Edmund W. M. Mackey Explained

Edmund W. M. Mackey
Image Name:Edmund William McGregor Mackey - Brady-Handy.jpg
Office:Member of the
U.S. House of Representatives
from South Carolina
Term Start:March 4, 1875
Term End:July 19, 1876
Predecessor:Alonzo J. Ransier
Successor:Charles W. Buttz
Term Start1:May 31, 1882
Term End1:January 27, 1884
Predecessor1:Samuel Dibble
Successor1:Robert Smalls
Constituency1: (1882–83)
(1883–84)
Office2:Chair of the South Carolina Republican Party
Term Start2:1880
Term End2:January 27, 1884
Predecessor2:Robert Brown Elliott
Successor2:Thomas E. Miller
Office3:29th Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives
Term Start3:1876
Term End3:1877
Predecessor3:Robert B. Elliott
Successor3:William Henry Wallace
Office4:Member of the
South Carolina House of Representatives
from Charleston County
Term Start4:October 24, 1873
Term End4:March 17, 1874
Term Start5:November 28, 1876
Term End5:May 29, 1877
Office6:Sheriff of Charleston County
Term Start6:1868
Term End6:1872
Birth Date:March 8, 1846
Birth Place:Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Death Place:Washington, D.C., U.S.
Party:Republican (until 1874; 1876–onward)
Independent Republican (1874–1876)
Profession:lawyer, politician
Parents:Albert Mackey
Children:2

Edmund William McGregor Mackey (March 8, 1846 – January 27, 1884) was a lawyer, state representative, and United States Representative from South Carolina. He was a leader in the Republican Party.

Life and career

Born in Charleston, his father was Dr. Albert Mackey, who was the primary founder of Scottish Rite Freemasonry.

Edmund became a representative after the end of the American Civil War. An active Republican, he was nominated to be a delegate from Charleston for the constitutional convention of South Carolina in 1868. He was admitted to the bar in 1868 and practiced law in Charleston while also serving as sheriff and alderman.

Mackey was elected as a Republican to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1872. He campaigned successfully in 1874 as an Independent Republican for the Second Congressional District. The 44th Congress declared his seat vacant on July 19, 1876.[1]

He was elected again to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1876 and claimed to be the Speaker after a tumultuous campaign in the state, marked by violence and intimidation. Republicans disputed the election of Democratic Representatives from Edgefield and Laurens counties because of massive fraud in the election and the barring of freedmen from the polls by Democratic Party Red Shirts.[2] Following the South Carolina Supreme Court's decision to allow seating of elected legislators from Edgefield and Laurens counties, rival state governments assembled. Mackey and the Republican legislators occupied the South Carolina State House with the support of Federal troops.

The order of President Hayes to remove Federal troops from South Carolina on April 10, 1877, a result of a political compromise ended the Republicans' struggle to control state government. The Democrats annulled the election of representatives from Charleston County, including Edmund Mackey.

Mackey continued to be active in public life serving as an assistant United States attorney for South Carolina from 1878 to 1881. Mackey attempted to win election as a Republican to the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina, but lost the election against Michael P. O’Connor for the 2nd congressional district in 1878 and failed to have the Democratic-controlled House overturn the election. With the Republican takeover of the House for the Forty-seventh Congress, Mackey succeeded in replacing Samuel Dibble for the House seat. Re-elected in 1882 from the Seventh Congressional District, Mackey died during the term in Washington, D.C., on January 27, 1884.

Personal life

In 1874, he married his wife, Victoria Sumter, who was part African American.[3] They had two sons.

See also

References

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: South Carolina Delegates to the 44th U.S. Congress (1875-1877) . 2023-07-26 . www.carolana.com.
  2. Eric Foner, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, New York: Perennial Classics, 2002, p.575
  3. Web site: Mackey, Edmund William McGregor . 2024-08-08 . South Carolina Encyclopedia . en-US.