Editing Henry Huntly Haight (section)

===Early politics===
Haight later joined his father in St. Louis, Missouri where he studied and later practiced law. While in St. Louis, the younger Haight became politically active and edited a "Free Soil" publication. Upon discovery of gold in California in 1848, he decided to head further west.<ref name="Bottoms 2013 p55-59">{{cite web|first1=Michael |last1=Bottoms |title=The Apostacy of Henry Huntley Haight: Race, Reconstruction, and the Return of the Democracy in California, 1865-1870 |work=An Aristocracy of Color: Race and Reconstruction in California and the West, 1850-1890 |pages=55–59 |year=2013 |url=https://renamehaight.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/d-michael-bottoms-chp-2-aristocracy-of-color-apostacy-henry-haight.pdf |access-date= 2018-03-01}}</ref>

In 1856, Haight supported [[John C. Fremont]]'s campaign for president. By 1859, Haight became chair of the state Republican Party. He led [[Abraham Lincoln]]'s campaign in California, although in 1861, he told a friend he regretted supporting Lincoln.<ref name="Bottoms 2013 p55-59"/>

In 1863, shortly after President Lincoln announced the Emancipation Proclamation, Haight announced he had joined the Democratic Party. He campaigned against Lincoln in 1864, and was involved in a small controversy for allegedly disrespecting the President.<ref name="Bottoms 2013 p55-59"/>