James Henry Hammond was born on 15th November 1807. In 1842, he became the governor of South Carolina whereby he highly contributed to the re-organization of the State’s militia and the establishment of the Citadel in Charleston as the state’s military Academy. James Henry Hammond was the 60th governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844 and served as a United States Representative from 1835-1836 (Faust 45). In 1846, James Henry Hammond’s candidacy for the United States Senate was blocked by Wade Hampton II, his wife’s brother in-law which brought his political career to a halt. Moreover, it was because of a discovery about a deep homosexual relationship he had with a friend while in college and a sexual relationship with his four teenage nieces who were the daughters of Wade Hampton II. He was later elected into Senate 1857 and he was an ardent defender of slavery. He served as a senator in the years 1857 to 1860. While he was a senator, he declared slavery as a positive good to the people. He resigned from the senate in 1860 after Abraham Lincoln was elected and he returned to Redcliffe plantation. He died in November two days before his 57th birthday on 13th 1864 just before the end of the Civil War.
James Henry Hammond was notoriously known for his sexual misadventures and was a homosexual at one time in his life. Hammond was bisexual and reported to have carried on a homosexual affair. He had a college sexual relationship with Jeffrey Withers in 1826 who was one of the initiators and a member of the confederacy. Hammond confessed this in his letters to Harry Hammond in 1856 which he exchanged with his friend Jeffrey Withers (Hammond 54). There were rumors about his sexual escapades in his lifetime but they were fully exposed after his death in his Secret and Sacred Diary and were later published. James Henry Hammond is most commonly remembered for his sexual deviance and unkindness especially to his four nieces. Homosexuality was considered as an isolable medical condition and most people could not expose their homosexual affairs at the time (Tejiran 112). Most men feared having homosexual relationships in public because of their reputation and because sexuality was a secretive thing during the antebellum period.
James Henry Hammond kept his homosexual relationship with Jeffrey Withers a secret because it was just a homosexuality relationship and not a romantic friendship. This is because, he had a relationship with women and therefore there is no way he could have a homosexual relationship with men. First he had a sexual relationship with the Hampton’s daughters which he states in his letters that he had sexual intercourse with at least one of them. Moreover, he had a sexual relationship with Louisa one of his slaves who ultimately bore him a child. James Henry Hammond had a wife and this is one of the reasons why he maintained a homosexuality relationship and not a romantic friendship with his lover Jeffrey Withers. His wife was the main reason as to why he had to keep a homosexuality relationship and not romantic relationship with Jeffrey Withers. Homosexuality in the antebellum period was just considered as a homosexual relationship and not a romantic relationship (Rotundo 65). An example homosexuality relationship and not a romantic friendship that existed in the antebellum period was that of Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Fry Speed who lived together for four years and shared the same bed every night. They developed a friendship that was to last until their death and it is said that some two other men joined them. Historians have argued that it is unusual for men to share the same bed for all those years without a sexual relationship but this just proves a homosexuality relationship and not a romantic and sexual relationship. There were more homosexual relationships in early American history. Another example was that of President James Buchanan and future Vice President William Rufus King who had a homosexual relationship in Washington D.C for many years (Horowitz 201). Most of the men who had a homosexual relationship during this period were always reported to be staying together and nothing romantic was reported to the public.
According to Benemann (78), sexuality in the antebellum era is still viewed reluctantly by many. There is a resistance among historians to abandon labels like homosexuality because the relationships men formed are not believed to be romantic but just to remain a homosexual relationship. Men are believed not to have had a relationship that was romantic and erotic but just a friendship between homosexuals. James Henry Hammond had to maintain a homosexual relationship with his lover Jeffrey Withers because he had a family and could not allow his relationship with his lover since it could destroy his reputation and marriage to his wife Catherine (Berry 95). In the antebellum era, sexual relationship between men meant a committed friendship that was to remain private and out of bounds to the entire public. It was something that was done privately until the both of the decide to tell it to the public which was very rare like in the case of James Henry Hammond and Jeffrey Withers which was exposed after Hammond’s death through their letters to each other. When a man declared his love to another man, it was not seen as a declaration of sexual intent or of sexual identity but just a homosexual relationship. Moreover, there were homosexual relationships between masters and slaves in the antebellum era.
In the antebellum era, the male to male sexual desire faced a wide range of obstacles. At first, most of the men were reluctant to openly acknowledge their attractions and relations to other men in the society. Sexual attraction during the antebellum period was something that was hidden and the words used to describe sexual activity or attraction were ambiguous and therefore it was hard to determine what exactly was being talked about, it was something done secretively and not in the open (Beneman 116). Male to male attractions and encounters were elusive and diffusive due to the absence of large cities which could produce urban subcultures for men to be allowed to be attracted to other men. James Henry Hammond and Jeffrey Withers had to keep their relationship out of the public since it was not a romantic relationship and because sexuality was something that was considered secretive at that time.
According to Rotundo (34), men wanted to have sexual relations with each other or may have been sexually attracted to each other but little evidence shows that they really had sexual relations. There is a clear evidence of loving and romantic friendships between men but gives no indication of an erotic component in their relationship. This can be seen in the written letters, newspapers, other printed books for example letters and books by James Henry Hammond. Homosexuality was present in the antebellum period but it was very hard to find evidence or any information on homosexuality during this era. It could only be found in personal diaries and letters and this show no prove of its existence except form what is written in people’s diaries. Sexual relations were prohibited in this era be it man to man or people from the opposite sex for slaves.
Homosexuality existed in the antebellum era but it was done in secrecy. The documented evidence on homosexuality during this time can only be found in personal journals, diaries and letters like those of James Henry Hammond and Jeffrey Withers. Men are reported to have been in a homosexuality relationship and not a romantic friendship. James Henry Hammond and Jeffrey Withers had to keep their relationship as secretive as possible in order to protect their reputation in the society since they were leaders. In essence, James Henry Hammond’s relationship with his lover was definitely a homosexuality relationship and not a romantic friendship because he was involved with women and had a wife and kids. He got involved with many women and there is no way he could have been in a romantic relationship with a man yet he had a number with women including the Hampton’s daughters and one of his slaves Louisa. He had a romantic relationship with women but a homosexual relationship and not a romantic friendship with his lover Jeffrey Withers.
Works Cited
Rotundo, E. Anthony. American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era. New York: Basic Books, 1994. Print.
Faust, Drew Gilpin. James Henry Hammond and the Old South: A Design for Mastery. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1982. Print.
Carol, Bleser. The Hammonds of Redcliffe. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Print.
Berry, Stephen W. All that Makes a Man: Love and Ambition in the Civil War South. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.
Hammond, James Henry. Secret and Sacred: The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder. New York & Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print.
Horowitz, Helen Lefkowitz . Attitudes toward Sex in Antebellum America: A Brief History with Documents. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2006. Print.
Beneman, William. Male-Male Intimacy in Early America: Beyond Romantic relationships. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2006. Print.
Tejiran, Edward J. Male to Male: Sexual Feelings across the Boundaries of Identity. New York: Harrington Park Press, 2000. Print.
