Andrew Gordon Magrath

Andrew Gordon Magrath (born February 8, 1813 in Charleston , South Carolina , † April 9, 1893 ibid) was an American lawyer and politician ( Democratic Party ) and from 1864 to 1865 governor of South Carolina.

Early years and political advancement

Andrew Magrath first attended South Carolina College , later the University of South Carolina , and then studied law at Harvard University . He was admitted to the bar in 1835 and began practicing this profession. Magrath was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives twice before being appointed federal district judge for the District of South Carolina by President Franklin Pierce in 1856 . After the election of the Republican Abraham Lincoln as US President, he resigned from this office. He was a member of the Convention that decided in December 1860 to leave the Union for South Carolina. From 1860 to 1862 he served as Secretary of State of South Carolina under Governor Francis Wilkinson Pickens . In 1862 he became the president of the Confederacy , Jefferson Davis , once again appointed as a judge for South Carolina. Soon after, Magrath developed strong opposition to the central Confederation government in Richmond , Virginia .

Governor of south carolina

In late 1864, Magrath was elected the new governor of South Carolina by the state parliament in a secret ballot. This should be the last House of Representatives election for a governor. After the war, a new constitution came into force that changed the electoral law. Magrath was also the last Confederate governor of South Carolina. His brief tenure, which lasted from December 1864 to May 1865, was overshadowed by the looming defeat of the Confederation in the civil war. The state's population was tired of war. Inflation continued, the economy gradually came to a standstill, and the ever-increasing loss of life in the war fueled frustration among people in South Carolina and throughout the South. In the spring of 1865 Union forces under General William T. Sherman reached South Carolina. In February they occupied the capital Columbia and Charleston. The war started by South Carolina in 1861 had returned to its starting point. Governor Magrath was deposed by federal troops on May 28 for his activities for the Confederation, arrested and imprisoned for seven months.

Another résumé

In December 1865, Magrath was released. He returned to Charleston and practiced as a lawyer again. After that, he no longer appeared politically. Andrew Magrath died in Charleston in April 1893. He was married twice and had a total of nine children.

literature

• Robert Sobel and John Raimo (Eds.): Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, 1789–1978. Volume 4. Meckler Books, Westport, CT, 1978. 4 volumes.
• The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography. Vol. 12. James T. White & Company, New York

Web links

• Andrew Magrath in the National Governors Association (English)
• South Carolina Information Highway (English)
• Andrew Gordon Magrath in the database of Find a Grave (English)