James Henry Hammond (November 15, 1807 – November 13, 1864) was an attorney, politician, and
planter from
South Carolina
)''Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = " Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = ...
. He served as a
United States representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
from 1835 to 1836, the
60th Governor of South Carolina
The governor of South Carolina is the head of government of South Carolina. The governor is the '' ex officio'' commander-in-chief of the National Guard when not called into federal service. The governor's responsibilities include making year ...
from 1842 to 1844, and a
United States senator
The United States Senate is the Upper house, upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives being the Lower house, lower chamber. Together they compose the national Bica ...
from 1857 to 1860. A slave owner, he is considered one of the strongest
supporters of slavery in the years before the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
.
Acquiring property through marriage, Hammond ultimately owned 22 square miles, several
plantations
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
and houses, and more than 300
enslaved people
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
.
Through his wife's family, he was a brother-in-law of
Wade Hampton II
Wade Hampton II (April 21, 1791 – February 10, 1858) was an American politician, plantation owner, and soldier in the War of 1812. He was a member of the Hampton family, whose influence was strong in South Carolina politics and social circles fo ...
and uncle to his children, including
Wade Hampton III
Wade Hampton III (March 28, 1818April 11, 1902) was an American military officer who served the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War and later a politician from South Carolina. He came from a wealthy planter family, and ...
. 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 was initially thought to have derailed Hammond's career but he later was elected to the
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and pow ...
.
Biography
Born November 15, 1807, in
Newberry County, South Carolina
Newberry County is a county located in the U.S. state of South Carolina. As of the 2020 census, its population was 37,719. Its county seat is Newberry. The name is of unknown origin.
Newberry County comprises the Newberry, SC Micropolitan St ...
, to Elisha and Catherine Fox (Spann) Hammond, he graduated from
South Carolina College in 1825, where he was a member of the
Euphradian Society The Euphradian Society, also known as (Phi Alpha Epsilon), a local societyThus not to be confused with Phi Alpha Epsilon, the national architectural engineering society of the same name. is a literary society
A literary society is a group of pe ...
, and went on to teach school, write for a newspaper, and study law. He was admitted to the bar in 1828 and started a practice in Columbia, South Carolina. He established a newspaper there in support of
nullification
Nullification may refer to:
* Nullification (U.S. Constitution), a legal theory that a state has the right to nullify any federal law deemed unconstitutional with respect to the United States Constitution
* Nullification Crisis, the 1832 confront ...
.
Hammond "secured his financial independence" by marrying Catherine Elizabeth Fitzsimmons, who was a shy, plain 17-year-old with a substantial dowry.
He became a wealthy man through this marriage and entered the
planter class
The planter class, known alternatively in the United States as the Southern aristocracy, was a racial and socioeconomic caste of pan-American society that dominated 17th and 18th century agricultural markets. The Atlantic slave trade permitted p ...
. He ultimately owned of land, a number of
plantation house
A plantation house is the main house of a plantation, often a substantial farmhouse, which often serves as a symbol for the plantation as a whole. Plantation houses in the Southern United States and in other areas are known as quite grand and e ...
s, and more than 300
enslaved persons.
After his marriage, he was elected to the
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...
as a member of the
Nullifier Party
The Nullifier Party was an American political party based in South Carolina in the 1830s. Considered an early American third party, it was started by John C. Calhoun in 1828.
The Nullifier Party was a states' rights, pro-slavery party that s ...
, serving from 1835 until his resignation the next year due to ill health. After spending two years in Europe, he returned to South Carolina and engaged in agricultural pursuits; managing his large holdings took much of his time.
He was elected as governor of South Carolina, serving from 1842 to 1844. The legislature chose him for the United States Senate in 1857, following the death of
Andrew P. Butler
Andrew Pickens Butler (November 18, 1796May 25, 1857) was a United States senator from South Carolina who authored the Kansas-Nebraska Act with Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois.
Biography
Butler was a son of William Butler and Behethland ...
, and he served from 1857 until his resignation in 1860 in light of
South Carolina's secession from the
Union
Union commonly refers to:
* Trade union, an organization of workers
* Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets
Union may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Music
* Union (band), an American rock group
** ''Un ...
. Hammond died on November 13, 1864 (two days before his fifty-seventh birthday), at what is now the
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site
Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site is a state park in South Carolina, United States. Redcliffe Plantation, also known as Redcliffe, completed in 1859, is a Greek Revival plantation house located on the site that is listed on the National Re ...
in Beech Island, South Carolina.
