Benjamin Tillman - Governor of South Carolina

Governor of South Carolina

Benjamin Tillman's campaign on behalf of the South Carolina Farmers Association advanced his political power and influence in South Carolina. A quarrel between Wade Hampton and one of his lieutenants—Johnson Hapgood—led to the defeat of Wade Hampton as governor in 1880 and the election of Hapgood. The change in the governor's office, however, did not mean any change in the Bourbon rule of South Carolina.

Ben Tillman's skills as an controversial and rabble rousing orator, became apparent during a speech he made at the ninth annual joint session of the State Grange and the State Agricultural and Mechanical Society held at the courthouse in Bennettsville, South Carolina on August 5, 1885. Tillman's speech along with the resolutions in favor of aid to the small farmers "electified" the convention. According to the Columbia "Daily Register" the speech "was the sensation of the meeting. Almost every sentence was responded to with prolonged applause."

In January 1886, Tillman wrote a letter of address to the farmers of South Carolina, who Tillman said composed 76% of the total population of the State of South Carolina. The letter invited farmers to attend a state convention in Columbia on April 29, 1886 which would address the problems of farmers in the state and attempt to solve those problems. In response to Tillman's suggestion various county conventions were held on April 5, 1886 to elect delegates to the state convention. On April 29, the state-wide "Farmers Convention" was attended by some 300 delegates from all across the state. The "Farmers Convention," as it became known, was the first state-wide meeting of the Farmers Association. Once again Tillman's speeches at the convention provided most of the excitement. At this time, Ben Tillman was called the "Agricultural Moses." It was said that like Moses of old, Tillman was willing to die before he reached the "Promised Land."

Read more about this topic:  Benjamin Tillman

Famous quotes containing the words governor of, governor, south and/or carolina:

    Three years ago, also, when the Sims tragedy was acted, I said to myself, There is such an officer, if not such a man, as the Governor of Massachusetts,—what has he been about the last fortnight? Has he had as much as he could do to keep on the fence during this moral earthquake?... He could at least have resigned himself into fame.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    I saw the man my friend ... wants pardoned, Thomas Flinton. He is a bright, good-looking fellow.... Of his innocence all are confident. The governor strikes me as a man seeking popularity, who lacks the independence and manhood to do right at the risk of losing popularity. Afraid of what will be said. He is prejudiced against the Irish and Democrats.
    Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)

    Up from the South at break of day,
    Bringing to Winchester fresh dismay,
    The affrighted air with a shudder bore,
    Like a herald in haste, to the chieftain’s door,
    The terrible grumble, and rumble, and roar,
    Telling the battle was on once more,
    And Sheridan twenty miles away.
    Thomas Buchanan Read (1822–1872)

    Poetry presents indivisible wholes of human consciousness, modified and ordered by the stringent requirements of form. Prose, aiming at a definite and concrete goal, generally suppresses everything inessential to its purpose; poetry, existing only to exhibit itself as an aesthetic object, aims only at completeness and perfection of form.
    Richard Harter Fogle, U.S. critic, educator. The Imagery of Keats and Shelley, ch. 1, University of North Carolina Press (1949)