself. His northern leanings in some instances combined with his southern upbringing and belief in slavery come into play in much of what Brownlow wrote. Parson Brownlow was born in Wythe County, Virginia, August 29, 1805. How far away are Wythe and his childhood from Jonesborough and his adulthood? Not all that far!

Wythe County was formed in 1790 from Montgomery County. The original boundary lines for Wythe County included all of Carroll and Grayson Counties, part of Smyth County, most of Tazewell County, parts of Bland and Buchanan Counties, a small portion of Giles County, part of Pulaski County, McDowell County, parts of Mercer, Wyoming, Boone, Logan, and Mingo Counties. The latter six (6) counties are now in West Virginia. Wythe County today shares boundary lines with Smyth County to the west, Bland County to the north, Pulaski County to the east, and Carroll and Grayson Counties to the south.

Most consider that the Melungeon counties of Virginia, are Scott, and Lee, only a short distance away. To understand how these counties were formed, and to see how close they are to the areas of Tennessee where this 'impudent malungeon' spoke as well as how they interconnect, see the following Color Maps of Southwest Virginia County Changes on these two sites:

www.rootsweb.com/~valee/census/map1.htm
www.rootsweb.com/~varussel/map1.htm

We are looking at a region here, not an isolated community. Brownlow was a member of these interrelated communities. He grew up in Wythe. He worked in Washington County, Virginia before going to Tennessee. As a circuit riding preacher, he traveled these areas.

PART IV: BROWNLOW'S 'FACE'
Brownlow was left an orphan in early childhood when both of his parents died. His mother's relatives brought him up. As a result, he worked hard as a boy. By the age of eighteen, he was apprenticed to a house carpenter in Abingdon, Virginia where he learned the trade of carpentry. The town of Abingdon in Washington Co., VA was chartered in 1778. It is the oldest town west of the Blue Ridge Mountains and as such, it was a center of activity and quite lively. Brownlow would most likely have heard the word 'malungeon' and known its meaning in both Wythe and Abingdon nearby.

His education was sporadic and imperfect. By the 'sweat of his brow,' he earned knowledge of most of the branches of common school education. What that education consisted of would be interesting to know. In general, common (public) schools at this point in time were in bad shape. They were typically in session only four months of the year because of the agrarian society and the need to have children helping out at home. They were poorly attended, and basically taught by whomever was available.

Academic qualifications of teachers ranged from bare ability to read to a college education. Teaching meant memorizing facts; teachers used large-group instruction, choral responses, and harsh corporal punishment. Using only the most basic resources, a slate, chalk, and a few books, teaching and learning consisted mainly of the three R's, literacy, penmanship, arithmetic, and “good manners.” It seems to me that Brownlow missed the 'good manners' lessons.

It would be interesting to find what was included among those few books in the time period and area where Brownlow was schooled. But early curriculum materials were based on the Old and New Testaments for the most part. Pay of $30.00 per month was not much of a motivator for teachers to seek out an education. Few colleges provided instruction for teachers. Normal schools, teaching people to be teachers, were only beginning in the north in 1840. It was much later that these schools became common in the south. Suffice it to say that Brownlow's early education was indeed imperfect.

After learning a trade, he expanded his schooling. Brownlow said describing himself that: "I have been a laboring man all my life long, and have acted upon the Scriptural maxim of eating my bread in the sweat of my brow. Though a Southern man in feeling and principle, I do not think it degrading to a man to labor, as do most of the Southern disunionists." Again, the dichotomy within the man shows.

We do not know how this further education was accomplished since he did labor. It may have been by tutorial or self-study. I can find no documents showing enrollment for Brownlow in any documented school of higher education. After having a religious experience at a camp meeting, he entered the traveling Methodist ministry in 1826 at 21 years of age. No schooling was required of him to do so, just the desire to serve the church. He was a delegate to the General Conference of that ministry in 1832. The years spent in the ministry were years of study and improvement as well as of labor. Again we do not know how or where this study took place.

After ten years of circuit riding he married Eliza O'Brien and settled in Elizabethton, Tennessee where he started the Elizabethton Whig. I know of one son of this union, John Bell Brownlow, who was a Lt. Colonel in the Civil War, an editor and writer, and civil servant. (Note that Bell is considered to be a common Melungeon surname.) Though he stopped the pastoral work, he remained an ordained local preacher in the Church, and performed much ministerial service. It was the time period that allowed a Methodist-Episcopal minister to have racist beliefs and to act upon them.

