Alonzo J. Ransier

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 by	Robert C. De Large
Succeeded by	Edmund W.M. Mackey
56th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office December 3, 1870 - December 7, 1872
Governor	Robert Kingston Scott
Preceded by	Lemuel Boozer
Succeeded by	Richard Howell Gleaves
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Charleston County
In office November 24, 1868 - March 1, 1870
Personal details
Born	January 3, 1838 Charleston, South Carolina
Died	August 17, 1882 (aged 48) Charleston, South Carolina
Political party	Republican
Profession	Clerk, politician, tax collector

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

Biography

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.^[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 paper, the South Carolina Leader (renamed the Missionary Record in 1868), along with another future congressman, Robert B. Elliott.^[3]

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

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.

External links

• Britannica Article
• Congressional Biography
• 'Alonzo Ransier', African American Registry

Alonzo J. Ransier at Find a Grave