American politician
William Aiken Jr.
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In office
December 7, 1844 ? December 8, 1846
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Lieutenant
| J. F. Ervin
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Preceded by
| James Henry Hammond
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Succeeded by
| David Johnson
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In office
March 4, 1851 ? March 3, 1857
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Preceded by
| Isaac E. Holmes
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Succeeded by
| William P. Miles
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Constituency
| 6th district
(1851?53)
2nd district
(1853?57)
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In office
November 28, 1842 ? December 7, 1844
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In office
November 26, 1838 ? November 28, 1842
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Born
| (
1806-01-28
)
January 28, 1806
Charleston, South Carolina
, US
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Died
| September 6, 1887
(1887-09-06)
(aged 81)
Flat Rock, North Carolina
, US
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Resting place
| Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina
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Political party
| Democratic
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Spouse
|
Harriet Lowndes Aiken
(
m.
1831)
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Profession
| businessman,
planter
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William Aiken Jr.
(January 28, 1806 ? September 6, 1887) was the
61st governor of
South Carolina
, serving from 1844 to 1846. He also served in the state legislature and the
United States House of Representatives
, running unsuccessfully for
speaker of the House
in
1856
in "the longest and most contentious Speaker election in House history."
Aiken was one of the state's wealthiest citizens and a slave owner.
[1]
He owned one of the largest rice plantation in the state?Jehossee Island?with over 700
enslaved
black people on 1,500 acres under cultivation, almost twice the acreage of the next largest plantation. By 1860, Aiken owned the entire Jehossee Island, and the plantation produced 1.5 million pounds of rice in addition to sweet potatoes and corn. After the
American Civil War
, the plantation regained its preeminence, producing 1.2 million pounds of rice. Descendants of the Aiken family, the Maybanks, still own part of the island, having sold the remainder in 1992 to the U.S. as part of the ACE Basin National Wildlife Refuge.
[2]
Early life
[
edit
]
Aiken was the child of
William Aiken
, the first president of the pioneering
South Carolina Canal and Rail Road Company
, and Henrietta Wyatt.
[3]
Unfortunately, William Sr. was killed in a Charleston carriage accident and never saw his namesake town of
Aiken, South Carolina
. Aiken graduated from the College of South Carolina (now the University of South Carolina) at Columbia in 1825 and engaged in agriculture as a
planter
, entering politics in 1837. He was a member of the State House of Representatives 1838?1842, and served in the State Senate 1842?1844.
[4]
His term as governor ran from 1844 to 1846.
[5]
Congressional service
[
edit
]
Subsequent to his service as governor, Aiken served in the U. S. House of Representatives for the
Thirty-second Congress
, and he was returned to the
Thirty-third
and
Thirty-fourth
Congresses, from March 4, 1851, to March 3, 1857.
[5]
In December 1855, Aiken was a leading candidate for
Speaker of the House of Representatives
. After two months and 133 ballots, Aiken lost the race to
Nathaniel P. Banks
by a vote of 103 to 100, in what has been termed "the longest and most contentious Speaker election in House history".
[6]
In 1866 he was elected to represent his district in the
Fortieth Congress
, while the state was under a provisional governor, and he was not seated.
[5]
Personal life
[
edit
]
In 1831 Aiken was married to Harriet Lowndes Aiken (1812?1892) and had a daughter with her named Henrietta Aiken Rhett (1836?1918).
Following the
Dred Scott
decision, Aiken began traveling to more temperate Northern locations in the summer with some of his slaves, and became an early patron of the University of Minnesota, loaning it some $28,000 (approximately $750,000 in 2016 terms).
[7]
Throughout the
American Civil War
he was a loyal
Unionist
, though his friends were nearly all
Secessionists
.
[5]
He was a successful businessman and planter and lived in
Charleston, South Carolina
. Aiken's first cousin,
D. Wyatt Aiken
served as a
Confederate States Army
officer and five-term
U.S. Congressman
. Aiken died at
Flat Rock, NC
, September 6, 1887, and was interred in
Magnolia Cemetery at Charleston, South Carolina
. His house, the
Aiken-Rhett House
, is part of the Historic Charleston foundation.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Congress slaveowners"
,
The Washington Post
, January 13, 2022
, retrieved
January 14,
2022
- ^
Scott, Thomas L. (December 23, 2014).
"9 of the Biggest Slave Owners in American History"
. Atlanta Black Star
. Retrieved
May 16,
2019
.
- ^
Clifton, James M. (2000).
Aiken, William
. Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/anb/9780198606697.article.0400009
.
ISBN
978-0-19-860669-7
. Retrieved
November 13,
2022
.
- ^
"Biographical Directory of the United States Congress"
. U. S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Johnson 1906
, p. 65
- ^
"Historical Highlights, February 02, 1856"
. U. S. House of Representatives, Office of the Historian
. Retrieved
September 11,
2013
.
- ^
Brown, Curt.
"Minnesota History: Southern slave owner helped revive University of Minnesota"
.
Star Tribune
. Retrieved
January 14,
2022
.
Attribution
External links
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