Andrew Gordon Magrath
McGrath c. 1861
71st Governor of South Carolina
In office December 20, 1864 – May 25, 1865[a]
Lieutenant	Robert McCaw
Preceded by	Milledge Luke Bonham
Succeeded by	Second Military District (as military government) Benjamin Franklin Perry (as governor)
Judge of the Confederate States District Court for the District of South Carolina
In office May 6, 1861 – December 20, 1864
Appointed by	Jefferson Davis
Preceded by	Office established
Succeeded by	Benjamin F. Perry
Secretary of State of South Carolina
In office November 13, 1860 – April 3, 1861
Governor	Francis Wilkinson Pickens
Judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina
In office May 12, 1856 – November 7, 1860
Appointed by	Franklin Pierce
Preceded by	Robert Budd Gilchrist
Succeeded by	George Seabrook Bryan
Member of theSouth Carolina House of Representatives fromSt. Philip's and St. Michael's Parish
In office November 26, 1838 – November 28, 1842
Personal details
Born	Andrew Gordon Magrath (1813-02-08)February 8, 1813 Charleston,South Carolina
Died	April 9, 1893(1893-04-09) (aged 80) Charleston,South Carolina
Resting place	Magnolia Cemetery Charleston,South Carolina
Party	Democratic
Education	University of South Carolina (A.B.) Harvard Law School read law

Andrew Gordon Magrath (February 8, 1813 – April 9, 1893) was an American politician and jurist who served as the lastGovernor of South Carolina under theConfederate States of America, aUnited States district judge of theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina and a Confederate District Judge for the District of South Carolina.

Born on February 8, 1813, inCharleston,South Carolina,^[1] Magrath received anArtium Baccalaureus degree in 1831 from South Carolina College (now theUniversity of South Carolina), attendedHarvard Law School^[1] andread law withJames L. Petigru in 1835.^[2] He entered private practice in Charleston from 1835 to 1839, in 1841, and from 1843 to 1856.^[1] He was a member of theSouth Carolina House of Representatives in 1840, and 1842.^[1] Magrath was a member of theDemocratic Party.^[2]

Magrath was nominated by PresidentFranklin Pierce on May 9, 1856, to a seat on theUnited States District Court for the District of South Carolina vacated by JudgeRobert Budd Gilchrist.^[1] He was confirmed by theUnited States Senate on May 12, 1856, and received his commission the same day.^[1]

Magrath's service was notable for his strongly proslavery decisions. In the trial of William C. Corrie for his ownership of the slave vesselWanderer in 1858, Magrath rewrote the law from the bench by announcing that bringing enslaved people from Africa was not a crime if they had been enslaved prior to their purchase.^[3]

His service terminated on November 7, 1860, due to his resignation.^[1]

In the political history of the United States, an event has happened of ominous import to fifteen slaveholding States. The State of which we are citizens has been always understood to have to have deliberately fixed its purpose whenever that event should happen. Feeling an assurance of what will be the action of the State, I consider it my duty, without delay, to prepare to obey its wishes. That preparation is made by the resignation of the office I have held. For the last time, I have, as a Judge of the United States, administered the laws of the United States, within the limits of the State of South Carolina. While thus acting in obedience to a sense of duty, I cannot be indifferent to the emotions it must produce. That department of Government which. I believe, has best maintained its integrity and preserved its purity, has been suspended. So far as I am concerned, the Temple of Justice, raised under the Constitution of the United States, is now closed. If it shall be never again opened, I thank God that its doors have been closed before its altar has been desecrated with sacrifices to tyranny.^[4]

Magrath was a member of South Carolina's secession convention in 1860, and was the first speaker at the signing ceremony.^[5] He was theSecretary of State of South Carolina from 1860 to 1861.^[1] He was a Judge of the Confederate District Court for the District of South Carolina from 1861 to 1864.^[1] He was elected on December 18, 1864, as the lastGovernor of South Carolina under theConfederate States of America, serving from December 20, 1864, to May 25, 1865,^[5] when he was deposed by theUnion Army and imprisoned atFort Pulaski.^[5] Magrath was the final governor to be elected by a secret ballot of the State Legislature, with gubernatorial selection being changed to popular election.^[5] He served a partial term until he was overthrown and imprisoned by the Union Army.

After his release from prison in December 1865,^[5] Magrath resumed private practice in Charleston from 1865 to 1893.^[1] He died on April 9, 1893, in Charleston.^[1] He was interred atMagnolia Cemetery in Charleston.^[5]

• Andrew Gordon Magrath at theBiographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of theFederal Judicial Center.

• "South Carolina Governor - Andrew Gordon Magrath – 1864-1865".www.sciway.net.
• "National Governors Association". September 30, 2007. Archived fromthe original on September 30, 2007.
• "Magrath, Andrew Gordon". University of South Carolina.

• 1813 births
• 1893 deaths
• University of South Carolina alumni
• Harvard Law School alumni
• South Carolina lawyers
• Democratic Party members of the South Carolina House of Representatives
• Judges of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina
• United States federal judges appointed by Franklin Pierce
• 19th-century American judges
• People of South Carolina in the American Civil War
• Democratic Party governors of South Carolina
• Judges of the Confederate States of America
• Confederate States of America state governors
• United States federal judges admitted to the practice of law by reading law
• Burials at Magnolia Cemetery (Charleston, South Carolina)
• 19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly

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