The Ladies Repository also notes that "Mr. Brownlow is never neutral on any subject, is not over-fastidious in the use of language, and loves to pile up epithets denunciatory and objurgatory upon his opponents, "all and singular." To objurgate is to give a harsh rebuke. A look at some of his other writings along with this 'Negro Speaks' article proves he was very capable of doing so.

The Repository also says that a: "recent writer, who has drawn a portrait of him equally graphic and true, says that he exhibits a union of high moral and intellectual qualities with an almost unaccountable deficiency of that sense of the fitness of things which we call good taste. Thus in his personal habits he is singularly pure; he never tastes liquor, never has used tobacco, never has seen a play at a theater, and never has dealt a pack of cards -- a remarkable record for a Southerner." Racism was not then thought of as unchristian. It is obvious that Brownlow lacked 'good manners' and it is certainly easy to understand that he showed poor taste.

That writer continued saying that "but when he opens his lips his language, although without positive profanity -- except when quoting other men's -- is often so grating to polite ears that it saves sensitive listeners from blushes only because it irresistibly provokes to laughter." So even in 1862 we learn that much of Brownlow's speech or writing was not overly fastidious according to his own readers. We find that he was thought to cause merriment because of this. This is an unusual insight for this period of time when neither politics nor religion was thought of as 'funny'!

The writer continues in this vein saying, "He confesses that his chief natural gift is in piling epithets upon the heads of scoundrels. He knows no pleasure equal to discovering some new rascal or some new rascality of an old offender and printing the name and facts in capital letters in the next Knoxville Whig." But according to the writer, he is a man whom a thorough Northern training, moral and intellectual, would have built up into a dignified, impressive, and splendid character.

Now why then was this 'impudent Malungeon' not named since we are told that Brownlow loved to name names? Perhaps because in reality he was not a Melungeon at all? Without knowing his name, we have no way to answer this question. We need to know what Brownlow meant by the term that he used to describe this speaker. We can know that 'Malungeon' was not a 'nice' term in 1840, to say the least. It was used in a derogatory manner. We are building toward a definition of 'Malungeon,' in 1840.

During the pending canvass for secession in Tennessee, a report was circulated that Brownlow was soon coming out in favor of the movement. When a rabid secessionist in Arkansas wrote wanting to know how long before Brownlow's announcement might be expected, Brownlow replied with a pretty fair sample of his more intense writing:

"I have your letter of August 30, 1860, and hasten to let you know the precise time when I expect to come out and formally announce that I have joined the Democratic party. When the sun shines at midnight and the moon at midday; when man forgets to be selfish, or Democrats lose their inclination to steal; when Nature stops her onward march to rest, or all the water-courses in America flow up stream; when flowers lose their odor, and trees shed no leaves; when birds talk, and beasts of burden laugh; when damned spirits swap hell for heaven with the angels of light, and pay them the boot in mean whisky; when impossibilities are in fashion, and no proposition is too absurd to be believed, you may credit the report that I have joined the Democrats," he wrote. Would we expect any less oratory against an 'impudent' black/Indian?

William G. Brownlow was a Virginia farm boy with little formal education who became one of America's most picturesque editors. He was a tall, robust, intense man, a carpenter. He was an itinerant Methodist preacher before getting into politics by opposing nullification by South Carolina prior to secession of the South from the Union. He became an editor in 1839, when he established a Whig newspaper in Elizabethton, TN, known as the "Elizabethton (Tenn.) Whig." The Jonesboro move came soon after and copies of this Jonesborough paper are available in the Library of Congress from May 6, 1840 through April 19, 1849. This term, Jonesborough Whig, is clearer in comparison to Brownlow's Whig. He did not change the name of the paper until he was in Knoxville. The piece in question was then published in the Jonesborough Whig on Oct. 7, 1840.

As an example of personal journalism, The Knoxville Whig, edited by William Gannoway Brownlow, Tennessee's first Reconstruction governor, the Whig is superb. (A portrait of Governor Brownlow can be found here: www.state.tn.us/sos/statelib/techsvs/photos/brownlow.htm)

Brownlow's Whig followed the example he set in the Jonesborough Whig. Brownlow used his newspaper as a tool for the Whig party. He also wished to further his own religious beliefs, and the interests of himself and his friends. While he was a moral man, at least for the times, he was quite capable of letting his passions reign supreme. He was of such belief that letting these interests get in the way of absolute truth would not have been a problem. He did not hesitate to espouse his beliefs in the rights of slavery and to denounce anyone with any 'NEGRO' ancestry. And his racism in the time and place was the norm.

