James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery

Unlike many books by academic historians, this is a very 'good read.' Faust traces Hammond's rise from very modest origins, and shows how his very calculated choice of a marriage partner opened the door to the wealth (denominated, of course, in land and slaves) that assured him the 'independence' that represented the republican ideal. Throughout his life, Hammond's drive for control and mastery was unrelenting, and it was always accompanied by a gnawing insecurity -- Faust underscores the toll that these took on his emotional life, and the sometimes hideous ways they manifested themselves. His was a life of massive contradictions -- he idealized a permanent, fixed, and stable patriarchal social order, but his own life personified the show more struggle for upward mobility. show less

2713 James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery, by Drew Gilpin Faust (read 1 Mar 1995) Hammond was born 15 Nov 1807 in Newberry District, S. C., was a U.S. Representative from South Carolina from Mar 4, 1835, to Feb 26, 1836, Governor of S. C. 1842-1844, and U.S. Senator from S. C. from Dec. 7, 1857, to Nov. 11, 1860, and died at his home, Radcliffe." Beach Island, S. C. on Nov 13, 1864. This book is not classified as a biography but it tells the story of his life and the life of a large slaveholder. He could not control himself--he had sex with two of his slaves, a mother and a daughter. He really was an unsuccessful politician, though he had a great ego. This book holds him up as a rich aristocrat--though he got his show more money by marriage to a girl of 15 he did not love. I was surprised at how much material exists on a man as minor a figure as he turned out to be. He was not very patriotic to the South after secession--he encouraged his brother to stay in the Union Army, and bitterly resented his property being confiscated for Confederate purposes during the war. This book had a lot of unusual stuff in it, and was worth reading. show less