American politician
James Byeram Owens
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In office
February 4, 1861 ? February 17, 1862
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Preceded by
| New constituency
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Succeeded by
| Constituency abolished
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Born
| c.
1816
Fairfield County, South Carolina
, U.S.
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Died
| August 1, 1889
Marion County, Florida
, U.S.
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Resting place
| Evergreen Cemetery,
Ocala, Florida
, U.S.
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Spouse
| Louisa Owens
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Children
| Willie Owens
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James Byeram Owens
(
c.
1816 ? August 1, 1889) was a slaveowner and American politician who served as a Deputy from
Florida
to the
Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
from 1861 to 1862. He mounted legal arguments in defense of
secession
based on an
originalist
interpretation of the
U.S. Constitution
[1]
and Southern arguments in favor of states' rights, with the intention of protecting the practice and institution of
slavery
.
Biography
[
edit
]
Owens was born in
Fairfield County, South Carolina
, moving to Mississippi and later to
Marion County, Florida
, in 1857, with two of his brothers.
[1]
Owens was one of the wealthier slaveowning planters in Marion County.
[2]
His name appears on the 1860 Slave Census Schedules for Marion County which attribute to him the ownership of 89 enslaved persons.
[3]
Owens used the forced labor of enslaved people to work the land on his
plantation
, where cotton was grown.
[1]
Owens served as a delegate from Florida at the
Democratic National Conventions of 1860
. At the first convention, held in Charleston, he was selected to represent the interests of Southern Democrats in a debate with
Benjamin Butler
of Massachusetts. Owens, along with the Florida delegation and several other entire delegations representing the Southern states, walked out of the Charleston convention and held their own convention, where they nominated
John C. Breckinridge
for the Democratic Party ticket in the
U.S. presidential election of 1860
.
[1]
Owens then represented Marion County at the
Secession Convention of Florida
held in Tallahassee in January 1861 and was a signatory to the Ordinance of Secession which declared Florida's secession from the
United States
.
[4]
Shortly thereafter, Florida joined the
Confederacy
and Owens became a Deputy in the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States as well as a signatory to the
Constitution of the Confederate States
, representing Florida.
After the war, Owens, along with all other former Confederates, was granted a full and unconditional
pardon
by President
Andrew Johnson
in 1868.
Notable relatives
[
edit
]
Owens was the brother-in-law of
Ethelbert Barksdale
and the maternal grandfather of
John W. Martin
, the 24th
Governor of Florida
, by way of his daughter, Willie Owens, and her husband, John M. Martin Jr., himself the son of
John Marshall Martin
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- "Mrs. James B. Owens".
The Ocala Evening Star
. November 21, 1907.
Articles related to James Byeram Owens
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