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 The lieutenant governor of South Carolina is the second-in-command to the governor of South Carolina. Beyond overseeing the Office on Aging and the responsibility to act or serve as governor in the event of the office's vacancy, the duties of th ...

Biography

Porter was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives where he served from 1840 to 1848, and later the

South Carolina Senate The South Carolina Senate is the upper house of the South Carolina General Assembly, the lower house being the South Carolina House of Representatives. It consists of 46 senators elected from single member districts for four-year terms at the sa ...

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, " lavery isan 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 Events January–March * January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at Broad Street (Manhattan), 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City. * January 13 – American Civil War : Sec ...

, Porter because the first popularly-elected

lieutenant governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

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 Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, William Dennison 1810 births 1883 deaths American lawyers Lieutenant Governors of South Carolina