William Henderson Cate (November 11, 1839 – August 23, 1899) was an American politician, lawyer and judge. In 1889 and 1890, he served part of one term as a U.S. Representative from Arkansas. He was removed from his seat following an investigation of election fraud before regaining the seat in the subsequent election, serving an additional term from 1891 to 1893.

Early life and education 
Cate was born near Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the son of Noah Cate, who was a Baptist minister, and his wife Margaret M. (Henderson) Cate. He attended the common schools, as well as an academy at Abingdon, Virginia.  He ultimately graduated from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in 1857.

In 1868, he married Virginia E. Warner of Craighead County, and the couple had one son.

Early career
Cate taught school while studying law.

Civil War 
During the Civil War, he served in the Confederate States Army, eventually rising to the rank of captain.

Legal career 
After a move to Jonesboro, Arkansas in 1865, Cate studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Arkansas. In 1866, he commenced the practice of law, counting among his clients the Iron Mountain and Southern Railroad and the St. Louis, Arkansas, and Texas Railroad.

Political career 
In 1870, he was elected as a Democrat to the Arkansas House of Representatives, serving from 1871 to 1874. He served two n the Agriculture and the Cities and Corporations committees.

He was elected prosecuting attorney in 1878, and was later appointed by Governor James H. Berry and subsequently elected judge of the second judicial circuit of Arkansas in 1884.  He organized the Bank of Jonesboro in 1887. He also served as a member of the Board of Visitors of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.

Congress 
In 1888, Cate ran as a Democrat for a seat in the U.S. Congress against Lewis Featherstone, a candidate of the Union Labor party. Cate won the election by slightly less than 1,000 votes.

Cate subsequently presented credentials as a Democratic member-elect to the Fifty-first Congress where he served from March 4, 1889 until March 5, 1890.

Election challenge 
Cate was removed from his seat following a House investigation.
Featherstone had contested the election after having been put up as a candidate to oppose Cate by The Agricultural Wheel. In an agreement between The Wheel and the Republican Party, the Republicans in control of Congress agreed to support Featherstone against Cate. In return "The Wheel" agreed to support John M. Clayton against Clifton R. Breckinridge. The House Committee on Elections decided in favor of Featherstone, ruling that he won by 86 votes.

Return to Congress 
Cate again challenged Featherstone in the 1890 election, winning by a vote of 15,437 to 14,834. Featherstone did not contest the results. With his victory, Cate was elected to the Fifty-second Congress which ran from March 4, 1891 until March 3, 1893.

Cate served on the Railways and Canals Committee, introducing bills to build a railroad bridge across the Black River, and to construct a lever on the nearby Mississippi River.

He declined to be a candidate for renomination in 1892 to the Fifty-third Congress.

Later career 
He later resumed the practice of law in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

Death
While on a visit in Toledo, Ohio, Cate died of cancer on August 23, 1899 (age 59 years, 285 days).  He is interred at the City Cemetery in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

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1839 births
1899 deaths
Politicians from Abingdon, Virginia
Confederate States Army officers
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas
19th-century American politicians