The Rising Son; or, the Antecedents and Advancement of the Colored Race

by William Wells Brown

Mr. Ransier is, in every respect, a self-made man. Born in Charleston, South Carolina, and, although his parents were free, they had to contend with poverty on the one hand and slavery on the other, and the son’s opportunities for education were poor. It is said that he never had any regular schooling. Yet he so far advanced in a common business education that at the age of sixteen years he was engaged in shipping cotton, rice, and other produce for some of the leading commercial houses in Charleston. Throughout all his business relations, Mr. Ransier gained the respect and confidence of those with whom he had dealings.

Immediately after the war, he contributed much towards the first Republican Convention held in his State, 1866, and was chosen by it to convey a memorial from that body to the Congress of the United States, setting forth the grievances of the loyal people, and asking the protection and aid of the government in their behalf. He remained in Washington nearly one month, as a member of what was known as the “Outside Congress,” which was composed of the leading colored men from all parts of the country. He was chairman of the executive committee of that body.

He was a member of the constitutional convention, and presidential elector on the Grant and Colfax ticket in 1868. He conducted that campaign, as chairman of the Republican State Executive Committee, with great judgment and ability. He was auditor of Charleston County, and resigned it on accepting the nomination as a candidate for lieutenant-governor. Being elected by a large majority to the latter position, he became, ex-officio, presiding officer of the senate, and, as such, was very popular among the members, because of his just rulings and courteous manners.

He is known to be favorable to general amnesty, and somewhat conservative upon many questions of public policy, but no one has ever assailed his private reputation. He may be regarded as one of the most reliable and influential men in the South.

Mr. Ransier is a mulatto, under forty years of age, of good address, energetic, and at times enthusiastic, full of activity, genial, good-natured, genteel in his personal appearance, and has all the bearing of a well-bred gentleman. He has been elected to a seat in Congress, where he will no doubt ably represent his race, and prove a valuable addition to the cause of Republicanism. As a speaker, Mr. Ransier stands well, being a good debater, always using refined language and—what is better than all,—good sense in his arguments.

ISAIAH C. WEARS.

To be a good debater is one of the noblest gifts of God to a public speaker. There are thousands of men in and out of the pulpit, who can deliver sermons and addresses, original or selected, and do it in the most approved style of oratory, and yet cannot debate a simple question with a child. This may seem extravagant to those who have not been behind the curtain with public men. A proficient and reliable debater must have brains, a well-stored mind, with ability to draw upon the resources at will; then the gift of gab, a temper entirely under his control, and must possess a common degree of politeness. Give such a man a fair cause, and you have a first-class debater. We listened to the ablest men in and out of the British Parliament twenty years ago, when Brougham, Derby, Thompson, Disraeli, Cobden, and a host of English orators, were in their prime, and we sat with delight in the gallery of the French Assembly when the opposition was led by Lamartine. We spent twenty-five years with the abolitionists of our own country, and in whose meetings more eloquence was heard than with any other body of men and women that ever appeared upon the world’s platform. And after all, we have come to the conclusion that the most logical, ready, reliable, and eloquent debater we have ever heard is a black man, and that black man, the gentleman whose name heads this sketch.

Isaiah C. Wears is a resident of Philadelphia, but a native of Baltimore, Maryland, and is about fifty years of age. For more than a quarter of a century he has been a leading man in his city, and especially in the organization and support of literary societies. The “Platonian Institute,” “Garrisonian Institute,” “The Philadelphia Library Company,” and some smaller associations, owe their existence to the energy, untiring zeal, and good judgment of Mr. Wears. Fidelity to the freedom and elevation of his own race kept him always on the alert, watching for the enemy. The Colonization Society found in him a bitter and relentless foe; and the negro, an able and eloquent advocate.

He has long stood at the head of “The Banneker Institute,” one of the finest and most useful associations in our country, and where we have listened to as good speeches as ever were made in the halls of Congress. Mr. Wears is not confined in his labors to the literary and the political, but is one of the foremost men in the church, and, had he felt himself called upon to preach, he would now be an ornament to the pulpit.