Attorney General of South Carolina

The attorney general of South Carolina is a statewide elected attorney and South Carolina's chief legal officer and prosecutor.^[2] They are a constitutional officer responsible for providing legal opinions to the legislative and executive branch, represent state officers in civil suits, and appear on behalf of the State in all cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and all appellate courts.

Attorney General of South Carolina
Incumbent Alan Wilson since January 12, 2011
Style	The Honorable
Type	Chief law enforcement officer
Term length	Four years, no limit
Constituting instrument	Constitution of South Carolina
First holder	Nicholas Trott
Salary	$208,000[1]
Website	www.scag.gov

History

On February 5, 1698, Nicholas Trott was appointed as the first attorney general of South Carolina during its time as a British colony. He arrived in Charleston and assumed his duties the following year.^[3] Alexander Moultrie, half-brother of Revolutionary War figure and future governor William Moultrie, was named the state's first attorney general under its first state "president", John Rutledge, in 1776. Rutledge had been provincial attorney general himself for 10 months before independence. Moultrie was impeached and resigned in 1792 for diverting state funds into the Yazoo land company fraud.

After the 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election, the state was left with a contested election and a dual government, from the election in November through April 1877. Republican Robert B. Elliott served briefly in this situation under Republican governor Daniel Henry Chamberlain, while James Conner held office under fellow Confederate officer and Democrat Wade Hampton III. Hampton and Conner prevailed.

His Majesty's attorneys-general of South Carolina

The colonial province of South Carolina was first organized under a royal governor in 1720.^[4]

• Benjamin Whitaker (1721–1731)
• James Abercrombie (1731–1732)
• Charles Pinckney (1732–1733)
• James Abercrombie (1733–1742)
• Sir James Wright (1742–1757)^[5]
• David Graeme (1757–1764)
• James Moultrie (1764)
• John Rutledge (1764)
• Sir Egerton Leigh, 1st Baronet (1765–1774)
• James Simpson (1774–1775)

U.S. state of South Carolina attorneys general

Image	Name	Took office	Left office	Party
	Alexander Moultrie	1776	1792
	John Julius Pringle	1792	1808
	Langdon Cheves	December 8, 1808	December 4, 1810	Democratic-Republican
	John Smythe Richardson (Sr.)	1810	1818
	Robert Y. Hayne	December 18, 1818	December 7, 1822	Democratic-Republican
	James L. Petigru	1822	1830	Whig
	Hugh S. Legaré	November 27, 1830	November 29, 1832	Democratic
	Robert Rhett	November 29, 1832	March 4, 1837	Democratic
	Henry Bailey	1837	1848
	Isaac W. Hayne	1848	1868
	Daniel Henry Chamberlain	July 6, 1868	December 7, 1872	Republican
	Samuel Wickliff Melton	1872	1876	Republican
	William Stone	1876	1876	Republican
	Robert B. Elliott (disputed)	December 14, 1876	May 29, 1877	Republican
	James Conner (disputed)	1876	1877	Democratic
	LeRoy F. Youmans	1877	1882	Democratic
	Charles R. Miles	1882	1886
	Joseph H. Earle	November 30, 1886	December 4, 1890	Democratic
	Young J. Pope	1890	1891
	John L. McLaurin	December 10, 1891	December 5, 1892	Democratic
	Daniel A. Townsend	1892	1894
	William A. Barber	1894	1898
	G. Duncan Bellinger (Sr.)	1898	1902
	U. X. Gunter, Jr.	1902	1905	Democratic
	LeRoy F. Youmans	1905	1906	Democratic
	D.C. Ray	1906	1907
	J. Fraser Lyon	1907	1912
	Thomas H. Peeples	1913	1918	Democratic
	Samuel M. Wolfe	1918	1924
	John M. Daniel	1924	1950	Democratic
	Tolliver Cleveland Callison Sr.[6]	1951	1959	Democratic
	Daniel R. McLeod	1959	1983	Democratic
	Thomas T. Medlock	January 3, 1983	January 3, 1995	Democratic
	Charlie Condon	January 15, 1995	January 15, 2003	Republican
	Henry McMaster	January 15, 2003	January 12, 2011	Republican
	Alan Wilson	January 12, 2011	present	Republican

References

1. Budds, Becky (11 November 2022). "Pay raises for 6 South Carolina elected officials are coming in January". WLTX. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
2. "Inside the Office -".
3. Cook, Robert D. (February 4, 2005). "History of the Office". South Carolina Attorney General's Office. Retrieved June 12, 2023.
4. William Roy Smith, South Carolina as a Royal Province, 1710–1776, Macmillan, 1903, pp. 412–413.
5. assistant / acting AG from 1742 through 1747; official term 1747 – 1757. See http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/james-wright-1716-1785
6. "Heart Attack Proves Fatal To Callison". The Greenville News. Associated Press. 18 March 1966. p. 48.