"Parson" Brownlow's writing, like his preaching, was brilliant. But he was often coarse and abusive. His newspapers were like no other. He practiced his mottoes "Cry Aloud and Spare Not" with great relish. The 'Negro Speaking' is but one example. His Whig, with 12,000 circulation in the 1850s, was the largest weekly in the South. It is quite likely that it was read and handed down, and that it reached beyond Tennessee, certainly into North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky, making its readership greater than the number given.

Brownlow was a formidable man who violently opposed secession. And yet he believed in slavery. He used his Whig to lead the east Tennessee "Rebellion" against the Confederacy in 1861. He stirred up so much trouble that he was arrested and sent to jail. Brownlow had simply continued his rhetoric from Jonesborough into Knoxville. If we want to understand why this was possible, we need to understand the history leading up to this 1840 piece. We need to find a deeper meaning in Brownlow's rhetoric, which called a Negro a 'Malungeon,' or a Melungeon a Negro and Indian. Brownlow was not alone in his beliefs. Let us start with the politics of the time.

PART V: THE POLITICS
Andrew Jackson's election to the presidency in 1828 began this period of reform. During the 32 years that followed, the Democratic Party controlled the White House for all but 8 years. Twice the opposition candidate won the election, only to die soon after taking office. To assume that the Jacksonians faced no effective opposition would be a mistake. It took a number of years for Jackson's opponents to coalesce into an effective national political organization. By the mid-1830s the Whig party, as the opposition came to be known, was able to battle the Democratic Party on almost equal terms throughout the country. By 1840, the Whigs were strong enough to oust a Democratic president, Martin Van Buren, from the White House.

The Whig Party had been formed in 1836 out of the National Republican Party. The leaders of the Whigs were John Quincy Adams and Henry Clay. Adams and Clay were nationalists who supported internal improvements and moral reforms. They desired a gradual westward expansion along with economic growth and modernization. The Whigs were based in New England and New York. They were made up mostly of northern middle-class people, market-oriented farmers, and native-born skilled workers. In 1836, the Whigs broke into several factions, but generally united against Jackson's policies of the last eight years. They especially disliked Martin Van Buren, Jackson's hand-chosen successor. We again have this dichotomy between north and south which seems to be a constant in Brownlow's life. Brownlow, a southerner with southern beliefs, joined a party of mostly northerners. He opposed the southern state's secession from the United States while supporting slavery.

In 1840, William Henry Harrison was running for the Presidency of the United States. Harrison's claim to fame rests not on his administration. He died of pneumonia only one month after his inauguration. It was this strange campaign, by which in 1840 he attained the high office that leads to that fame. He was a minor military hero, having won the Battle of Tippecanoe in the War of 1812. He rode to glory by saying nothing (General Mum, his critics called him). His party, the Whigs, capitalized on a propaganda blunder by their Democratic opponents to proclaim Harrison a simple man used to living in a log cabin.

The Whigs, seeking victory at almost any price, passed over Henry Clay, who was their true leader. They chose the aging General W. H. Harrison, instead. The Whig Party was a New England/New York political party, so to appeal to the South, they chose states’ rights southern Democrat, John Tyler, as his running mate. The Whigs were convinced that they could win by blaming the severe economic depression of the time on the policies of President Martin Van Buren.

They also derided “Van” for his alleged aristocratic manners. They commanded Harrison to be silent on the issues. The party then refused to present a platform, but they waged a rousing campaign, using the slogan “Tippecanoe and Tyler too.” Taking advantage of a sneering Democratic reference to Harrison as a man content to sit in his log cabin sipping hard cider, the Whigs’ propaganda transformed the Virginia aristocrat into a poor farmer.

This was an amazing piece of politics. They pandered to the prejudices of the people. It won them an election. The 1840 presidential campaign was, without a doubt, one of the most exciting, and colorful. It was certainly the dirtiest presidential campaign in American history. And Brownlow was right in the middle of it all in his little corner of Tennessee, surrounded by both North Carolina and Virginia and not far from Kentucky, a big frog in a little pond.

