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9th President of the Confederate States | |
| Predecessor | John Tyler Morgan |
| Successor | James D. Richardson |
| Vice President | Murphy J. Foster |
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C.S. Senator from South Carolina | |
| Predecessor | John Gary Evans |
| Successor | Christie Benet |
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C.S. Senator from South Carolina | |
| Predecessor | Matthew Butler |
| Successor | Matthew Butler |
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Governor of South Carolina | |
| Predecessor | John Peter Richardson II |
| Successor | John Gary Evans |
| Born | August 11, 1847 Trenton, South Carolina, US |
| Died | July 3, 1918 (aged 70) Richmond, Virginia, CS |
| Spouse | Sallie Starke |
| Political Party | Southern |
Benjamin Ryan Tillman, Jr. (August 11, 1847 – July 3, 1918) was a Confederate politician who served as the 9th President of the Confederate States. His term as president remains among the most controversial in Confederate history, owing to his unique oratory style and the economic crisis which he failed to mitigate.
Early Life[]
Political Career[]
Tillman became Governor of South Carolina in 1890 off the back of populist support from farmers and rural voters. He won another term in 1892 before running for a CS Senate seat in 1893, a race which he narrowly won. His outspoken support of his ideals and unique, crude manner of speaking quickly made him stand out among the traditional politicians around him. These same qualities made him an attractive candidate for president after the Panic of 1896. Common people had become fed up with the political establishment- Tillman represented something new and different, an embodiment of the popular anger towards the government. He won the 1897 Southern Party presidential nomination easily, and delivered a rowdy speech that was well-received by the delegates. Tillman then went on the campaign trail, speaking directly to the people in a manner uncommon for presidential campaigns at the time. Many commoners came to love him for his honest and blunt words, but an almost equal amount came to hate him for his offensive rhetoric. He dominated newspaper headlines around the country, slipping controversial remarks into every speech in an almost intentional manner. Despite the controversy, his methods worked, and he was elected president with a slim majority of electoral votes.
Presidency[]
Tillman was determined to begin his presidency in a forceful manner, in a way that would show the people he was a different type of politician who would do everything he could to fight for their interests. Instead of holding a traditional inauguration at the Capitol, the new president had a stage set up at a plantation outside of Richmond. Outgoing President John Tyler Morgan was not invited to the proceedings. Tillman's inauguration crowd was made up almost entirely of average Confederate citizens, with only a few notable politicians present to hear the speech. Tillman repeated his campaign rhetoric, promising to upend the corrupt political system and bring a fast end to the Confederacy's economic downturn. The next day, the president spoke directly to Congress, challenging them to pass quick and forceful legislation to end the crisis. Tillman's early actions were extremely well-received among the Confederate populace. His early popularity would not last long.
To fix the crisis, Tillman cut the military budget by over half and diverted the funds to subsidizing failing plantations and supporting more development in the Mexican territories and Cuba. He instituted a policy where the government would buy slaves from bankrupt plantations. This both prevented the slaves from going free and put a little extra money in the pockets of failed plantation owners. While these measures were successful in bringing some relief to the economy and Confederate citizens, the upturn did not last long. The government eventually ran low on funds, forcing the end of plantation subsidization efforts. Legislative deadlock prevented much revolutionary legislation from being passed. Tillman constantly berated the politicians for holding up his agenda, but this did not fix the problems.
Another issue was the boll weevil infestation. The parasitic bugs had come up from plantation fields in Mexico and by 1900 were beginning to devastate cotton crops around the Confederacy. The economy tanked even further. President Tillman's solution was to insult federal politicians even more, hoping to spur them to action. This, of course, did not cause the boll weevils to leave.
By 1902, the Confederate economy was beginning to fall apart at the seams. Poverty was rampant and plantations went out of business left and right. Many citizens began to call for relief by any means necessary, even if that meant negotiating with the European powers or ending slavery. Tillman was appalled by this line of thought. His attacks shifted from the politicians to the people, saying that they were impatient and unwilling to fight for their way of life. This, of course, did not help the president's popularity. Two separate assassination attempts were carried out on the president, one on June 12, 1902 and the other on April 1, 1903. Both attempts failed. By the end of his term, Tillman had completely stopped governing and had resorted to constant verbal attacks against politicians and common people alike. The economy continued to worsen.
By the next presidential election, even Tillman's own party had abandoned him. They nominated a politician who was very much the opposite of Tillman, Augustus Octavius Bacon. They also asked Tillman not to campaign or remark on the election, as they felt he was so unpopular that such efforts would only hurt Bacon's cause. Tillman was offended by his party's actions and made occasional statements against Bacon's campaign, as well as Richardson's, but near the end he did grow strangely silent. The bitter president took several trips away from Richmond during the last year of his term. He felt totally defeated.
The Confederate Party candidate, James D. Richardson, defeated Bacon by a landslide in the election. Tillman, naturally, did not attend his successor's inauguration and instead returned home to South Carolina, where he was subject to constant heckling whenever he went out in public. The political establishment quickly forgot about Tillman and moved on to making real reforms to save the Confederacy.
Post-Presidency[]
Tillman remained uncharacteristically quiet during the first few years of his post-presidential life. While he disliked President Richardson, he was privately supportive of his successor, Thomas E. Watson, who made many of the progressive reforms Tillman had failed to pass. Later in the decade, Tillman reestablished contact with many of his old political allies and began to contemplate a return to the political field. Gradually, more of his statements began to appear in the media as he commented his thoughts on the current political situation.
By 1911, the economy was back near normal levels, and Tillman felt that enough time had passed for the country to have forgiven him. In many parts of the country, this was not true, and he was still hated. In South Carolina, though, his image had been steadily rehabilitated. Many local politicians and citizens thought that Tillman was an honest and brave man who was foiled by greedy politicians during his time in office. In a triumphant return to glory, Tillman announced that he was running for his old senate seat. To the surprise of nearly everyone outside of South Carolina, he won the election by a small amount and set off to return to Richmond. He also became the first Confederate president to win election to a different government position after his term had ended.
In his second term in the Senate, Tillman supported many of the same policies he had previously. He fought hard in support of slavery and the common farmer. He was favorable to his colleagues from the People's Agrarian Party, who he often worked with instead of the politicians from his own party to get progressive reforms passed through the Senate. As tensions ramped up on the road to World War I, Senator Tillman emerged as a prominent war hawk. He wanted the country to go to war against France and the UK in an act of revenge for the earlier embargoes. Later, he also supported going to war against the United States, who he believed had been a constant hindrance to Confederate goals. He continued to serve in the Senate for much of the war, winning a firm reelection in 1917. Tillman died in office on July 3, 1918, while the war was still in progress.
Legacy[]
While Tillman managed to redeem his legacy a bit with his second Senate tenure, especially in South Carolina, he remains widely disliked among the general Confederate populace. He is seen as a failed president who was ultimately unequipped to navigate the country through such a bleak crisis. His angry rhetoric was used as a warning for later Confederate politicians, and it was a long while before an aggressive populist like him came to any prominence in nationwide politics. His presidency was so damaging to the image of the Southern Party that they did not win the presidency again until 17 years after he left office, in 1921.
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