Raleigh Travers Daniel was born on October 15, 1805, in Falmouth, Stafford County, and was the son of John M. Daniel, an army surgeon, and the second of his three wives, Margaret Stone Daniel. His sister married William Crane, a prominent Baptist lay leader in Richmond and Baltimore. After the death of his father in 1813, Daniel lived with and was educated in the Richmond home of his uncle and guardian, Peter V. Daniel (1784–1860), a member of the Council of State and later an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. R. T. Daniel studied law with his uncle and on November 21, 1826, received his law license. He married Elizabeth Susan Tabb Riddle, a Gloucester County widow, on November 7, 1831. They had at least four daughters and three sons. She died on June 13, 1874.
Daniel took his seat on the governor's advisory Council for a three-year term on April 1, 1845, and narrowly won reelection three years later, when a few Democrats voted for him. Service on the Council was not arduous, and the three members often rotated duty so that only one member attended. On several occasions when the governor was absent from Richmond, Daniel presided as lieutenant governor, as his uncle and guardian had done many times during the 1820s and 1830s. On December 10, 1850, with partisan feelings running high in the assembly, the Democratic majority replaced Daniel with his nephew, John M. Daniel (1825–1865), then editor of the Richmond Examiner. Even though Daniel's term did not expire until the end of March 1851, he attended the Council for the last time on December 26, 1850.
In August 1850 Daniel campaigned in a fourteen-candidate field for one of six seats representing Richmond and the counties of Charles City, Henrico, and New Kent in a convention called to revise the state constitution. An opponent of all the proposed democratic reforms, he lost badly. In the presidential election of 1860 he supported John Bell, a former Whig and candidate of the Constitutional Union Party. Although Daniel initially opposed secession, he warmly embraced the Confederate cause after the spring of 1861 and in November of that year was a presidential elector for Jefferson Davis. Lacking a record of distinction in the militia and being too old for military service, Daniel did not fight in the Civil War but served instead as commonwealth's attorney of Richmond.
After winning election to the House of Delegates for a two-year term in 1871, Daniel became chair of the important Committee on Finance. In August 1873 the Conservative Party nominated him for attorney general of Virginia. A supporter of the controversial Funding Act of 1871 but running on a ticket that included an opponent of that measure, Daniel did not campaign in areas where the act was unpopular. He ran strongest in the regions of Virginia with the fewest African Americans and the weakest Republican Party organizations. On November 6, 1873, Daniel defeated the Republican candidate, David Fultz, by a margin of more than 27,000 votes of about 207,000 cast.
Daniel's four-year term as attorney general began on January 1, 1874. He represented the state in federal court, defended the state's interests in the state courts, and rendered opinions when requested to do so by Virginia public officials needing legal guidance in the conduct of their duties. He opposed allowing inmates in the state penitentiary time off for good behavior as permitted by prison rules unless the governor specifically ordered a reduction of the sentence as an act of clemency. Daniel resisted enforcement of federal laws prohibiting Virginians from obstructing African American attempts to vote because he argued the measures violated the state's right to control elections. He did not, however, recommend enforcement of state or local laws against those obstructive tactics. Daniel also represented Virginia before an arbitration commission that settled a boundary dispute with Maryland. The arbitrators ruled against Virginia's claim to the Potomac River and drew the line across the Chesapeake Bay farther south than Daniel believed was justified.
Daniel died of a bowel hemorrhage at his home in Richmond on August 16, 1877, a few days after securing nomination for a second term as attorney general. He was buried in Hollywood Cemetery.
Time Line
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October 15, 1805 - Raleigh T. Daniel is born in Falmouth, Stafford County, the son of John Moncure Daniel and his second wife, Margaret Stone Daniel.
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1813 - Following the death of his father, Raleigh T. Daniel lives with and is educated in the Richmond home of his uncle and guardian, Peter V. Daniel.
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November 21, 1826 - Raleigh R. Daniel receives his law license after studying with his uncle, Peter V. Daniel.
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November 7, 1831 - Raleigh T. Daniel and Elizabeth Susan Tabb Riddle, a Gloucester County widow, marry. The couple will have at least four daughters and three sons.
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1841 - After serving for a time as commonwealth's attorney for Henrico County, Raleigh T. Daniel is elected to the House of Delegates from the city of Richmond. He is reelected each of the succeeding three years.
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January 30, 1844 - A slim Whig majority in the General Assembly elects Raleigh T. Daniel to the Council of State.
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April 1, 1845 - Raleigh T. Daniel begins his term on the Council of State, replacing John Rutherford.
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August 1850 - Raleigh T. Daniel campaigns to win a seat as a delegate to the state constitutional convention but loses badly.
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December 10, 1850 - John M. Daniel is elected to the Council of State, replacing his uncle, Raleigh T. Daniel.
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December 26, 1850 - Raleigh T. Daniel attends the Council of State for the last time despite his term not ending until March 1851.
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November 1861 - Raleigh T. Daniel serves as a presidential elector for Jefferson Davis.
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April 1867 - Raleigh T. Daniel addresses a meeting of newly enfranchised African Americans in Richmond and encourages them to follow the advice of white political leaders.
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December 1867 - Raleigh T. Daniel participates in the founding of the Conservative Party in Virginia. He serves as state chair until 1873.
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November 1870 - Raleigh T. Daniel is elected to an at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but it is not clear whether Virginia is entitled to a ninth representative and he does not attempt to take his seat.
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1871 - Raleigh T. Daniel is elected to the House of Delegates.
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August 1873 - Raleigh T. Daniel is nominated by the Conservative Party for attorney general of Virginia.
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November 6, 1873 - Raleigh T. Daniel, a member of the Conservative Party, is elected attorney general of Virginia, defeating the Republican candidate, David Fultz.
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January 1, 1874 - Raleigh T. Daniel begins his four-year term as attorney general of Virginia.
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June 13, 1874 - Elizabeth Susan Tabb Riddle, wife of Raleigh T. Daniel, dies.
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August 16, 1874 - Raleigh T. Daniel dies at his home in Richmond a few days after securing nomination for a second term as state attorney general.
References
Further Reading
Cite This Entry
- APA Citation:
Tarter, B., & the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Raleigh T. Daniel (1805–1877). (2015, November 2). In Encyclopedia Virginia. Retrieved from http://www.EncyclopediaVirginia.org/Daniel_Raleigh_Travers_1805-1877.
- MLA Citation:
Tarter, Brent and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. "Raleigh T. Daniel (1805–1877)." Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, 2 Nov. 2015. Web. READ_DATE.
First published: November 5, 2012 | Last modified: November 2, 2015
Contributed by Brent Tarter and the Dictionary of Virginia Biography. Brent Tarter is founding editor of the Dictionary of Virginia Biography.