Harrison was college-educated and brought up on a plantation with a work force of some 200 slaves. Yet his Democratic opponents had already dubbed him the "log cabin" candidate, who was happiest on his backwoods farm sipping hard cider. Harrison's supporters enthusiastically seized on this image. They promoted it in a number of colorful ways. They distributed barrels of hard cider, passed out campaign hats and placards, and mounted eight log cabins on floats. Harrison's campaign brought many innovations to the art of electioneering.

For the first time, a presidential candidate spoke out on his own behalf. On the morning of Saturday, June 6, 1840, before a Columbus, Ohio, crowd of 25,000, Harrison gave the first campaign speech ever delivered by a candidate. All previous candidates had chosen to let others speak for them. Beside the "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too," slogan, Harrison's backers also coined these other first campaign slogans: "Van, Van is a used up man," and "Matty's policy, 12 1/2 cents a day and french soup, Our policy, 2 Dollars a day and Roast Beef."

For that 1840 time period, it is more than amazing that Harrison's supporters staged log cabin raisings. They erected a 50-by-100-foot cabin on Broadway in New York City. They also sponsored barbecues. At the barbecue in Wheeling, Virginia (now West Virginia), a crowd devoured 360 hams, 26 sheep, 20 calves, 1500 pounds of beef, 8000 pounds of bread, 1000 pounds of cheese, and 4500 pies. Harrison's campaign managers even distributed whiskey bottles in the shape of log cabins, filled by the E. C. Booz Distillery of Philadelphia. The word "booze" was added to the American vocabulary. As an aside, these bottles empty or no are now very collectible.

It was a flamboyant time. And the news in Washington became the news in the now, West Virginia, as well as in Virginia itself and Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. Communication flourished during this time period. The Whig Party while defending their man as the "peoples' candidate," heaped an unprecedented avalanche of personal abuse on his Democratic opponent. The Whigs accused President Van Buren of eating off of golden plates and using lace tablecloths. They wrote that he drank French wines, while perfuming his whiskers, and wearing a corset.

The Whigs in Congress denied Van Buren an appropriation of $3665 to repair the White House. They claimed that he would turn the executive mansion into a "palace as splendid as that of the Caesar's." The object of this rough and colorful kind of campaigning was to show that the Democratic candidate harbored aristocratic leanings. Harrison was shown as truly representing the people. This type of personal abuse seeped down from national politics into all the byways of America, including Jonesborough, TN and Brownlow's Jonesborough Whig.

It is important that we recognize the huge difference this campaign had on every facet of American life, the press included. An emphasis on symbols and imagery over ideas and substance was begun with the political race for President in 1840. All future political races were changed. Harrison offered no indication "about what he thinks now, or what he will do hereafter," in this race. And the people in Jonesborough, and in fact the whole of Tennessee and surrounding states knew what was going on. They in turn followed suit.

In the 1840 ELECTION FOR THE FOURTEENTH TERM, 1841-1845, all 15 of Tennessee's Electors voted for William Henry Harrison of Ohio, and John Tyler of Virginia. The people of Jonesborough knew about the elections, they knew who was running. They knew where they came from and what was being decided. This was National news and they were a part of the nation. They were not isolated from the main stream communities and what they knew would also be known elsewhere. In 1840, ridges were not divisive and communities were sharing information.

The new campaign techniques produced an overwhelming victory. The voter turnout in 1840 was the highest it had ever been in a presidential election. Nearly 80 percent of eligible voters cast ballots. The log cabin candidate for president won 53 percent of the popular vote and a landslide victory in the Electoral College. And he had no platform and told no one what he believed or what he would do. The use of rhetoric and abusiveness replaced civility just as symbols and imagery replaced ideas and substance.

It is no wonder that Harrison won. The Democrats of that time, favored localism and freedom from modern institutions such as banks, factories, and reform movements. They had a commitment to states' rights, a limited government, and an agrarian ideal. The Democrats believed in westward expansion by the acquisition of new territories. They were made up of three groups of people: Northern artisans who felt threatened by industry as well as farmers hurt by tariffs and immigrants who desired to keep their own traditions. The Southerners and Westerners in favor of land acquisition were also a part of the Democratic Party. In 1836 they threw their support behind Andrew Jackson's successor, Martin Van Buren.

The Liberty Party with James C. Birney as its head was the political 'Third Party' at this time. The Liberty Party took votes away from both the Democrats and the Whigs, but the Whigs drew support from former Republicans. The Liberty Party was the political outgrowth of the growing anti-slavery movement. It began in 1839, when the movement broke up into conservative and radical parts. The radicals followed William Lloyd Garrison, who demanded the immediate ending of slavery, denounced the U.S. Constitution, and allowed female activists into the movement. The conservatives formed the Liberty Party and sought to end slavery gradually through traditional, political channels.

