Do Not Beat The Help!

James Henry Hammond...not cool guy...

Remember that guy up there??  James Henry Hammond, the pro-slavery, states rights, once governor of South Carolina??

Oh man... we have to talk about him again because he just will not go away. 

First... James here had some depression/anxiety problems, we talked about it.   After he had some success in government, James had to quit and evacuate on a tour of Europe for his health.

(this was an excuse James gave quite often to get himself out of something he didn't like, and his first term in Washington was not exactly rainbows and moonbeams so he quit. To be fair... I do not think James feigned illness after he got caught messing around with four of his nieces...but that is another story entirely)



James had a hard time in Europe.  He didn't like the rich English people who looked down on him and he didn't understand all these working free ignorant people (I am not kidding here guys...not kidding).

Maybe he saw this...

But in his mind saw this...

Regardless of what this guy was thinking, this is what happened:

(shortened and such for blog entertainment)

James Henry and his wife Catherine (poor woman he married for her money), after touring England, France, and Italy...went on a German tour.  Outside of one area, they stopped at an Inn and James did not particularly like the service the staff gave him so he left without paying his bill.  Perhaps because in South Carolina planters believed themselves to be little gods or whatever, but James was a bit taken aback when suddenly one of the employees of the establishment went outside and attempted to stop Hammond's carriage from leaving before he paid his tab.  This would NOT do for 'ol James from South Carolina who was used to doing whatever he pleased in a world where the people who answered to had to or he would beat them...  James decided it was fine and dandy to beat the guy on the head until he was bloody, because of course...he could do that at home with insolent servants right (this guy really thought this!!!)???  Well, James landed in jail because in Europe, even peasants had some rights...how crazy.
I almost forgot, in the middle of all this crazy, Hammond's wife had a baby (that he did not name because he wanted a girl and he wasn't prepared for a boy).  In a rush to flee the country he was in before getting in trouble with the law again because James paid his bail but was expected to appear in court to face the charges against him, the baby died in the carriage.  

Oh James, I finished the book about you so sadly our time is done.

P.S.

At the end of the Civil War when the south began to lose and Hammond heard the shells hitting places like Savannah from his house in South Carolina (close to Augusta too), he was really shocked when his slaves didn't smile at him or adore him and instead looked hopeful and scorned at him...REALLY DUDE??  REALLY??  He wrote about it, like he was really taken aback because they didn't love him.  He sent them gifts from Europe damnit!!  

Adieu James, it was fun.