123 School Work

James Henry Hammond

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  Secret and Sacred
  The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder
       Edited by: Carol Blesser
  
       These Diaries of James Henry Hammond tell of a stern individual from South Carolina whose view on slavery was unshakeable. Born November 15, 1807, in the Newberry District of South Carolina, Hammond considered slavery a positive good, "the greatest of all the great blessings which a kind Providence has bestowed upon our favored region," and the cornerstone of the Republic. Furthermore, Hammond reinforced his proslavery stand on the floor of Congress in 1836 as a freshman Congressman delivering a speech in which he said, "Slavery is said to be an evil that impoverishes the people and destroys their morals. If it be an evil, it is one to us alone, and we are contented with it why should others interfere?" Later in the speech, he asserted, "It is no evil."
       Motivation for Hammond's belief in slavery was encouraged by his striving to attain success and power in the Antebellum South. In the summer of 1829, Hammond's father, Elisha Hammond died suddenly from yellow fever, leaving James to be not only his mother's emotional support but also the caretaker of his two brothers and one sister. At twenty-two years of age, Hammond had the responsibilities of a fifty year old thrown upon him. Hammond knew that in order to be a prominent individual in the South and to become a member of the aristocracy and a part of the master class, he needed three things: land, slaves, and a rich wife.
       Hammond graduated from South Carolina College in 1825...