All of this was known in Jonesborough and throughout the region of North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky. All participated in this 1840 election with equal abandon. All knew what the other knew. Communication while still not modern was available to all. And into all of this came 'Parson' Brownlow, his Jonesborough Whig, and his most unusual claim to fame. He frequently and freely announced his views. He made one mention of one word, 'malungeon.' He followed the national tradition of heaping an unprecedented avalanche of personal abuse on his opponents. He and they knew what the term 'malungeon' meant because it was a word that was familiar in the community and in the region. His readers were also familiar with the term or he would not have used it.

Brownlow was an ardent supporter of the Union. He was a fiercely vocal opponent of the abolition of slavery. No other chief executive of a former Confederate state was both. According to many of his admirers, the influence of slavery caused this opposition though it was likely done unconsciously to him. His friends thought that this opposition defrauded him of his just rank in the scale of true nobility and honorable fame. In Brownlow's Jonesborough Whig, he wrote: "We have just learned, upon undoubted authority, that Gen. Combs, in his attempt to address the citizens of Sullivan County, on yesterday, was insulted, contradicted repeatedly, limited to one hour and a half, and most shamefully treated." I believe that this General Combs might be Elijah Combs. It might be interesting to track down General Combs and the others mentioned in Brownlow's writings. I will leave that for others. I did find one thing of interest in this respect though.

The 1898 Dickey Diary Interview of John S. Combs names Jesse, Jackson and Elijah, Jr., stating that "Elijah lived in Perry. He was General of the Militia." Elijah was residing in Tennessee by 1798, according to the birth location of his son, Jesse; in Virginia ca 1799, according to the birth location of daughter, Nancy and in Kentucky by 1803, according to the birth locations of his remaining children. If this is the General Combs of Brownlow's writings, then Combs came from Kentucky into Tennessee to speak. This would show the interconnectedness of the area at that time. I would like confirmation of this belief or in lieu, more information on just which Gen. Combs mentioned here that this might be. Genealogical data on this Elijah Combs family can be found at: www.combs-families.org/combs/families/c-elijah8.htm

Brownlow continues his harangue with: "to get an impudent Malungeon from Washington Cty, a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian, and who has actually been speaking in Sullivan, in reply to Combs!" Now knowing how prone Brownlow was to rhetoric should we believe that this 'impudent Malungeon,' was in actuality a Melungeon? Or did Brownlow actually mean he was a Negro/half Indian? Or perhaps this 'malungeon' was just simply someone who opposed Combs views and Brownlow's. Certainly Brownlow's use of the term 'malungeon' was meant to be disrespectful and hurtful.

PART VI: SOME CONCLUSIONS and PROOFS
I believe that we can firmly establish as fact that the term 'Malungeon' was being used in this 1840 time period in Jonesborough, TN as a word of disrespect. With the proximity of Virginia and North Carolina and the not too far off Kentucky, it is quite likely that the word was known there as well. Knowing Brownlow's belief in the RIGHT of slavery and its concomitant belief in the inferiority of anyone with even one drop of Negro blood, Malungeon was likely to have been even worse than just a term of disrespect. Some have proposed that Brownlow's SINGLE USE of the word, coupled with the term scoundrel, give us the true meaning of the word Melungeon. There has been a THEORY proposed that the term comes from the word MALENGINE, an Old English word found in a variety of places including Spenser's Faerie Queen.

It has been said that this work would have been available to educated people in the area at this time. Knowing the state of education and the fact that most of the educated were either politicians, or lawyers, I wonder if it really would have been a part of the 'common school experience' in which Brownlow took part. The word does look similar to the word Melungeon and this is a very nice but perhaps too easy assumption based upon the spelling of the term and its meaning. The two terms are not pronounced alike. It is impossible at this time to know exactly what the origin of the term Melungeon is. But in this 1840 instance, at least, I believe that we can prove that 'malungeon' did not mean the same thing as the word 'malengine.' It did not mean a scoundrel in 1840. There are several reasons that I believe this to be so.