Pro-slavery
A
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
, Hammond was perhaps best known during his lifetime as an outspoken defender of
slavery
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
and
states' rights
In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...
.
[ Faust, Drew Gilpin, ''James Henry Hammond and the Old South'', Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge and London, 1982, ] He popularized the phrase that
"Cotton is King" in his March 4, 1858, speech to the US Senate, saying:
"In all social systems there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life...It constitutes the very mudsill of society." He went on to utter the oft-repeated words "You dare not make war on cotton — no power on earth dares make war upon it. Cotton is king."
In his writings, he consistently compared the South's "well compensated" slaves to the free labor of the North, describing the latter as "''scantily'' compensated" slaves (as he termed the hired skilled laborers and operatives).
Going beyond articles in local newspapers, he co-authored ''The Pro-Slavery Argument'' with
William Harper,
Thomas Roderick Dew
Thomas Roderick Dew (1802–1846) was a professor at and then president of The College of William & Mary. He was an influential pro-slavery advocate.
Biography
Thomas Dew was born in King and Queen County, Virginia, in 1802, son of Captain Th ...
, and
William Gilmore Simms
William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was an American writer and politician from the American South who was a "staunch defender" of slavery. A poet, novelist, and historian, his ''History of South Carolina'' served as the defin ...
. Hammond and Simms were part of a "sacred circle" of intellectuals, including
Edmund Ruffin
Edmund Ruffin III (January 5, 1794 – June 18, 1865) was a wealthy Virginia planter who served in the Virginia Senate from 1823 to 1827. In the last three decades before the American Civil War, his pro-slavery writings received more attention th ...
,
Nathaniel Beverley Tucker
Nathaniel Beverley Tucker (September 6, 1784 – August 26, 1851) was an American author, judge, legal scholar, and political essayist.
Life and politics
Tucker was generally known by his middle name. He was born into a socially elite and p ...
, and
George Frederick Holmes
George Frederick Holmes (1820 – November 4, 1897), emigrated to the United States where he taught history and literature and became the first Chancellor of the University of Mississippi (from 1848 to 1849). From 1857 until his death, Holmes taug ...
, who promoted reformation in the South in various forms. As supporters of slavery, they both justified it in terms of stewardship of inferior beings and promoted slaveholders' improvement of their treatment of slaves.
Hammond promoted
Redcliffe, his plantation in
Beech Island, South Carolina
Beech Island is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Aiken County, South Carolina, United States.Walter Edgar, Ed.: ''The South Carolina Encyclopedia'', The University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, S.C., 2006, p. 6 ...
, as his ideal of the perfectly run
plantation
A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...
in his ''Plantation manual, 1857-58''.
It includes a wide range of material, with detailed rules regulating treatment of pregnant and
nursing
Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...
slaves (whom he allowed to nurse their infants for 12 months), old slaves no longer fit for heavy field work, together with rules about clothing, quarters, food, etc., in addition to livestock and crop management.
Hammond rejected any government encroachment on slaveholding, even in wartime. When the South Carolina government requisitioned 16 of his slaves to improve fortifications for Charleston, he refused, calling it "wrong every way and odious." Also, when a Confederate army officer stopped by to requisition some grain, he tore up the requisition order, tossed it out a window, and wrote about it that it compensated him too little, and that it was like "branding on my forehead: 'Slave'".
Relationships and sexual assault
Hammond's ''Secret and Sacred Diaries'' (not published until 1989) described, without embarrassment, his sexual abuse
[Rosellen Brown, "MONSTER OF ALL HE SURVEYED": Review of ''SECRET AND SACRED The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder''](_blank)
edited by Carol Bleser. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, accessed 7 November 2013. over two years of four teenage nieces, daughters of his sister-in-law Ann Fitzsimmons and her husband
Wade Hampton II
Wade Hampton II (April 21, 1791 – February 10, 1858) was an American politician, plantation owner, and soldier in the War of 1812. He was a member of the Hampton family, whose influence was strong in South Carolina politics and social circles fo ...
.
He blamed his behavior on what he described as the seductiveness of the "extremely affectionate" young women.
The scandal "derailed his political career" for a decade to come after Wade Hampton III publicly accused him in 1843 when Hammond was governor. He was "ostracized by polite society" for some time, but in the late 1850s, he was nonetheless elected by the state legislature as a U.S. senator.
Hammond's damage to the girls was far-reaching. Their social prospects were destroyed. Considered to have tarnished social reputations as a result of his behavior, none of the four ever married.
