Joseph Alston

For other people named Joseph Alston, see Joseph Alston (disambiguation).

Joseph Alston (1779 – September 10, 1816) was the 44th Governor of South Carolina from 1812 to 1814.

Joseph Alston
Joseph Alston, Governor of South Carolina
44th Governor of South Carolina
In office December 1, 1812 – December 1, 1814
Lieutenant	Eldred Simkins
Preceded by	Henry Middleton
Succeeded by	David Rogerson Williams
15th Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives
In office November 28, 1809 – November 23, 1812
Governor	John Drayton Henry Middleton
Preceded by	Theodore Gaillard
Succeeded by	John Geddes
In office 1805 – November 28, 1808
Governor	Paul Hamilton Charles Pinckney
Preceded by	William C. Pinckney
Succeeded by	Theodore Gaillard
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Georgetown Parish
In office November 20, 1805 – December 10, 1812
Member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Christ Church Parish
In office November 22, 1802 – November 26, 1804
Personal details
Born	1779 (1779) Georgetown County, South Carolina, U.S.
Died	September 10, 1816 (aged 36–37) Charleston, South Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Democratic-Republican
Spouse	Theodosia Burr ​ ​ (m. 1801; died 1813)​
Children	1

Early life and career

Thomas Bee's House, ca. 1730. A later owner was governor Joseph Alston and his wife Theodosia, daughter of Aaron Burr.

The son of William Alston, he was born in All Saints Parish near Georgetown, South Carolina. Alston attended the College of New Jersey; but he left in 1796 without graduating. He then went to study law at the office of Edward Rutledge and was admitted to the bar. Alston decided against practicing law and instead engaged in planting, becoming one of the wealthiest planters in South Carolina.

In 1801, he married the daughter of Aaron Burr, Theodosia Burr Alston, partly to ingratiate himself with Republican voters in an effort to downplay his aristocratic status. The couple's honeymoon was spent in Niagara Falls, the first recorded couple to do so. Their son Aaron Burr Alston, born 1802, died in 1812.

Political career

Rise to governor

Alston won election to the South Carolina House of Representatives for an 1802–1803 term and later for a more extended period, 1805 to 1812. In 1805, the House of Representatives chose Alston to be the Speaker, and he pushed the legislature to adopt a more equitable basis of representation.

In 1812, the General Assembly elected Alston to be the Governor of South Carolina for a two-year term, after the removal of Thomas Sumter and Andrew Pickens as candidates. Alston's private life suffered tragedy by the loss of his wife and only child and the disappearance of a ship headed towards New York City which his wife had boarded. His troubles continued as his tenure got off to a rocky start and his popularity plummeted.

War of 1812

With the War of 1812 raging, Governor Alston called the state militia into service in 1813, to protect military magazines from the British. Some soldiers of the militia refused to serve, and Alston issued a statement that the refusal of service would result in a death sentence. However, a court issued a writ of habeas corpus, and the men who had been charged with courts-martial were released.

Subsequently, Alston dismissed the entire militia from service; but the residents were in shock that their state was then completely defenseless from British attack. The Governor was forced to recall the militia into service after British forces landed on St. Helena Island, and the South Carolina General Assembly correspondingly increased the powers of the governor for the use of the militia in wartime.

Later life

Alston left the governorship in 1814. He died in Charleston on September 10, 1816.

References

• Sherman Zavitz (City of Niagara Falls Official Historian), 'Niagara Falls Moment', CJRN 710 Radio, June 26, 2008
• Wallace, David Duncan (1951). South Carolina: A Short History. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 358, 368, 369–371, 416, 423.
• Wolfe, John Harold (1940). Jeffersonian Democracy in South Carolina. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 211–212, 218–219, 263, 268–273.

External links

• SCIway Biography of Joseph Alston