Andrew Gordon Magrath

Andrew Gordon Magrath
Andrew Gordon Magrath
71st Governor of South Carolina
In office December 20, 1864 – May 25, 1865
Lieutenant	Robert McCaw
Preceded by	Milledge Luke Bonham
Succeeded by	Benjamin Franklin Perry
Judge of the Confederate States District Court for the District of South Carolina
In office May 6, 1861 – December 20, 1864
Appointed by	Jefferson Davis
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Benjamin F. Perry
Secretary of State of South Carolina*
In office November 13, 1860 – April 3, 1861
Governor	Francis Wilkinson Pickens
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Position abolished
Judge of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
In office May 12, 1856 – November 7, 1860
Appointed by	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Robert Budd Gilchrist
Succeeded by	George Seabrook Bryan (1866)
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from St. Philip's and St. Michael's Parish
In office November 26, 1838 – November 28, 1842
Personal details
Born	(1813-02-08)February 8, 1813 Charleston, South Carolina
Died	April 9, 1893(1893-04-09) (aged 80) Charleston, South Carolina
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Emma C. Mikell Mary E. Cord
Magrath served as Secretary of State during South Carolina's brief tenure as a self-declared independent republic, from secession to ratification of the Confederate Constitution. As such, he served as the chief diplomat of South Carolina, rather than in the same capacity as the modern South Carolina Secretary of State.

Andrew Gordon Magrath (February 8, 1813 – April 9, 1893) was the last Confederate Governor of South Carolina from 1864 to 1865, having previously been a United States federal judge.

Born in Charleston, Magrath graduated from South Carolina College with an AB in 1831 and afterwards attended Harvard Law School for legal training. It was in Charleston, reading law under the guidance of James L. Petigru that Magrath gained knowledge of the law. Petigru also influenced his early political beliefs. Magrath was admitted to the South Carolina bar in 1835, entering private practice in Charleston, and was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 1838 at the age of 25. He served until 1841 and was known as unionist or cooperationist. He thereafter remained in private practice in Charleston until 1856.

On May 9, 1856, Magrath was nominated by President Franklin Pierce to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina vacated by Robert Budd Gilchrist. Magrath was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 12, 1856, and received commission the same day. It was there that he asserted Southern supremacy by striking down a piracy statute on the slave trade. Magrath resigned his judgeship when Abraham Lincoln was elected in 1860 to the presidency. In U.S. District court on the day after Lincoln's election, November 7, 1860, Magrath rose from the bench, saying: