Schuyler Colfax Jr. was an American journalist, businessman, and politician who served as the 17th vice president of the United States from 1869 to 1873, and prior to that as the 25th speaker of the House of Representatives from 1863 to 1869. A member of the Republican Party, he was the U.S. Representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.
The Radical Republicans were a faction of American politicians within the Republican Party of the United States from around 1854 until the end of Reconstruction in 1877. They called themselves "Radicals" because of their goal of immediate, complete, permanent eradication of slavery, without compromise. They were opposed during the War by the moderate Republicans, and by the pro-slavery and anti-Reconstruction Democratic Party as well as liberals in the Northern United States during Reconstruction. Radicals led efforts after the war to establish civil rights for former slaves and fully implement emancipation. After weaker measures in 1866 resulted in violence against former slaves in the rebel states, Radicals pushed the Fourteenth Amendment and statutory protections through Congress. They disfavored allowing ex-Confederate officers to retake political power in the Southern United States, and emphasized equality, civil rights and voting rights for the "freedmen", i.e. people who had been enslaved by state slavery laws within the United States.
Galusha Aaron Grow was a prominent American politician, lawyer, writer and businessman, who served as 24th Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1861 to 1863. Elected as a Democrat in the 1850 congressional elections, he switched to the newly-organized Republican Party in the mid-1850s when the Democratic Party tried to force the extension of slavery into western territories.
Alonzo Jacob Ransier 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.
Scholars have identified more than 1,500 African American officeholders who served during the Reconstruction Era (1865–1877) after passage of the Reconstruction Acts in 1867 and 1868 as well as in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the Democrat Party fully reasserted control in Southern states. Historian Canter Brown, Jr. noted that in some states, such as Florida, the highest number of African Americans were elected or appointed to offices after 1877 and the end of Reconstruction. The following is a partial list some of the most notable of the officeholders pre-1900.
The Caning of Charles Sumner, or the Brooks–Sumner Affair, occurred on May 22, 1856, in the United States Senate chamber, when Representative Preston Brooks, a pro-slavery Democrat from South Carolina, used a walking cane to attack Senator Charles Sumner, an abolitionist Republican from Massachusetts, in retaliation for a speech given by Sumner two days earlier in which he fiercely criticized slaveholders, including a relative of Brooks. The beating nearly killed Sumner and it contributed significantly to the country's polarization over the issue of slavery. It has been considered symbolic of the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" and the use of violence that eventually led to the Civil War.
William Beverly Nash was a state senator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction Era.
Simeon Farr was an American politician who was elected as a state representative in 1868 in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He represented Union County, South Carolina. His photograph was used in a composite of Radical Republican officials from South Carolina. His name is spelled Simon Farr in an 1868 House document.
Samuel Nuckles was a legislator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He represented Union County. A Republican, he gave testimony about a campaign of intimidation used by Democrats and the Ku Klux Klan in the 1870 election. In 1871 he was part of a delegation sent to Washington D.C. requesting federal troops to address "outrages". He testified that he was a former slave and could read a little and write his name. He also testified that he was a refugee from Union County due to threats of violence and Ku Klux Klan attacks.
Sancho Saunders was a member of South Carolina's House of Representatives during the Reconstruction era. He represented Chester County, South Carolina. He was documented as a literate Baptist minister who was a slave before the American Civil War. He was African American. His photograph was included in a montage of Radical Republican South Carolina legislators.
Henry Johnson Maxwell was a lawyer, soldier in the Union Army, state senator, and postmaster in South Carolina.
Elias Evander Dickson was a state senator in South Carolina serving during the Reconstruction era. He served as chairman of the committee on agriculture. He was white.
Henry W. Webb was a political leader in Reconstruction era South Carolina. He was a delegate to the South Carolina Constitutional Convention of 1868 and elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives the same year.
John Hannibal White was a delegate to South Carolina's 1868 Constitutional Convention, a two-term member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, and a state senator in South Carolina. He worked as a blacksmith.
Henry L. Shrewsbury was an American teacher and Reconstruction era state legislator in South Carolina. He was described as a free mullato, and represented Chesterfield County in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 until 1870.
Hercules Simmons, sometimes spelled Simons was a state legislator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He represented Colleton County.
John B. Wright was a tailor and legislator in South Carolina during the Reconstruction era. He served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 until 1872 representing Charleston. Researchers documented him as being Black, free before the Civil War, and literate. He was a president of the Colored Young Men's Christian Association. His photograph was included in a montage of Radical Republican South Carolina legislators.
Henderson Adams was a state senator who also served as Auditor of North Carolina from 1868 until 1873. Serving during the Reconstruction era, he was a Republican.
Franklin F. Miller was a politician in South Carolina. He represented Georgetown, South Carolina, at the Constitutional Convention of 1868 and served in the state legislature. His photograph was included in a montage with other Radical Republican legislators. He was identified as "colored" and had not been recorded on tax roles. A document related to the 1868 Convention identifies him as white.
Seaborn F. Kennamer was a state legislator in Alabama. He was born in Kennamer Cove. He had 9 children. He served in the legislature in 1869 and 1870 representing Marshall County, Alabama and later served as postmaster of Kennamer Cove. He married Bettie Mitchell from Tennessee in 1869 and farmed Winesap apples.
