Robert Brown Elliott

Congressman Robert Elliott represented South Carolina in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1871 to 1874 (42nd-43rd Congresses), when he resigned to become Speaker of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Born in Liverpool, England, Elliott was a popular and hard-working political organizer. As a delegate to the South Carolina constitutional convention in 1868, he helped defeat the imposition of poll taxes and literacy tests that would prevent Black Americans from voting. He later distinguished himself in Congress with major speeches on behalf of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 and the Civil Rights Act of 1875. In 1872, Elliott was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives with 93 percent of his District’s vote. He served on the Education and Labor and Militia committees. Born of West Indian parents, Elliott graduated from Eton College in England and was trained as a typesetter. He also served in the British navy. Upon arrival in the United States, Elliott became the associate editor of the South Carolina Leader, a newspaper edited by future Congressman Richard Cain. He was a practicing lawyer.