Alonzo J. Ransier

Alonzo Jacob Ransier (January 3, 1834 – August 17, 1882) was an American politician in South Carolina who served as the state's first black Lieutenant Governor and later was a United States Congressman from 1873 until 1875. He was a Reconstruction era Republican.

Alonzo Jacob Ransier
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 2nd district
In office
March 4, 1873 – March 3, 1875
Preceded byRobert C. De Large
Succeeded byEdmund W.M. Mackey
56th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office
December 3, 1870 – December 7, 1872
GovernorRobert Kingston Scott
Preceded byLemuel Boozer
Succeeded byRichard Howell Gleaves
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Charleston County
In office
November 24, 1868 – March 1, 1870
Personal details
Born(1834-01-03)January 3, 1834
Charleston, South Carolina
DiedAugust 17, 1882(1882-08-17) (aged 48)
Charleston, South Carolina
Political partyRepublican
ProfessionClerk, politician, tax collector

Biography

Ransier was born a free person of color in Charleston, South Carolina, possibly to parents from Haiti, of mulatto-French background, with visible European ancestry.[1][2] He worked as a shipping clerk until he was appointed after the Civil War as state registrar of elections in 1865.

In the late 1860s he was hired by AME bishop 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.[3]

He 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 serving to 1869.

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

He was elected to the 43rd United States Congress from South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District. In Congress he fought for the Civil Rights Act of 1875. He also backed high tariffs and opposed a federal salary increase. He campaigned for President Ulysses S. 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. At his death in 1882, he was working as a Charleston street cleaner.[4]

See also

References
  1. Foner, Eric, ed. (1993). "Freedom's Lawmakers: A Directory of Black Officeholders During Reconstruction". Oxford University Press. p. 176. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  2. History, Art & Archives: UnitedStates House of Representatives: Ransier, Alonzo Jacob
  3. CAIN, Richard Harvey. History, Art & Archives, United States House of Representatives.
  4. Peggy Lamson, The Glorious Failure (New York: Norton, 1973), 283
U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by
Robert C. De Large		 Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina's 2nd congressional district
1873-1875		 Succeeded by
Edmund W.M. Mackey
Political offices
Preceded by
Lemuel Boozer		 Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
1870–1872		 Succeeded by
Richard Howell Gleaves


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