Alonzo Jacob Ransier (January 3, 1834 – August 17, 1882) was an American politician in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

who served as the state's first black

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

and later was a

United States Congressman The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of the ...

from 1873 until 1875. He was a

Reconstruction era The Reconstruction era was a period in History of the United States, US history that followed the American Civil War (1861-65) and was dominated by the legal, social, and political challenges of the Abolitionism in the United States, abol ...

Republican.

Biography

Ransier was born a

free person of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (; ) were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who we ...

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, the son of freeborn Haitian immigrants. He worked as a shipping clerk until, after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, he was appointed as state registrar of elections in 1865. In the late 1860s, he was hired by

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a Methodist denomination based in the United States. It adheres to Wesleyan theology, Wesleyan–Arminian theology and has a connexionalism, connexional polity. It ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and fellow future congressman, Richard H. Cain, to be an associate editor of the ''South Carolina Leader'' (renamed the ''Missionary Record'' in 1868), along with another future congressman, Robert B. Elliott. Ransier was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1868. It authorized a public school system for the first time, as well as charitable institutions. Later in 1868, he was elected to the

South Carolina House of Representatives The South Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the South Carolina General Assembly. It consists of 124 representatives elected to two-year terms at the same time as U.S. congressional elections. Unlike many legislatures, seatin ...

, serving to 1869. In 1870, Ransier was elected the 54th

Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina The lieutenant governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the governor of South Carolina. Beyond the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office's vacancy, the duties of the lieutenant governor are chiefly ce ...

. He was elected from

South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District South Carolina's 2nd congressional district is in central and southwestern South Carolina. The district spans from Columbia, South Carolina, Columbia to the South Carolina side of the Augusta, Georgia metropolitan area. From 1993 through 2012, ...

to the

43rd United States Congress The 43rd United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1873, ...

, where he fought for the

Civil Rights Act of 1875 The Civil Rights Act of 1875, sometimes called the Enforcement Act or the Force Act, was a United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction era in response to civil rights violations against African Americans. The bill was passed by the ...

. He also backed high

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

s and opposed a federal salary increase. He campaigned for President

Ulysses S. Grant Ulysses S. Grant (born Hiram Ulysses Grant; April 27, 1822July 23, 1885) was the 18th president of the United States, serving from 1869 to 1877. In 1865, as Commanding General of the United States Army, commanding general, Grant led the Uni ...

and advocated six-year presidential terms. After leaving Congress in 1875, Ransier was appointed by Republicans as a collector for the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting Taxation in the United States, U.S. federal taxes and administerin ...

. At his death in 1882, he was working as a street cleaner in Charleston.Peggy Lamson, The Glorious Failure (New York: Norton, 1973), 283

References

External links

Britannica ArticleCongressional Biography'Alonzo Ransier'
African American Registry * 1834 births 1882 deaths African-American state legislators in South Carolina Lieutenant governors of South Carolina Republican Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives African-American members of the United States House of Representatives Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina American politicians of Haitian descent American people of French descent African-American politicians during the Reconstruction Era 19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives 19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly {{South Carolina-politician-stub

Biography

See also

References

External links