Robert B. Elliott

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Robert Brown Elliott

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1871 - November 1, 1874
Preceded by	Solomon L. Hoge
Succeeded by	Lewis C. Carpenter

Born	August 11, 1842(1842-08-11) Liverpool, England
Died	August 9, 1884 (aged 41)
Political party	Republican
Profession	lawyer

Robert Brown Elliott (1842-1884) was an African American member of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina.

Born in Liverpool, England, he graduated from Eton College in 1859, and served in the English Royal Navy. He moved to South Carolina in 1867 and established a law practice. Elliott helped organize the local Republican Party and served at the state constitutional convention. In 1868 he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives. The next year he was appointed assistant adjutant-general; He was the first African American commanding general of the South Carolina National Guard. As part of his job, he helped form a state militia to fight the Ku Klux Klan.

Elliott was elected as a Republican to the Forty-second and Forty-third United States Congress. He "delivered a celebrated speech" [1] in favor of the Civil Rights Act of 1875. He resigned on November 1, 1874, to fight political corruption in South Carolina. He served once more as a member of the state house of representatives, where he was elected as Speaker of the House.

In 1876, he was elected South Carolina Attorney General. However, Reconstruction ended that year and he was forced out of office. He set up a private law practice in New Orleans.