“G” is for Grayson, William John (1788-1863). Politician, planter, poet, essayist. A native of Beaufort District, Grayson graduated from the South Carolina College. Throughout his life he held numerous public offices, serving in the S.C. House of Representatives; the S.C. Senate; the U.S. House of Representatives; and as Charleston’s customs collector. While editor of the Beaufort Gazette, Grayson supported nullification, winning a congressional seat in 1832 on the states’ rights ticket. He experienced a change of heart after his return to South Carolina and joined the Whig Party. Grayson is best remembered for his proslavery verse, The Hireling and the Slave (1854), a rejoinder to Harriet Beecher Stowe’s depiction of slavery in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. But, William John Grayson was also a Unionist, and vigorously defended the principles of America’s founding throughout the sectional crises of the 1850s.
“G” is for Grayson, William John (1788-1863)
