American Historical Ephemera and Photography, Featuring African Americana

Manuscript response in Cain's hand, constituting an "Answer" in the case "State of South Carolina / Charleston County / In Common Pleas / John C. Mallonee vs. R.H. Cain Defendant." Signed ("R.H. Cain"), Charleston [S.C.], 30 March 1871. 3pp, 8 x 12 1/2 in. (light toning, oxidation residue at top left, creasing at folds). Docketed on verso.

Cain writes that he was indebted to the plaintiff, John C. Mallonee, but "the Defendant further answers that since said indebtedness was transacted, the plaintiff and the defendant were candidates for public office at the hands of the people of said county and that the plaintiff did on or about the middle of October 1870 request the defendant to make use of such monies as was required as his share of expenditures to carry on the Political Campaign.... The defendant did make use of said money to the amount of one hundred dollars...." Cain then outlines the specific uses of the campaign money, including "In printing papers & Hand bills bearing Plaintiffs name as a candidate for the Legislature of this state," "In securing men to carry such papers and hand bills in the county and about the city," and "In employing Teams to carry persons to the polls and otherwise aiding the Election of our party...." Cain concludes by asking the court to to consider the above statements in determining the amount due to plaintiff.

Richard Harvey Cain was the son of an African American father and a Cherokee mother. He was a free Black, who attended college in Ohio and divinity school. Prior to the Civil War he joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and following the war he settled in Charleston as superintendent of AME missions and a minister at Emanuel Church. South Carolina was notable because during Reconstruction it as the only state whose legislature was majority African American. Cain himself was politically active. He was a delegate to the SC state constitutional convention, served as a South Carolina state senator from 1868-1870, and was elected as a representative to the U.S. House of Representatives serving from 1873-1875 and 1877-1879. Interestingly, the plaintiff in the case, John Caples Mallonee (1836-1919), was a Confederate veteran and a prominent white businessman - and a political ally of sorts to Cain. Mallonee ran for state representative in the October 1870 state election as a "DeLarge Radical" while Cain ran for state senator as a "DeLarge Radical." This political affiliation aligned Cain and Mallonee with Robert C. DeLarge, a South Carolina Republican.

[With:] FLEGLER, S.F. Autograph letter signed ("S.F. Flegler") by prominent AME preacher. On letterhead of "Headquarters of The Marion District A.A.E. Church." 23 March 1894. -- REVELS, Hiram R. (1822-1901). Clipped signature ("H.R. Revels") of Revels, AME minister and the first Black American to serve in either house of Congress. -- Typed legal document in which The Reformed Methodist Church of Charleston pays the estate of Rev. William E. Johnston. 1903.