# Stephen Decatur Miller
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{{Short description|American politician (1787–1838)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|name = Stephen Decatur Miller
|image = Stephen Decatur Miller.jpg
|jr/sr = United States Senator
|state = [South Carolina](/source/South_Carolina)
|term_start = March 4, 1831
|term_end = March 2, 1833
|predecessor = [William Smith](/source/William_Smith_(South_Carolina_senator))
|successor = [William C. Preston](/source/William_C._Preston)
|order2 = 52nd
|office2 = Governor of South Carolina
|term_start2 = December 10, 1828
|term_end2 = December 9, 1830
|predecessor2 = [John Taylor](/source/John_Taylor_(1770-1832))
|successor2 = [James Hamilton, Jr.](/source/James_Hamilton%2C_Jr.)
|lieutenant2 = Thomas Williams
|office3 = Member of the [South Carolina Senate](/source/South_Carolina_Senate) from [Claremont District](/source/Claremont_County%2C_South_Carolina)
|term3 = November 25, 1822 – December 10, 1828
|predecessor3 = [Robert Witherspoon](/source/Robert_Witherspoon)
|successor3 = John Isham Moore
|state4 = [South Carolina](/source/South_Carolina)
|district4 = [9th](/source/South_Carolina's_9th_congressional_district)
|predecessor4 = [William Mayrant](/source/William_Mayrant)
|successor4 = [Joseph Brevard](/source/Joseph_Brevard)
|term_start4 = January 2, 1817
|term_end4 = March 3, 1819
|birth_date = {{birth date|1787|5|8}}
|birth_place = [Waxhaws](/source/Waxhaws), South Carolina, US
|death_date = {{death date and age|1838|3|8|1787|5|8}}
|death_place = [Raymond, Mississippi](/source/Raymond%2C_Mississippi), US
|party = [Nullifier](/source/Nullifier_Party)
}}
'''Stephen Decatur Miller''' (May 8, 1787{{spaced ndash}}March 8, 1838) was an American politician, who served as the 52nd [governor of South Carolina](/source/governor_of_South_Carolina) from 1828 to 1830. He represented [South Carolina](/source/South_Carolina) as a [U.S. representative](/source/United_States_House_of_Representatives) from 1817 to 1819, and as a [U.S. senator](/source/United_States_Senate) from 1831 to 1833.
==Life and career==
He was born in [Waxhaw settlement, South Carolina](/source/Waxhaws) and graduated from [South Carolina College](/source/South_Carolina_College) in 1808. After he studied law, he practiced in [Sumterville](/source/Sumter%2C_South_Carolina).[[http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1a161b968514a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD NGA Biography of Stephen Decatur Miller] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035825/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1a161b968514a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD |date=2007-09-30 }}]
Stephen Decatur Miller was married twice. His first wife, Elizabeth Dick, died in 1819. None of their three children lived to adulthood. Miller remarried in 1821; his second wife was a girl sixteen years his junior, Mary Boykin. They had four children together. Despite the age difference, their marriage was happy and passionate.[Muhlenfeld, ''Mary Boykin Chesnut'', chapter 2.]
During his successful campaign for the [Senate](/source/United_States_Senate) on a platform of abolishing tariffs, he made a speech at [Stateburg, South Carolina](/source/Stateburg%2C_South_Carolina) in September 1830 where he said, "There are three and only three ways, to reform our congressional legislation. The representative, judicial and belligerent principle alone can be relied on; or as they are more familiarly called, the ballot box, the jury box
and the [cartouche box](/source/cartouche_box)."[{{cite web | url=https://quoteinvestigator.com/2018/04/09/ballot/ | title=Ballot Box, Jury Box, Cartridge Box – Quote Investigator | date=9 April 2018 }}]
Stephen Miller renounced his political career in 1833 and ventured into farming in Mississippi. He died in [Raymond, Mississippi](/source/Raymond%2C_Mississippi), in 1838, leaving his wife and children in debt.[Muhlenfeld, ''Mary Boykin Chesnut'', chapter 2.]
Their daughter [Mary Boykin Miller](/source/Mary_Boykin_Chesnut) married [James Chesnut, Jr.](/source/James_Chesnut%2C_Jr.), who later became a U.S. Senator and a [Confederate](/source/Confederate_States_of_America) general. Mary Chesnut became famous for her diary documenting life in South Carolina during the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War).[[http://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/miller.html SCIway Biography of Stephen Decatur Miller]][[http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1a161b968514a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD NGA Biography of Stephen Decatur Miller] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035825/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1a161b968514a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD |date=2007-09-30 }}]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth, ''Mary Boykin Chesnut: A Biography'' (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press 1992).
==External links==
*[http://www.sciway.net/hist/governors/miller.html SCIway Biography of Stephen Decatur Miller]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070930035825/http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbeeb501010a0/?vgnextoid=1a161b968514a010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD&vgnextchannel=e449a0ca9e3f1010VgnVCM1000001a01010aRCRD NGA Biography of Stephen Decatur Miller]
*{{Find a Grave|20756356}}
{{CongBio|M000755}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-par|us-hs}}
{{US House succession box
|state=South Carolina
|district=9
|before=[William Mayrant](/source/William_Mayrant)
|years=1817–1819
|after=[Joseph Brevard](/source/Joseph_Brevard)}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box
|before=[John Taylor](/source/John_Taylor_(South_Carolina_governor))
|title=[Governor of South Carolina](/source/Governor_of_South_Carolina)
|years=1828–1830
|after=[James Hamilton, Jr.](/source/James_Hamilton%2C_Jr.)}}
{{s-par|us-sen}}
{{U.S. Senator box
|state=South Carolina
|class=3
|before=[William Smith](/source/William_Smith_(South_Carolina_senator))
|after=[William C. Preston](/source/William_C._Preston)
|alongside=[Robert Young Hayne](/source/Robert_Young_Hayne), [John C. Calhoun](/source/John_C._Calhoun)
|years=1831–1833}}
{{s-end}}
{{Governors of South Carolina}}
{{USSenSC}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Stephen Decatur}}
Category:1787 births
Category:1838 deaths
Category:University of South Carolina alumni
Category:South Carolina lawyers
Category:Democratic Party South Carolina state senators
Category:Democratic Party governors of South Carolina
Category:University of South Carolina trustees
Category:United States senators from South Carolina
Category:High Hills of Santee
Category:Nullifier Party politicians
Category:Nullifier Party United States senators
Category:Democratic-Republican Party United States representatives from South Carolina
Category:Nullifier Party state governors of the United States
Category:19th-century American lawyers
Category:19th-century United States representatives
Category:19th-century United States senators
Category:19th-century members of the South Carolina General Assembly
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Stephen Decatur Miller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur_Miller) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Decatur_Miller?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.