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 by	Robert C. De Large
Succeeded by	Edmund W.M. Mackey
56th Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office December 3, 1871 – 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	(1834-01-03)January 3, 1834 Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	August 17, 1882(1882-08-17) (aged 48) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Party	Republican
Profession	Clerk, politician, tax collector

Biography

Ransier was born a free person of color in Charleston, South Carolina, the son of freeborn Haitian immigrants.^[1] He worked as a shipping clerk until, after the Civil War, he was appointed as state registrar of elections in 1865.

In the late 1860s, he was hired by African Methodist Episcopal Church 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.^[2]

Ransier 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 from South Carolina's 2nd Congressional District to the 43rd United States Congress, where 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 six-year presidential terms.

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 street cleaner in Charleston.^[3]

See also

• Biography portal

• List of African-American United States representatives
• List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States