First, according to C S Everett in the Appalachian Journal magazine:
“In the Jonesboro Whig and Independent Journal of October 7, 1840, Brownlow, later the editor of the Knoxville Whig, used the word “Melungeon” to refer to a presumably half Indian/half Negro from “Washington City”: “[A]nd withal an effort was made, to get an impudent Melungeon…a scoundrel who is half Negro and half Indian, and who has actually been speaking in Sullivan…” Over the course of the next two weeks, Brownlow referred to the same individual as “the big Indian Negro,” “the Negro,” “impudent Free Negro”- “a miserable loafer” who was “a half-breed Cherokee Indian” and a “half-breed Cherokee Negro.”

In the October 28th edition of the Whig, Brownlow reported: “[a] half Negro and half Indian has been speaking to the citizens of Sullivan on the subject of politics! This surely is a great insult and ought not to be tolerated…we have seen and heard the vile scamp. And he was put up by the Democratic party, and by that party sustained, and now apologized for, on the ground of his having some Indian blood…”

Everett continues:
“In a final affront a week later, the Whig referred to the speaker as an “infamous and discipated [sic] Mulatto” as well as a “kinky headed villain,” while also acknowledging that the Sentinel [the Democratic opposition paper] referred to the individual as “part Indian…" In Brownlow’s language, the connotations are unambiguous -- “Malungeon” unequivocally meant “black-Indian.” Again symbols and imagery over ideas and substance seem to come into play in this usage.

Tim Hashaw on the Gowen Foundation site notes that "Today’s political mudslinging is tame in comparison to the inflammatory rhetoric used by politicians in Brownlow’s day." And certainly the politics shown in this piece as well as other examples of Brownlow's writing confirms that. Brownlow's effort was to taint and besmirch his party's opponent -- this impudent Black/Indian -- as inferior based on his ancestry. Obviously Brownlow was repeating the term in a context understood by his readers in Tennessee, North Carolina, Virginia and Kentucky. Malungeon equaled black-Indian.

Brownlow knew what the term 'malungeon' meant and what it meant to his readers. He used it in a manner common to his time and place because he had known what it meant. So did his readers. He intended it to be a racist term and he used it in a derogatory manner. I believe we can say with firm belief based upon the evidence that the term Malungeon was known in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky in 1840. It appears that at this time period this term meant anyone of black/Indian ancestry, scoundrel or no.

The addition of the word 'scoundrel' added to Brownlow's argument would be superfluous IF indeed Melungeon just meant a scoundrel, a malengine. To call someone a Malungeon AND a scoundrel would in essence be saying that they were a "Scoundrel Scoundrel," if this were indeed so. To say that they were an 'evil Malungeon' or a villainous Melungeon would be the same, a repetition in terms, if malengine were the meaning of Malungeon in 1840. In the Oct. 28th edition no mention of Malungeon was made, but Black/Indian was and we do know that the term, Melungeon, was a slur denoting the addition of 'Negro' ancestry to the bloodlines as in some of the other written records that have been found.

Secondly a few years after this time period, Price in his notes shows "The Knoxville Register, Knoxville, Tennessee, Sept. 6, 1848. Carries a letter from a correspondent of the Louisville Examiner discussing the Melungeons and giving the Portuguese theory and suggesting an Indian-Negro admixture (Price 1966, 2 n2)." No mention here of scoundrels.

But finally and most importantly, in the discussions that I have read about this little piece, it is most frequently called "The Impudent Malungeon," and no one has mentioned that the actual HEADLINE for it is NEGRO SPEAKING, not "Malungeon Speaking", or that 'impudent malungeon.' I think that this title that Brownlow used can finally settle this. There are many theories as to the origin of the term Melungeon. I believe that the best use of this 'Whig mention' is to prove that the term was KNOWN and likely common in North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and Kentucky in 1840. I also believe that this proves that at least in 1840, the term Malungeon meant someone who is half Negro and half Indian or at least 'tainted' by 'Negro' blood. It was used here in a derogatory way to defame this Negro speaker.

It did not mean scoundrel although some Melungeons may well have fit this description. The meaning of Melungeon was likely common in 1840 and did not change when used elsewhere although other terms may have, as Wilson has said, been substituted for it. Melungeon in 1840 was a racist term denoting a person who had black ancestry. The meaning of the word had apparently changed again.

I don't think any one person has yet satisfactorily found HOW it came to mean that or where it came from originally. I have my favorites of course, as do others. Again, I would love to see someone knowledgeable in linguistics give this word a whirl. And should this happen, I would be delighted to change my opinion.

Nancy Sparks Morrison

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