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William Dennison Porter

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American politician (1810–1883) Not to be confused with William D. Porter.
William Dennison Porter
52nd Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
In office
November 30, 1865 – July 6, 1868
GovernorJames Lawrence Orr
Preceded byRobert McCaw
Succeeded byLemuel Boozer
Personal details
Born(1810-11-24)November 24, 1810
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
DiedJanuary 4, 1883(1883-01-04) (aged 72)
Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic

William Dennison Porter (November 24, 1810 – January 4, 1883) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 52nd lieutenant governor of South Carolina.

Biography

Porter was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives where he served from 1840 to 1848, and later the South Carolina Senate from 1848 to 1865 until the body was deposed by the Union Army during the American Civil War. Prior to the Civil War, Porter argued that states had the right to secede from the Union. Porter was an advocate of slavery, citing in an 1860 letter, " an institution ordained by the Creator and recognized by His law; that feeds and clothes the world; that gives to the barbarian a knowledge of God." In the same letter, he argued that Southern states maintained the right to secede because the United States sought to abolish slavery.

After the Civil War in 1865, Porter because the first popularly-elected lieutenant governor in South Carolina; his predecessors were chosen by the General Assembly. Porter served one term of 2.5 years until a new constitution was ratified.

Porter was nominated for governor by the Democratic Party, but he declined. Porter was opposed to the constitution of 1868, which provided for popular elections, claiming that it provided for "Negro supremacy." After leaving office, Porter served as attorney for the city of Charleston, South Carolina. In November 1868, he argued a case before the South Carolina Supreme Court in which voter fraud had been alleged.

Porter died in Charleston in 1883.

References

  1. "LIEUTENANT GOVERNORS OF SOUTH CAROLINA 1730–2021" (PDF). scstatehouse.gov. South Carolina General Assembly. Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  2. "Porter, Wm. D. (William Dennison), 1810-1883". loc.gov. Library of Congress.
  3. ^ Porter, William (1860). The Right to Secede. Retrieved 15 May 2023 – via babel.hathitrust.org.
  4. Taylor, A. A. (October 1924). "The Convention of 1868" (PDF). The Journal of Negro History. 9 (4): 405. doi:10.2307/2713545. JSTOR 2713545. S2CID 150161639. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  5. "Negro Supremacy in South Carolina--Letter of Hon. W. D. Porter Declining to be a Candidate for Governor". The New York Times. 19 April 1868. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  6. "Charleston's Contested Election of 1868". www.ccpl.org. Charleston County Public Library. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 15 May 2023.
  7. "William Dennison Porter". www.ancestry.com.
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