William Dennison Porter

Porter was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives where he served from 1840 to 1848, and later the South Carolina Senate from 1848 to 1865 until the body was deposed by the Union Army during the American Civil War.[2] 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, "[slavery is] an 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."[3] In the same letter, he argued that Southern states maintained the right to secede because the United States sought to abolish slavery.[3]

After the Civil War in 1865, Porter because the first popularly-elected lieutenant governor 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.[4] Porter was opposed to the constitution of 1868, which provided for popular elections, claiming that it provided for "Negro supremacy."[5] After leaving office, Porter served as attorney for the city of Charleston, South Carolina. In November of 1868, he argued a case before the South Carolina Supreme Court in which voter fraud had been alleged.[6]

Porter died in Charleston in 1883.[7]