A Short Biography Of James Henry Hammond

JAMES HENRY HAMMOND

Susan Adams Morgan
US to 1877 History 1111-XTIA
December 1, 2014
Dr. Mickey Crews
Troy University

JAMES HENRY HAMMOND

James Henry Hammond was born in 1807 to Elisha and Catherine Hammond. His father never doubted that his son was a genius and Elisha lived, as his son later recounted, “for me and in me”.i He was raised in a household that preached that he would not turn out like most of the young southern gentlemen did at that time. James Henry Hammond was a highly intelligent man who succeeded at most everything he did or was instructed to do. He grew up in a typical southern home and atmosphere. It was instilled in him that failure was ‘not an option’ and his fear of failure led all the way until his death on
November 13, 1864, at the age of 57, just 2 days shy of his 58th birthday He held many positions throughout his lifetime. James Henry Hammond held positions as a lawyer, a southern politician, and a farmer. He served as a Representative for South Carolina from the year 1835 until 1836. He was also the 60th Governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844. Finally, he held the title of United States Senator from South Carolina from 1857 to 1860. He was a strong supporter of state’s rights, especially when it came to the subject of slavery and keeping the federal government out of the argument about slavery. Prosouthern Congressmen passed legislation that would be commonly known as the e “gag rule”.
What exactly was the “gag rule” and how did the “gag rule” actually come to backfire against the Southern Congressmen? The gag rule was adopted by Congress in 1836 to block the discussion of slavery at the national as well as the state level. The rule was repealed in 1844.ii The importance of the gag rule as it was presented was that any petitions for abolition should be received but tabled without discussion, the Pinckney resolutions prevented consideration of slavery in the House until they were overturned in 1844.iii The reason this “gag rule” really backfired against the south was because it allowed abolitionists to get strength from it. Their movement claimed that just as southerners denied rights to their slaves, so they were obstructing freedom of speech and petition in the national legislature.iv The “gag rule” really left James Henry Hammond no logical next step against the abolitionists. He felt the south bickered amongst themselves too much in order to achieve any notable success against the Federal Government. His views would come to pass with the Civil War and the defeat of the
South. However, James Henry Hammond’s defense of slavery never wavered. The abolitionists had men like John Quincy Adams and Charles Sumner in their corner in the fight against slavery. James Henry Hammond was a southern slaveholder’s champion. He was a young 29 year old congressman on February 1, 1836, when he rose to the House of Representatives floor to deliver an impassioned defense of the institution of slavery.v His speech said the south should be left alone concerning slavery. If slavery was a sin, then it was a sin that the south would have to deal with. He also let the representatives know that if the slaves were allowed to have their freedom, the slave holders should be compensated for each slave let free. At the time of this speech, Hammond believed there were roughly 2.3 million slaves in the United States. He said each slave at the time had a rough value of $400.00. The Federal Government would thus have to pay the slaveholders an amount equal to about nine hundred million dollars. His argument was that the government could not afford that amount without bankrupting itself. He also let it be known that should the federal government abolish slavery as a whole, he would resign his commission as a representative and go home to support secession. That is what did happen and he did as he said he would. James Henry Hammond also coined the phrase “King Cotton”. He did this in a speech where he declared “no one can wage war on cotton. Cotton is king”. Slaveholders needed slaves to provide the cheap labor needed to pick the cotton. Cotton was only grown in the south, so giving the slaves their freedom would doom the south. He said this even though, at times, he grew more corn than cotton. James Henry Hammond felt just as strongly about state’s rights as he did slavery in general. He was against the federal government telling the states how they could run their economy. He held to this belief until his death.