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. Originally a Whig, then part of the short-lived People's Party of Indiana, and later a Republican, he was the U.S. representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 1855 to 1869.
The Radical Republicans were a political faction within the Republican Party originating from the party's founding in 1854—some six years before the Civil War—until the Compromise of 1877, which effectively ended Reconstruction. They called themselves "Radicals" because of their goal of immediate, complete, and permanent eradication of slavery in the United States. The Radical faction also included, though, very strong currents of Nativism, anti-Catholicism, and in favor of the Prohibition of alcoholic beverages. These policy goals and the rhetoric in their favor often made it extremely difficult for the Republican Party as a whole to avoid alienating large numbers of American voters from Irish Catholic, German, and other White ethnic backgrounds. In fact, even German-American Freethinkers and Forty-Eighters who, like Hermann Raster, otherwise sympathized with the Radical Republicans' aims, fought them tooth and nail over prohibition. They later became known as "Stalwarts".
Galusha Aaron Grow was an 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.
George Goldthwaite was an Alabama Supreme Court justice and U.S. senator for Alabama. He served in the Senate from March 4, 1871, to March 3, 1877, and did not run for reelection.
More than 1,500 African American officeholders served during the Reconstruction era (1865–1877) and in the years after Reconstruction before white supremacy, disenfranchisement, and the Democratic 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 the end of Reconstruction in 1877. The following is a partial list of notable African American officeholders from the end of the Civil War until before 1900. Dates listed are the year that a term states or the range of years served if multiple terms.
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 an American 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.
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.
Henderson Adams was an American politician. He 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.
Sanders Ford was a farmer and state legislator in South Carolina. He was elected to represent Fairfield County, South Carolina in the South Carolina Senate in 1872, and died in office in 1873.
Barney Humphries was an A.M.E. minister and state legislator in South Carolina. He represented Chester County, South Carolina in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1868 to 1872. in 1868 along with Sancho Sanders and Barney Burton. He and other African American state legislators were honored in a concurrent resolution in the South Carolina legislature in 2007.
William H. Frazier was a state legislator in South Carolina. He represented Colleton County, South Carolina in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1872 to 1874.
Isaac Alston was a reverend and state legislator in North Carolina. He represented Warren County, North Carolina in the North Carolina Senate in 1870 and 1891. He lived in Warrenton, North Carolina. He was the only African American elected to the North Carolina Senate in 1890. Three African Americans were elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives that year.
