Stephen Decatur Miller | |
|---|---|
 | |
| United States Senator fromSouth Carolina | |
| In office March 4, 1831 – March 2, 1833 | |
| Preceded by | William Smith |
| Succeeded by | William C. Preston |
| 52nd Governor of South Carolina | |
| In office December 10, 1828 – December 9, 1830 | |
| Lieutenant | Thomas Williams |
| Preceded by | John Taylor |
| Succeeded by | James Hamilton, Jr. |
| Member of theSouth Carolina Senate fromClaremont District | |
| In office November 25, 1822 – December 10, 1828 | |
| Preceded by | Robert Witherspoon |
| Succeeded by | John Isham Moore |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina's9th district | |
| In office January 2, 1817 – March 3, 1819 | |
| Preceded by | William Mayrant |
| Succeeded by | Joseph Brevard |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1787-05-08)May 8, 1787 Waxhaws, South Carolina, US |
| Died | March 8, 1838(1838-03-08) (aged 50) |
| Party | Nullifier |
Stephen Decatur Miller (May 8, 1787 – March 8, 1838) was an American politician, who served as the52nd governor of South Carolina from 1828 to 1830. He representedSouth Carolina as aU.S. representative from 1817 to 1819, and as aU.S. senator from 1831 to 1833.
He was born inWaxhaw settlement, South Carolina and graduated fromSouth Carolina College in 1808. After he studied law, he practiced inSumterville.[1]Stephen Decatur Miller was married twice. His first wife, Elizabeth Dick, died in 1819. None of their three children lived to adulthood. Miller remarried in 1821; his second wife was a girl sixteen years his junior, Mary Boykin. They had four children together. Despite the age difference, their marriage was happy and passionate.[2]
During his successful campaign for theSenate on a platform of abolishing tariffs, he made a speech atStateburg, South Carolina in September 1830 where he said, "There are three and only three ways, to reform our congressional legislation. The representative, judicial and belligerent principle alone can be relied on; or as they are more familiarly called, the ballot box, the jury box and thecartouche box."[3]Stephen Miller renounced his political career in 1833 and ventured into farming in Mississippi. He died inRaymond, Mississippi, in 1838, leaving his wife and children in debt.[4]
Their daughterMary Boykin Miller marriedJames Chesnut, Jr., who later became a U.S. Senator and aConfederate general. Mary Chesnut became famous for her diary documenting life in South Carolina during theCivil War.[5][6]
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth,Mary Boykin Chesnut: A Biography (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press 1992).
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of the U.S. House of Representatives fromSouth Carolina's 9th congressional district 1817–1819 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of South Carolina 1828–1830 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. Senate | ||
| Preceded by | U.S. senator (Class 3) from South Carolina 1831–1833 Served alongside:Robert Young Hayne,John C. Calhoun | Succeeded by |
| Class 2 |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 3 | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
| Other | |
