Background
Benjamin H. Hill was born on September 14, 1823, into a Georgia frontier family.
(Excerpt from Notes on the Situation, as Published in the ...)
Excerpt from Notes on the Situation, as Published in the Chronicle and Sentinel If anything I may say shall tend, however slightly, to avert the evils which threaten the country, I shall not only be satisfied, but happy. I have no party to serve and no personal ends to accomplish. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
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Benjamin H. Hill was born on September 14, 1823, into a Georgia frontier family.
He graduated with first honors from the University of Georgia in 1843.
Admitted to the bar, he established a highly profitable practice in LaGrange, Ga. , which he maintained throughout his public career. Hill began his political life as a Whig, devoted to the union of the states and the Constitution. In 1851, as a member of the lower house of the Georgia Assembly, he encouraged acceptance of the Compromise of 1850 to quiet the slavery issue.
After a 4-year retirement from public life, Hill was defeated in a bid for the U. S. Congress. He then cast his lot with the American, or "Know-Nothing, " party. In 1857 Hill ran unsuccessfully for the governorship of Georgia. In the presidential race of 1860, he attempted vainly to effect a fusion in Georgia of the three tickets opposing Abraham Lincoln. In January 1861, in the state convention, Hill opposed the motion to secede from the Union but finally signed the Ordinance of Secession. As a member of the Provisional Congress, he actively participated in organizing the Confederate government.
In November 1861 Hill was elected to the Confederate Senate, where he remained throughout the war. Recognized as a spokesman for President Jefferson Davis, he was called upon to defend such controversial policies as conscription and suspension of the writ of habeas corpus; he justified them as war measures. After the war he was arrested and imprisoned for 3 months. From 1867 until 1870 Hill conducted a strenuous campaign against the reconstruction program. But by late 1870 he advised Georgians to accept the Reconstruction Acts as accomplished facts and to involve themselves in new issues. His address before the Georgia Alumni Society in 1871 stated the case for a "New South. " At about the same time, Hill provoked the anger of conservatives by participating in the sale of the state railroad with a group of Republicans.
In 1875, despite violent opposition, Hill was elected to the U. S. Congress. In Washington he was characterized as a Southern champion, defending Jefferson Davis and the Confederate government against charges of inhumanity. He was elected to the U. S. Senate in January 1877 but did not live out his term.
(Excerpt from Notes on the Situation, as Published in the ...)
Hill began his political life as a Whig (before 1855), later he joined Constitutional Union (1859–1861). Hill argued that his fellow Georgians should continue to resist Lincoln democratically within the bounds of the Constitution. He compared this course to George Washington, "so cool, so brave, and so thoughtful. " He argued that the Northern states would eventually follow the British course of rising abolitionist thought, followed by acceptance again of slavery due to economic necessity. But he allowed that the South should prepare for secession and war if it should become necessary.
He married Caroline E. Holt in Athens, in 1845.