The Journal of Negro History
Chapter 238 : Rev. R. H. Cain 43d, 45th Congress Robert Smalls 44th, 45th, 48th 49th Congress.NAMES

Rev. R. H. Cain 43d, 45th Congress Robert Smalls 44th, 45th, 48th 49th Congress.

NAMES OF CONGRESSMEN WHO REPRESENTED SOUTH CAROLINA AFTER THE RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD

Robert Smalls Part before and part after Reconstruction.

Thomas E. Miller 51st Congress.

George W. Murray 53d Congress.

103 WEST 131ST STREET, NEW YORK CITY, October, 1917.

MR. MONROE N. WORK, Editor--_The Negro Year Book_, Tuskegee Inst.i.tute, Ala.

_Dear Sir_:

In reply to your letter requesting my a.s.sistance in getting data relative to the Reconstruction Period in South Carolina, I have the honor to submit the following:

It will be utterly impossible to give dates after a lapse of nearly fifty years, especially with reference to the terms the legislators served, unless I had access to the records. I was a boy when our family returned to South Carolina in 1870, two years after the adjournment of the Const.i.tutional Convention. At that period I was not especially interested in the trend of affairs. I was thinking more of the splendid opportunities I had left behind in Canada.

I think it very important that all of the data possible should be collected pertaining to the Const.i.tutional Convening as I regard it the most important Convention ever held in which colored men partic.i.p.ated. I was very fortunate in finding a copy of the Proceedings of the Convention in the Public Library in this city. I have given only such names as I could positively identify as colored.

No doubt some names have been omitted but not of any who took an active or important part in political affairs.

F. B. Perry, of Greenville, S.C., was appointed Provisional Governor of South Carolina by President Johnson in 1865.

Pursuant to a call for a convention of the people issued by Governor Perry in obedience to the proclamation of President Johnson for the purpose of organizing a State Government, the Convention a.s.sembled at Columbia, S.C., September 13, 1865.

To show the intense bitter feeling of Governor Perry the following is from his proclamation:

"It is a source of congratulation to know that the colored troops, whose atrocious conduct has disgraced the service and filled the public mind with the most horrible apprehensions, have been withdrawn from the interior of the State, and are to be placed in garrisons on the coast where they can do no further mischief. In all of my personal interviews with the President and in all of my dispatches to him I urged this course most earnestly."

A Const.i.tution was adopted by the Convention without being submitted to the people for ratification.

The Const.i.tution provided that only free white men were eligible for members.h.i.+p in the Senate and House of Representatives; only free white men were ent.i.tled to vote and that the appointment of members of the House of Representatives among the several election districts of the State should be in accordance with the number of white inhabitants in each.

The Convention adjourned September 27, 1865.

Congress decided that it was no part of the prerogative of the Executive to call conventions or to direct the adoption of Const.i.tutions.

J. L. Orr, of Anderson, S. C., was elected Provisional Governor, October, 1865, to succeed Governor Perry.

Persuant to an Act of Congress of the United States ent.i.tled "An Act to provide for the More Efficient Government of the Rebel States" an election was held in South Carolina on November 19th and 20th, 1867, and the electors of that State voted in favor of a Const.i.tutional Convention, and at the same time voted for delegates thereto.

Brevet Major-General E. R. S. Canby, Commanding 2d Military District of South Carolina issued orders for the delegates to a.s.semble in convention at Charleston, S.C., January 14, 1868.

The Convention composed of 124 delegates, a large majority being colored, met at Charleston, on the date named.

T. J. Robertson, white, was elected temporary President and Dr. A. G.

Mackey, white, was elected permanent President.

W. J. McKinlay and H. E. Hayne were elected temporary Secretary and a.s.sistant Secretary, respectively.

General Carlos J. Stalbrand, white, was elected permanent Secretary.

Josephus Woodruff, white, compiled the proceedings.

John R. Pinckney and Peter Miller were elected Sergeants-at-Arms.

F. L. Cardozo was Chairman of the Committee on Education.

S. A. Swails, Chairman of the Committee on Rules and Regulations.

Robert C. DeLarge, Chairman of the Committee on Franchise and Elections.

Colored members were on all of the Committees, in most cases being in the majority.

In looking over the proceedings I find that the following named delegates took a very active part in all of the deliberations:

R. B. Elliott, R. C. DeLarge, F. L. Cardozo, J. J. Wright, W. J.

Whipper, W. J. McKinlay, S. A. Swails, A. J. Ransier, R. H. Cain, B.

F. Randolph, and W. B. Nash.

The Const.i.tution provided for the election of Senators and Representatives on April 14, 15 and 16, 1868, to a.s.semble at Columbia, May 12, 1868.

The Convention adjourned sine die March 14, 1868.

The Const.i.tution adopted in 1868 stood unchanged until 1895 when a Convention was called to meet at Columbia, on September 10, 1895, to revise it.

The fact that the old Const.i.tution stood for nineteen years after the Democratic party came into power (1876) shows that there could not have been anything objectionable in it to the Democrats or they would have changed it immediately after regaining control. It speaks volumes for the wisdom and foresight of the men of the Reconstruction Period.

In the Convention which met at Columbia in 1895, there were only five colored delegates and they were all from Beaufort County, a county which has very few white persons in it. The delegates were W. J.

Whipper, Robert Smalls, Thomas E. Miller, James Wigg, and L. R. Reed.

Of these, W. J. Whipper and Robert Smalls were delegates to the Const.i.tutional Convention which met at Charleston in 1868.

As General Smalls died only about two or three years ago what a wealth of information he could have furnished pertaining to the Reconstruction Period had your request been sent out before his death.

Inclosure 2 contains the names of State Senators and the counties they represented. In several cases of Senators and also of Members of the House of Representatives I cannot recall their initials.

There were 32 senators, the majority being colored, of whom the following were conspicuous for their activity on all important legislation:

S. A. Swails, J. H. Rainey, R. H. Cain, W. H. Jones, W. B. Nash and H.

J. Maxwell.

Inclosure 3 contains names of members of the House of Representatives at various times. Some served more than one term. The more prominent were: R. B. Elliott, S.J. Lee, Dr. B.A. Bosemon, J. H. Rainey, R. C.

DeLarge, J. A. Bowley, W. J. Whipper, D. A. Straker, C. M. Wilder, Prince Rivers, F. H. Frost, T. E. Miller, and W. H. Thomas.

The House of Representatives was composed of 124 members and colored members were always in the majority.

Inclosure 4--Names of State Officers.

Inclosure 5--Names of Federal Office holders.