Thomas Dickens Arnold Thomas Dickens Arnold ( May 3 , 1798 – May 26 , 1870 ) was an American politician who served two terms in the United States House of Representatives , representing Tennessee ' s 2nd district from 1831 to 1833 , and the 1st district from 1841 to 1843 . A staunch opponent of Andrew Jackson , he spent his first term in Congress trying to thwart the Jackson Administration ' s agenda , and subsequently helped establish the Whig Party in Tennessee . He was twice gerrymandered out of office by Jackson ' s allies in the $ 3 . Described as " one of the most erratic politicians ever produced by East Tennessee , " Arnold was remembered by his peers for his impassioned and unpredictable speeches , unwavering dedication to his positions , and ruthless use of wit and sarcasm . His attacks against Sam Houston in Congress provoked an assassination attempt from a Houston supporter in 1832 . While Arnold provided vigorous opposition to Democrats such as Andrew Johnson , he frequently clashed with leaders of his own party , such as William " Parson " Brownlow and T . A . R . Nelson . On the eve of the Civil War , Arnold remained solidly pro - Union . At the East Tennessee Union Convention , which met following Tennessee ' s secession from the Union in June 1861 , Arnold advocated the separation of East Tennessee from the rest of the state , and called for the use of force if necessary . He remained openly defiant of the Confederacy for the duration of the war . Early life . Arnold was born in Spotsylvania County , Virginia , on May 3 , 1798 . He moved with his parents to Knox County , Tennessee , in 1808 . At the age of fourteen , he enlisted as a drummer boy in the War of 1812 . During the war , he became horrified when General Andrew Jackson ordered a soldier court - martialed and shot for straggling , and developed a negative view of Jackson that he would retain for the rest of his life . After the war , he taught school in Knox and Grainger counties . He studied law , was admitted to the bar in 1822 , and commenced practice in Knoxville , Tennessee . In the mid - 1820s , Arnold was one of the few Tennessee politicians who opposed the initiatives of Jackson . In 1825 , he unsuccessfully ran for Congress against Jackson ally and three - term 2nd district incumbent John Cocke , losing by a vote of 4 , 770 to 3 , 343 . When he again ran for the seat in 1827 , he circulated a pamphlet in the 2nd district that assailed Jackson ' s character , and rehashed an oft - repeated accusation that Jackson was an adulterer . He was narrowly defeated by the pro - Jackson candidate , Pryor Lea , 3 , 688 votes to 3 , 316 . In 1828 , Arnold endorsed John Quincy Adams for president . In 1829 , Arnold again opposed Lea for the 2nd district seat , and was again narrowly defeated , 4 , 713 votes to 4 , 496 . Arnold charged Lea with voter fraud , alleging that bribery and perjury had occurred , and suggesting that pro - Jackson state election officials had " prostituted and trampled under foot " the state ' s election laws . The House Committee on Elections dismissed his claim , however , citing lack of evidence . 1st congressional term . By the early 1830s , many East Tennesseans had grown frustrated with Lea ' s opposition to federally - funded internal improvements , as the mountainous region ' s isolation was stalling its economic development . In 1831 , Arnold was finally elected to Congress , edging Lea by a vote of 4 , 935 to 4 , 702 . During his first term in Congress , Arnold was the lone Anti - Jacksonite in the Tennessee delegation . He supported the national bank , an institution Jackson had long sought to eliminate , scoffing at the " obfuscated farragoes " of the bank ' s enemies , who had threatened him . He was the only Tennessee representative to vote against Congressman James K . Polk ' s bill calling for a sale of the government ' s stock in the bank , and was the only Tennessee representative to support a bill declaring the bank ' s deposits safe . He was also the only Tennessee representative to vote in favor of building a federal road connecting Buffalo and New Orleans , and the only Tennessee representative to vote against Jackson ' s Force Bill . In 1832 , Arnold blasted former Congressman Sam Houston , who had been found guilty of assaulting Congressman William Stanbery ( an anti - Jacksonite ) , but had drawn only a reprimand for the attack . In May , a friend of Houston ' s , Morgan A . Heard , attacked Arnold as he descended the steps of the Capitol , initially attempting to club him with a large stick . After Arnold batted the stick away , Heard drew a sawed - off dueling pistol and fired one shot , grazing Arnold ' s shoulder . Arnold then proceeded to beat Heard with a sword cane , and was preparing to spear Heard with the cane when he was disarmed by Congressman Joseph Duncan , ending the melee . Fed up with Arnold , Jackson ' s allies in the Tennessee General Assembly redrew Arnold ' s district , moving Jefferson and Cocke counties , where Arnold had his strongest support , to the 1st district . Undaunted , Arnold moved to Greeneville , in the 1st district , and challenged the 1st district incumbent , John Blair , in the 1833 election . In a three - way race that included William Blount Carter , Arnold placed third , winning just 1 , 747 votes to 3 , 236 for Blair and 2 , 642 for Carter . He ran for the 1st district seat in 1835 and 1837 , but each time lost to Carter . In 1836 , Arnold was elected brigadier general of the Tennessee militia , and was thus frequently referred to as " General Arnold " by his contemporaries . 