Under the 1868 South Carolina Constitution, the Kershaw District became home rule Kershaw County with the state representatives also being county commissioners. During the Reconstruction era, some freedmen and other men of color were elected to various political offices. Among them was Henry Cardozo, who had been pastor of Old Bethel Methodist Church in Charleston, South Carolina. He served in the state senate as a Republican from Kershaw County, from 1870 to 1874. (February 1, 1836 – July 22, 1903) was an American clergyman, politician, and educator. When Francis Lewis Cardozo was elected in South Carolina as Secretary of State in 1868, he was the first African American to hold a statewide office in the United States.