Alonzo Jacob Ransier

1834 (age 48)

Charleston, Charleston County, United States of America

He was the state"s first black Lieutenant Governor and later was a Republican United States Congressman from 1873 until 1875. He worked as a shipping clerk until he was appointed after the Civil War as state registrar of elections in 1865. lieutenant authorized a public school system for the first time, as well as charitable institutions. In 1870 Ransier was elected the 54th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina. He was elected to the Forty-third United States Congress from South Carolina"s 2nd Congressional District. In Congress he fought for the Civil Rights Acting of 1875. He also backed high tariffs and opposed a federal salary increase. He campaigned for President Ulysses South. Grant and advocated a six-year presidential term. After leaving Congress in 1875, Ransier was appointed by Republicans as a collector for the Internal Revenue Service. He ended his days as a Charleston street cleaner .

Alonzo Jacob Ransier

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Background

Ransier was born a free person of color in Charleston, South Carolina, to possibly parents from Haiti, of mulatto-French background, with visible European ancestry.

Career

He was the state"s first black Lieutenant Governor and later was a Republican United States Congressman from 1873 until 1875. He worked as a shipping clerk until he was appointed after the Civil War as state registrar of elections in 1865. lieutenant authorized a public school system for the first time, as well as charitable institutions.

In 1870 Ransier was elected the 54th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina.

He was elected to the Forty-third United States Congress from South Carolina"s 2nd Congressional District. In Congress he fought for the Civil Rights Acting of 1875.

He also backed high tariffs and opposed a federal salary increase. He campaigned for President Ulysses South. Grant and advocated a six-year presidential term.

After leaving Congress in 1875, Ransier was appointed by Republicans as a collector for the Internal Revenue Service.

He ended his days as a Charleston street cleaner <Peggy Lamson, The Glorious Failure (New York: Norton, 1973), 283>.

Membership

He was elected in 1868 to the South Carolina House of Representatives serving to 1869, and also was a member of the state constitutional convention in 1868.

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