James Turner Morehead (May 24, 1797 – December 28, 1854) was an American politician who was a United States Senator and the 12th Governor of Kentucky.

An opponent of abolitionism, he accompanied John Speed Smith to Ohio to secure the return of slaves owned by Kentuckians.

His parents, Armistead and Lucy (Latham) Morehead, moved to Russellville, Kentucky, when he was very young, and he was educated at the public schools in that city.

[2] While there, he served on the Committee on Internal Improvements, and reported a bill for state subscription to the Maysville-Lexington Turnpike Company in 1831.

[3] In 1831, Morehead was also a delegate to the National Republican Party Convention in Baltimore, Maryland that nominated Henry Clay for president.

Though his National Republican running mate, Richard A. Buckner, was defeated by Democrat John Breathitt, Morehead was elected the ninth Lieutenant Governor.

[4] In March 1837, he was commissioned by Governor James Clark to act as an agent for the state, selling bonds to fund internal improvements.

He was president of the Kentucky Board of Internal Improvements from 1838 to 1841, and in 1839, he and John Speed Smith were chosen as commissioners to the state of Ohio to secure the return of Kentucky-owned slaves as property of their masters.

During his service in the Senate, he defended a federal bank bill and opposed the annexation of Texas, though he supported the U.S.-Mexican War after it began.