Hammond was known to have repeatedly raped two female slaves, one of whom may have been his own daughter. He raped the first slave, Sally Johnson, when she was 18 years old.
Such behavior was not uncommon among white men of power at the time; their mixed-race children were born into slavery and remained there unless the fathers took action to free them.
[Peter Kolchin, ''American Slavery, 1619-1877'', New York: Hill & Wang, 1993, p. 120.] Later, Hammond raped Sally Johnson's daughter, Louisa, who was a year old baby when he bought her mother; the first rape apparently occurred when Louisa was 12; she also bore several of his children.
His wife left him for a few years after he repeatedly raped the enslaved girl, taking their own children with her. She later returned to her husband.
In the late 20th century, historians learned that Hammond as a young man had a homosexual relationship with a college friend,
Thomas Jefferson Withers
Thomas Jefferson Withers (1804 – November 7, 1865) was an American politician from South Carolina who served in the Confederate States Congress during the American Civil War.
Biography
Withers was born in York County, South Carolina, and ...
, which is attested by two sexually explicit letters sent from Withers to Hammond in 1826. The letters, which are held among the Hammond Papers at the University of South Carolina, were first published by researcher Martin Duberman in 1981; they are notable as rare documentary evidence of same-sex relationships in the
antebellum United States
In the history of the Southern United States, the Antebellum Period (from la, ante bellum, lit= before the war) spanned the end of the War of 1812 to the start of the American Civil War in 1861. The Antebellum South was characterized by the ...
.
Legacy
Hammond School in Columbia, South Carolina, was named the James H. Hammond Academy when founded in 1966. It was one of a number of private schools known as
segregation academies
Segregation academies are private schools in the Southern United States that were founded in the mid-20th century by white parents to avoid having their children attend desegregated public schools. They were founded between 1954, when the U.S. ...
, founded to preserve racial segregation in schools. Although many of these segregation academies are now defunct, Hammond School continued to develop; after the 1970s, it expanded its admission policy, as federal law mandated, to be non-discriminatory. The school changed its name to reflect this.
Hammond's quotes on slavery
Kirby Page Kirby Page (1890–1957) was an American Disciples of Christ minister, an author, and a peace activist.
Life
In 1890 Kirby Page was born in Hamlet, Texas after which his family moved frequently. The father deserted the family when Kirby was nine ye ...
used quotes from Hammond on slavery in his book
''Jesus or Christianity'' (1929):
"I firmly believe," said Governor J. H. Hammond, "that American slavery is not only not a sin, but especially commanded by God through Moses, and approved by Christ through his apostles."
Governor J. H. Hammond once said: "I endorse without reserve the much abused sentiment of Governor McDuffie, that 'slavery is the corner-stone of our republican edifice;' while I repudiate, as ridiculously absurd, that much lauded but nowhere accredited dogma of Mr. Jefferson that 'all men are born equal.'"[Hammond, ''ibid.'', p. 126.]
See also
*
Mudsill theory
Mudsill theory is the proposition that there must be, and always has been, a lower class or underclass for the upper classes and the rest of society to rest upon. The term derives from a mudsill, the lowest threshold that supports the foun ...
*
Pro-slavery thought
*
21st Rule, 1836 House of Representatives anti-abolition "gag rule"
*
List of federal political sex scandals in the United States
Many sex scandals in American history have involved incumbent United States federal elected politicians, as well as persons appointed with the consent of the United States Senate. Sometimes, the officials have denied the accusations, have apologize ...
Further reading
*Bleser, Carol, Editor, ''Secret and Sacred, The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder'', Oxford University Press, New York, 1988,
References
External links
''Cotton is King'' speech before Congress ''Africans in America: Part 4'', PBS
SCIway
Biography of James Henry Hammond National Gallery of Art
, -
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, James Henry
1807 births
1864 deaths
19th-century American journalists
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century American male writers
19th-century American newspaper publishers (people)
19th-century American politicians
American male journalists
American proslavery activists
American rapists
American slave owners
American white supremacists
Democratic Party governors of South Carolina
Democratic Party United States senators from South Carolina
Incestual abuse
Lawyers from Columbia, South Carolina
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from South Carolina
Nullifier Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Nullifier Party politicians
People from Beech Island, South Carolina
People from Newberry County, South Carolina
People of South Carolina in the American Civil War
Politicians from Columbia, South Carolina
South Carolina lawyers
University of South Carolina alumni
University of South Carolina trustees
Wade Hampton family
United States senators who owned slaves