Speech of Hon. Joshua Hill, of Georgia, on the admission of Kansas;
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Letter of Hon. Joshua Hill, of Georgia, on the Election of U. S. Senators
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The Union Record of Hon. Joshua Hill, of Georgia. a Letter in Reply to His Enemies
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This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
Joshua Hill was an American politician. He served as a member of the U. S. House of Representatives from Georgia's 7th district, and United States Senator from Georgia.
Background
Hill was born on January 10, 1812 in Abbeville, South Carolina, United States. He was of Irish extraction, his ancestors settling first in Virginia, and later removing to South Carolina. Hill was the son of Joshua Hill and Nancy Wyatt Collier. The father was a man of moderate means.
Education
Hill was tutored under John H. Gray and Moses Waddell, and later prepared himself for the practice of law and then went to Georgia, where, after residing for a time in Monticello, he settled in 1848 at Madison.
Career
Hill was elected to Congress in 1856 as an American, defeating Linton Stephens. He served until January 1861. In 1863, when he was placed in nomination for governor against Joseph E. Brown, he represented the conservative element and the growing Union sentiment of north Georgia, but he polled only 18, 000 of the 65, 000 votes cast. Again, in the following year, after Sherman had devastated Georgia from the Tennessee line to Atlanta and had taken the city, the Federal commander thought the time ripe for a movement to separate Georgia from the Confederacy. He had interviews with certain prominent Georgians and sent emissaries to Governor Brown and Alexander H. Stephens, both known to be hostile to Davis' government, and to President Lincoln. Hill was the emissary sent to confer with Brown. Hill also canvassed the legislature extensively in an effort to get a peace movement started from that quarter. This effort, however, proved abortive.
The war ended, Hill threw himself into the work of reconstruction with great energy. He was elected to membership in the state constitutional convention under the Andrew Johnson régime, and in 1866, under the new constitution, he was a candidate for the United States Senate. In this contest he was defeated by Alexander H. Stephens, who, however, was not allowed to take his seat. In 1868, with Joseph E. Brown and Alexander H. Stephens, he was again a candidate for the Senate. The conservative Democrats, unable to elect Stephens, threw their strength to Hill, who was thus enabled to defeat Brown by 110 votes to 94. The only consolation the embittered Democrats got out of the election was the defeat of Brown, for Hill immediately and frankly voiced his Republican principles and his intention to support the policies of Congress.
His term expired in March 1873. On retiring from the Senate he returned to his home in Madison and took no further part in politics except to serve as a member of the state constitutional convention of 1877. Hill lived to a ripe old age and left a large estate for the time.
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Religion
Hill was an atheist.
Politics
Hill had grown up with strong Whig and Unionist principles, and followed Benjamin H. Hill--not a kinsman--into the American or Know-Nothing party. When the Constitutional Union party was organized in Georgia in 1860 in a last effort to stave off civil war, Hill took part in the deliberations and went as a delegate to the Baltimore Convention, which nominated Bell of Tennessee for the presidency. He was a bitter and outspoken opponent of secession, and on Georgia's leaving the Union in January 1861, he declined to join in the letter addressed by the other Georgia congressmen to the speaker and resigned rather than withdraw with them.
Returning to Georgia, he flatly refused to have anything to do with the war and on two occasions he had opportunity to assert his principles.
He had stubbornly opposed secession, had declined to take part in the war, had led a peace movement during the war, had entered the Republican party, and had worked for the radical reconstruction policies, he never incurred personal odium nor lost the respect of the Georgia people.
Connections
Hill was married to Emily Reid, the daughter of a prominent planter and spoken of as a woman of beauty and culture. Eight children were born to the couple, four sons and four daughters. The second son, Legaré, against the wishes of his father, entered the war and was killed at the battle of Resaca, in north Georgia.