Franklin Israel Moses Jr. (January 1, 1838 – December 11, 1906) was a South Carolina lawyer and editor who became active as a Republican politician in the state during the Reconstruction Era.

[2] He supported integration of the state university, establishing new social programs and public funding of old-age pensions, and created a black militia to help protect freedmen from white paramilitary insurgents.

His father was born and reared in a prominent Jewish family of Charleston of Portuguese and German descent; and his Scots-Irish mother was a Methodist.

[5][6] Nonetheless, he was widely regarded as Jewish because Southerners placed so much emphasis on paternal heritage; his political enemies tried to promote this perception against him.

In this period, as noted by historian Benjamin Ginsberg, 'election outcomes depended as much upon the balance of armed force as upon the distribution of political popularity.

Also appointed as trustees that year were Republicans Francis L. Cardozo, who was of mixed race, born free before the war, and who had earned college and seminary degrees from Scotland; and Benjamin A. Boseman.

[12] No black students were admitted again to the state's flagship university until 1963,[11] years after the US Supreme Court had ruled in 1954 in Brown v. Board of Education that segregation of public schools was unconstitutional.

Du Bois noted in his history, Black Reconstruction (1930), one reason that debt increased in numerous Southern states was that Reconstruction legislatures were "investing" for public purposes; the planter elite had avoided such actions before the war; all education was private, there were few hospitals or other institutions, and the South was behind in investing in railroad construction to improve regional transportation.

Du Bois acknowledged there was corruption after the war, but asserted that it was generally within limits of comparable periods and tumultuous social conditions of the postwar societies.

Historian Benjamin Ginsberg's 21st-century biography notes that Moses should be known also for his substantial achievements in civil rights goals for African Americans.

[14] Upon leaving office in 1874, Moses was chosen by the General Assembly to a seat on the circuit court, but Republican Governor Chamberlain blocked his appointment.

In 1876, the Democrats regained control of state politics in the legislature and Wade Hampton III was elected governor.

For example, heavily contested Edgefield and Laurens counties each counted more votes for Hampton than the total number of registered voters.

With the withdrawal of federal troops from the state and other parts of the South in 1877, in a compromise supporting Hampton, the Reconstruction era was over.

[18] Believing Moses did not have long to live, as his drug addictions had ruined his health, Governor Oliver Ames pardoned the attorney in 1887.

In 1902, Moses was arrested again, convicted for larceny of an overcoat worth $50, and sentenced by the Boston Municipal Court to four months imprisonment.

He appealed to the court for mercy while acknowledging he was responsible, saying that he had become addicted to morphine and opium while serving in the Reconstruction South and was struggling to correct his life.

1860); Mary Richardson (b. September 12, 1862); Jeannie McLellan, named for his mother (b. Jan 20, 1867-d. February 7, 1938), Sumter, South Carolina; and Emma Buford Moses (b. November 21, 1872).