1840 election and 2nd congressional term . In 1840 , Arnold was named the 1st district ' s elector for presidential candidate William Henry Harrison . In this role , Arnold canvassed relentlessly , confronting any Democratic speaker who ventured into the district , and following them from campaign stop to campaign stop until they left . At a stop in Greeneville , Arnold , wearing a bizarre nankeen suit with blue , yellow and white stripes , debated an elegantly - dressed Felix Grundy . Arnold continuously interrupted Grundy ' s speech , prompting Grundy to quip , " you are the noisiest man I ever met . " Arnold followed Grundy ' s entourage to Rogersville , where Grundy spoke at the courthouse the following day . Still wearing the nankeen suit , which had been soaked and ruined by rain the night before , Arnold burst into the courthouse and shouted , " Here I am again ! " After being denied entry , he led Whig supporters in a noisy sing - along until the Democratic crowd dispersed and Grundy hurried to the next stop . Fueled by the regional fame he had acquired as an elector , Arnold again sought the 1st district seat in 1841 . In April of that year , he engaged in a war of words with local Whig attorney , T . A . R . Nelson , who was irritated that Arnold had ignored the rules laid out at the local party convention when declaring his candidacy . After the two attacked each other in respective editorials , Arnold circulated a 48 - page pamphlet in which he accused Nelson of trying to split the party , and went so far as to make fun of Nelson ' s limp . In a May 1841 editorial , Nelson wrote of Arnold , " I feel constrained to publish him as a liar , a scoundrel and a Coward . " In spite of his feud with Nelson , Arnold easily won the election in 1841 . Like many of his fellow Whigs in Congress , he grew increasingly frustrated with President John Tyler , who had run with Harrison on the Whig ticket , but was proving hostile to many of the party ' s core initiatives . Following Tyler ' s veto of a Henry Clay bill calling for the establishment of new national bank , Arnold dismissed Tyler as an " unfortunate miserable wretch . " In 1842 , Arnold came to the defense of John Quincy Adams when Congressman Henry A . Wise accused Adams of conspiring with the British to break up the United States . After the state legislature again redrew his district , Arnold , realizing had little chance of being reelected , declined to run in 1843 . Later life and the Civil War . After leaving Congress , Arnold returned to the practice of law . Using the aggressive , emotional style that had made him successful in politics , he gradually built a sizeable clientele . Oliver Perry Temple , a fellow attorney and Whig , wrote of Arnold ' s courtroom tactics : " By ridicule on the one hand , and impassioned appeals on the other , he constantly excited laughter or tears , while his power of invective was simply terrible . " Temple noted that Arnold occasionally won cases when facts and evidence were against him by stubbornly seizing on a trivial circumstance of the case and focusing the jury ' s attention on it . In 1852 , Arnold spoke at a Whig convention in Knoxville . For nearly an hour , he thrashed radical Whig newspaper editor William " Parson " Brownlow in what Temple described as the " bitterest and most taunting manner . " Brownlow , who was in attendance , waited quietly for Arnold to finish , and then delivered an equally long retort . Brownlow subsequently entitled this speech , " Reply to Thomas ' Dog ' Arnold , Ass . " In the years leading up to the Civil War , Arnold , like many of East Tennessee ' s Whigs , remained staunchly pro - Union . Throughout the first half of 1861 , Arnold , Brownlow , Temple , Nelson , and other Whig leaders relentlessly canvassed East Tennessee to rally support for the Union cause . At the first session of the East Tennessee Union Convention in May 1861 , Arnold delivered a two - hour speech that , according to Temple , was the " finest effort of his life . " At the convention ' s Greeneville session in June ( which met after Tennessee had seceded from the Union ) , Arnold " warmly advocated " a series of resolutions that called for East Tennessee to break away from Tennessee and form a separate Union - aligned state , and to use violent force if necessary . Temple and others proposed a milder set of resolutions ( which were eventually adopted ) that petitioned the state legislature to let East Tennessee secede , but removed the resolution threatening violent force . Temple later recalled that Arnold mocked these resolutions as cowardly , and " poured a perfect broadside of ridicule and sarcasm . " Arnold spent most of the war at his home in Greeneville , ignoring threats to Union supporters who remained in the region while it was under Confederate control . His family was divided during the war , with two of his sons serving as officers in the Confederate Army . After the war , Arnold resumed his practice of law . He died on May 26 , 1870 , while attending court in Jonesborough . He is interred in Greeneville ' s Oak Grove Cemetery .