Benjamin Franklin Perry

Benjamin Franklin Perry (born November 20, 1805 in Pickens County , South Carolina , † December 3, 1886 in Greenville , South Carolina) was an American politician and 1865 Governor of South Carolina.

Early years and political advancement

Benjamin Perry attended elementary school in Asheville , North Carolina . After studying law, he was admitted to the bar in South Carolina in 1827. Subsequently, however, he did not work as a lawyer, but dedicated himself to journalism. Since 1832 he was the newspaper "The Greenville Mountaineer" out. Other newspapers were added later. During the nullification crisis in 1832, Perry sided with the Union. From 1836 to 1842 Perry was a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina . There followed four years in the State Senate between 1844 and 1848 before he returned to the House of Representatives in 1849, where he remained until 1860. This year he spoke out against secession . But after a convention had decided to leave the Union, he joined this movement out of loyalty. In 1862 he was re-elected to the South Carolina State House of Representatives, and in 1864 he became a Confederate District Judge.

Governor of south carolina

After the Union troops under General William T. Sherman had reached South Carolina in the spring of 1865 , then Governor Andrew Gordon Magrath was deposed and arrested. President Andrew Johnson named Perry Provisional Governor of South Carolina for his pro-Union stance before the war. The presidential mandate was to draft a new constitution for South Carolina. Despite the resistance of the radical Republicans , a new constitution was drawn up by a specially convened convention during Perry's short term in office, which lasted only from June 30 to November 29, 1865. After that, most public offices, including governor, were directly elected by the people. The right to vote was expanded and the thirteenth amendment to the US Constitution , the abolition of slavery , was ratified. However, the so-called “ black codes ” were introduced, which immediately took away their new rights from black citizens. The right to vote in the 1865 Constitution specifically did not provide for the right to vote for African Americans. Perry himself did not want to run for the office of first governor under the new constitution in 1865. Therefore, he left office in November.

Further career

Still, Perry stayed true to politics. Together with ex-governor John Lawrence Manning , he was elected to the US Senate in 1866 . There, like most former southerners, the two were refused a seat by the radical Republicans. In 1868 and 1876 Perry was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions . In 1872 he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US House of Representatives . Benjamin Perry died in December 1886. He was married to Elizabeth Frances McCall, with whom he had 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

• Benjamin Perry in the National Governor Association (English)
• South Carolina Information Highway (English)
• Benjamin Franklin Perry in the database of Find a Grave (English)