William Elliott (politician)

William Elliott

William Elliott (born September 3, 1838 in Beaufort , South Carolina , † December 7, 1907 ) was an American politician . Between 1887 and 1903 he represented the state of South Carolina in the US House of Representatives several times .

Career

William Elliott attended Beaufort College and then studied at Harvard University . After a subsequent law degree at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and his admission to the bar in 1861, he began to work in his new profession. After the outbreak of the civil war , he joined the Confederate Army as a lieutenant . By the end of the war he had made it to lieutenant colonel. After the war, Elliott worked as a lawyer in his native Beaufort. Politically, he became a member of the Democratic Party . In 1866 he was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives . In 1876 he was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in St. Louis .

In 1884 Elliott ran for the first time, but unsuccessfully, for Congress . Two years later he was elected to the US House of Representatives in Washington, DC in the seventh electoral district of South Carolina , where he succeeded Robert Smalls on March 4, 1887 . In 1888 he was re-elected. With that he entered a second legislative period on March 4, 1889. This choice was challenged by Thomas E. Miller . After this objection was granted, Elliott had to cede his mandate to Miller on September 23, 1890. This ended the legislative period that had begun on March 3, 1891. But since Elliott was re-elected to Congress in the elections of 1890, he was able to replace Miller on March 4, 1891 and to complete another legislative term in Congress until March 3, 1893. In 1892 he decided not to run again.

In the 1894 elections, Elliott was elected to Congress in the First District of South Carolina to succeed James F. Izlar . However, this election result was also controversial and his opponent George W. Murray from the Republican Party lodged a complaint. This was granted on June 4, 1896. Therefore, Elliott had to hand over his mandate, which he had taken on March 4, 1895, to Murray that day. As in 1890, William Elliott made a political comeback in 1896. That year he was elected Murray's successor. After two re-elections, he was able to spend three more legislative terms in Congress between March 4, 1897 and March 3, 1903. During this time the Spanish-American War and the annexation of the Philippines and the Hawaiian Islands fell.

In 1902, Elliott no longer ran for the House of Representatives. Instead, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the US Senate . In 1906 he was commissioned by President Theodore Roosevelt to collect the graves of the Confederate soldiers who fell in the Northern States. He held this office until his death on December 7, 1907 in Beaufort.

Web links

• William Elliott in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (English)

• William Elliott in the database of Find a Grave (English)