Editing Howell E. Jackson (section)

== Service in state government ==
Jackson practiced law in Jackson until 1880.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|last=McKellar|first=Kenneth Douglas|url=http://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015070205680|title=Tennessee senators as seen by one of their successors|publisher=Southern Publishers|year=1942|location=Kingsport, TN|hdl=2027/mdp.39015070205680|author-link=Kenneth McKellar (politician)|access-date=April 28, 2021|archive-date=June 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616115943/https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015070205680|url-status=live}}</ref>{{Rp|407}} In 1875, however, he was appointed a judge of the temporary Court of Arbitration for Western Tennessee, which heard cases stemming from the large backlog created by the Civil War.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FLmX_57Xo_YC|title=The Supreme Court of the United States: Its Beginnings & Its Justices, 1790–1991|publisher=Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution|year=1992|page=150|editor-last=Reilly|editor-first=Don|language=en|editor-last2=Murphy|editor-first2=Norman|editor-last3=Timanus|editor-first3=Chuck|access-date=April 28, 2021|archive-date=June 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210616115941/https://books.google.com/books?id=FLmX_57Xo_YC|url-status=live}}</ref> When that court was dissolved, Jackson sought the Democratic nomination for a seat on the [[Tennessee Supreme Court]], running against incumbent [[Thomas J. Freeman]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|65}} At the convention, Jackson lost by a single vote; he refused the entreaties of his supporters to challenge the result.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|339–340}} Jackson then became involved in what was then Tennessee's key political dispute: whether to pay back the state debt.<ref name=":1" />{{Rp|241}} Republicans generally supported its repayment, while Democrats were split between a state-credit faction, which was supportive of fulfilling the state's financial obligations and a low-tax faction, which favored repudiating the debt.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|68–69}} Jackson, who viewed repudiation to be immoral, was firmly on the state-credit side of this debate.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|340}} After giving a speech on the debt, he was urged to run for a seat in the [[Tennessee House of Representatives]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|69}} Jackson reluctantly agreed, and he was elected in 1880 to represent Madison County following a contentious campaign.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|340}} After the legislature's session began in January 1881, he was appointed by Speaker [[Henry B. Ramsey]] to the finance, ways and means; judiciary; penitentiary; public grounds and buildings; incorporations; and privileges and elections committees.<ref name="1881tennhousejournal">{{cite web|title=Journal of the House of Representatives of the State of Tennessee, Forty-Second General Assembly|date=1881|place=[[Nashville, Tennessee|Nashville]]|publisher=Tavel & Howell|pages=4, 50-52, 485|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112110909170|access-date=April 21, 2023|via=[[HathiTrust]]}}</ref> He was given the chairmanship of the committee on public grounds and buildings, but his prompt elevation to the U.S. Senate prevented him from making any substantial impact in that position.<ref name=":7">{{Cite journal|last=Hudspeth|first=Harvey Gresham|date=1998|title=Seven Days in Nashville: Politics, the State Debt, and the Making of a United States Senator; January 19–26, 1881|url=https://search.register.shelby.tn.us/wths/|journal=[[West Tennessee Historical Society|West Tennessee Historical Society Papers]]|volume=52|pages=81–94|via=Shelby County Register of Deeds}}</ref>{{Rp|91}}

The most urgent task before the legislature during Jackson's tenure was the election of a [[United States Senate|U.S. Senator]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|69}} Incumbent Senator [[James E. Bailey]]'s state-credit policies alienated the low-tax faction of the Democratic caucus, but Republican candidate [[Horace Maynard]] also failed to garner majority support.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|69}} Jackson, who was considered capable of obtaining bipartisan support, refused to enter the race because he favored Bailey.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|340}} A week of balloting failed to break the gridlock.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|69}} Bailey then withdrew from consideration and urged Jackson to enter the race in his stead.<ref name=":4" />{{Rp|340}} On the thirtieth ballot, Republican [[Roderick R. Butler|R. R. Butler]] announced his support for Jackson, saying he had given up any hope that a Republican would be chosen.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|date=January 27, 1881|title=Howell E. Jackson, of Madison County, The Dark Horse, Who Wins on the Thirtieth Ballot|pages=1|work=The Daily Memphis Avalanche|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76856219/howell-e-jackson-elected-to-the-us/|access-date=May 1, 2021|via=Newspapers.com|archive-date=May 2, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502000603/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/76856219/howell-e-jackson-elected-to-the-us/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Speaker of the House, a Maynard loyalist, followed suit, arguing that Jackson was the best choice among the Democrats.<ref name=":5" /> A number of Democratic legislators, many of whom were afraid that a Republican could be elected if they did not unite behind a candidate, backed Jackson as well.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|70}} Convinced by Butler, other Republicans did the same, and Jackson was elected, receiving sixty-eight votes of the ninety-eight cast.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|70}} He telegraphed his resignation from the state house, effective immediately, to Governor [[Alvin Hawkins]] on February 9, 1881.<ref>{{cite web|title=Hon. Howell E. Jackson|work=Tribune and Sun|date=February 11, 1881|page=2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/123278666/|access-date=April 21, 2023|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}}</ref> After a special election, he was succeeded later in the month by [[Hugh C. Anderson]], who represented the district composed of [[Haywood County, Tennessee|Haywood]], [[Hardeman County, Tennessee|Hardeman]], and Madison counties in the previous legislative session.<ref name="1881tennhousejournal"/>