Sixty-Five Members of the South Carolina Legislature, 1868-1872

From a photograph in possession of Walter L. Fleming, editor. A Documentary History of Reconstruction : Political, Military, Social, Religious, Educational, & Industrial 1865 to the Present Time, vol. II. Cleveland, Ohio: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1907. frontspiece.

"Twenty-two of the entire legislature of 155 members could read and write; several could write only their names; 41 signed by an X mark. Of the 98 negro members, one paid $83 taxes, 30 together paid $60 and 67 paid none. Of the 57 whites, 11 Conservatives paid $194; 22 Radicals paid $297; and 24 Radicals paid none. None of the state officers, except the lieutenant governor, paid taxes. The taxes levied amounted to $2,000,000 a year, and in addition the bonded debt was increased by about $20,000,000 by 1872. When the legislature and state officers went out of office they paid taxes on a great deal of property."[Fleming]