James henry hammond biography

American politician and planter (–)

James Henry Hammond (November 15, – November 13, ) was an American attorney, politician, and planter. He served as a United States representative from to , the 60th Governor of South Carolina from to , and a United States senator from to An enslaver, Hammond was one of the most ardent supporters of slavery in the years before the American Civil War.

Acquiring property through marriage, Hammond ultimately owned 22 square miles, several plantations and houses, and enslaved more than people. Through his wife's family, he was a brother-in-law of Wade Hampton II and uncle to his children, including Wade Hampton III. When the senior Hampton learned that Hammond had raped his four Hampton nieces as teenagers, he made the scandal public. The publicizing of his crimes nearly derailed Hammond's career, but he later was elected to the United States Senate.

Early life

Born November 15, , in Newberry County, South Carolina, to Elisha and Catherine Fox (Spann) Hammond, he graduated from South Carolina College in , where he was a member of the Euphradian Society.

Career

Hammond went on to teach school, write for a newspaper, and study law. Hammond was admit

About

JAMES HENRY HAMMOND was born in Columbia, South Carolina. He graduated from South Carolina College in and went on to teach and then worked as a newspaper reporter while studying law. In addition to engaging in the practice of law in Columbia, he established the Southern Times, a newspaper that advocated the theory of nullification, which held that states had the right to nullify federal law. In he moved to Silver Bluff, a cotton plantation on the Savannah River. He became a Colonel in the South Carolina Militia in and was appointed a General in the Militia in His political career began with his work on the staff of South Carolina Governor Robert Young Hayne, after which he served in the U.S. House of Representatives. Although he was an unsuccessful candidate for governor in , he won election by the legislature in Hammond&#;s administration transformed the arsenal at Columbia and the Citadel at Charleston into military academies. Hammond was also a strong supporter of public education. Believing that secession from the Union was inevitable after Congress passed the Tariff Act of , Hammond urged the legislature to take any action necessary to protect the state&#;s citizens. Although Hammond was a vocal defender of slavery, it was he who pardoned John Brown. After leaving office, he was a delegate to the Southern Convention in Nashville in He was elected to the U.S. Senate in but resigned in after Abraham Lincoln won the presidential election.

Source

Sobel, Robert, and John Raimo, eds. Biographical Directory of the Governors of the United States, , Vol. 4. Westport, CT: Meckler Books, 4 vols.

The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. New York: James T. White & Company.

Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress

A South Carolina politician of the Civil War era, James Henry Hammond's many professional achievements include serving as governor of South Carolina and in the U.S House of Representatives () and the U.S. Senate ().

An graduate of South Carolina College, during his life he was also a school teacher, lawyer, planter, and founder of a newspaper. He is perhaps best known, however, as one of the south's most ardent supporters of slavery.

His introduction of the Mudsill Theory to Congress, which argued that there must always be a lower class to serve the upper classes, became one of the most famous pro-slavery speeches of the Antebellum Age, particularly for its use of the phrase "Cotton is King." Abraham Lincoln soundly rejected the theory and many critics viewed it as a weak excuse for the exploitation of others.

In addition to the Mudsill Theory, like many other prominent politicians of the state Hammond was a staunch advocate of nullification, an ideology that stated individual states could determine which federal laws were legal, and for the "states' rights" ideology, which heavily influenced secession on the eve of the Civil War.

He was also the brother-in-law of Wade Hampton II, and the uncle of one of South Carolina's most famous Confederate generals, Wade Hampton III. He died of illness at Redcliffe, his estate on Beech Island, in at the age of

Biography