Difference between revisions of "Jeter C. Pritchard"
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==Political career== | ==Political career== | ||
| − | Prior to his Senate tenure, Pritchard ran for lieutenant governor in the 1888 elections. He won the Republican nomination at the convention<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=906257 NC Lt. Governor - R Convention Race - May 23, 1888]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved September 29, 2021.</ref> though lost the general election to Democrat Thomas M. Holt by five percentage points, with Prohibition | + | Prior to his Senate tenure, Pritchard ran for [[lieutenant governor]] in the 1888 elections. He won the Republican nomination at the party convention<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=906257 NC Lt. Governor - R Convention Race - May 23, 1888]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved September 29, 2021.</ref> though lost the general election to Democrat Thomas M. Holt by five percentage points, with Prohibition nominee Moses Hammond siphoning away 1% of the vote.<ref>[https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=172828 NC Lt. Governor Race - Nov 06, 1888]. ''Our Campaigns''. Retrieved September 29, 2021.</ref> |
===U.S. Senate=== | ===U.S. Senate=== | ||
Revision as of 17:43, September 29, 2021
| Jeter Connelly “J. C.” Pritchard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
| Former U.S. Senator from North Carolina From: January 23, 1895 – March 3, 1903 | |||
| Predecessor | Thomas J. Jarvis | ||
| Successor | Lee S. Overman | ||
| State Representative from North Carolina From: 1891–1893 | |||
| Predecessor | D. F. Lawson | ||
| Successor | Charles B. Marshburn | ||
| State Representative from North Carolina From: 1885–1889 | |||
| Predecessor | D. S. Ball | ||
| Successor | D. F. Lawson | ||
| Information | |||
| Party | Republican | ||
| Spouse(s) | Malissa Bowman (died 1902) Lillian Esther Saum (div.) Augusta Louise Ray | ||
Jeter Connelly Pritchard (July 12, 1857 – April 10, 1921), also known as J. C. Pritchard,[1] was a judge from North Carolina who served as the state's U.S. senator from 1895 to 1903. A Republican, he was part of the "Fusion" alliance between the GOP and statewide Populist Party which opposed the Jim Crow Democrats.
Political career
Prior to his Senate tenure, Pritchard ran for lieutenant governor in the 1888 elections. He won the Republican nomination at the party convention[2] though lost the general election to Democrat Thomas M. Holt by five percentage points, with Prohibition nominee Moses Hammond siphoning away 1% of the vote.[3]
U.S. Senate
In 1895, the Fusionist-led North Carolina legislature elected Pritchard to the state's Class III Senate seat to finish the incomplete term left upon the death of Zebulon B. Vance.[4] Due to Jim Crow disenfranchisement of black voters following the end of Reconstruction, he was one of the few congressional Southern Republicans remaining. President William McKinley often consulted with Pritchard on matters pertaining to the South.[4]
Although Pritchard held a conservative voting record and Populist leader Marion P. Butler was considered a progressive, the two managed to form a strong political coalition which controlled state politics for some time before it was overthrown by white supremacist Democrats.[5]
As white supremacist Democratic Party terrorism (particularly the "Red Shirts") was prevalent in the South, Pritchard in 1898 requested President Kinley send federal troops to safeguard black voting rights amidst Jim Crow threats and intimidation.[5] McKinley did not do so, and the following widespread voter suppression resulted in sweeping general election victories for the Democratic Party. The Wilmington insurrection subsequently broke out, which resulted in the murders of many blacks in the city.
Due to the Democratic Party fully taking over statewide party politics, Pritchard did not run for re-election, knowing he would not be re-elected to another Senate term by the new Jim Crow-dominated state legislature.[note 1]
Lily-white movement
Despite his push for protecting black constitutional rights in 1898, Pritchard by 1900 joined the "lily-white" movement, a group of Southern white Republicans who were intraparty rivals of black Republican politicians.[5]
Pritchard was particularly at odds with GOP congressman George H. White, the last black Republican to serve in the House before Oscar De Priest was elected from a Chicago-based district in the late 1920s.[5] No black Democrats were elected to Congress until in the 1934 midterms.
Judicial service
In 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed Pritchard to become an associate justice for the Supreme Court of Washington, D.C., and later the former senator became a circuit court judge. During this time, Pritchard actively pushed against Jim Crow laws, advocating an end to the discriminatory "grandfather clause."[5]
References
- ↑ Pritchard, Jeter Connelly, 1857-1921.. Documenting the American South. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ↑ NC Lt. Governor - R Convention Race - May 23, 1888. Our Campaigns. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ↑ NC Lt. Governor Race - Nov 06, 1888. Our Campaigns. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Morgan, Joe L. (1994). Pritchard, Jeter Conley. NCPedia. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 Fascinating Politics (September 29, 2021). The Republican Families of Old North Carolina. Mad Politics: The Bizarre, Fascinating, and Unknown of American Political History. Retrieved September 29, 2021.
Notes
- ↑ Prior to the passage of the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, United States senators were picked by state legislatures rather than elected by popular vote.