Title: Robert Hatton Speech

Date/Date Range :   1861

Extent: 0.1 linear feet

Abstract:

This collection consists of an eight-page reprint of a speech that Robert Hopkins Hatton gave in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 8, 1861. It documents Hatton's opinion that secession from the United States would "cause our fair land [to be] scourged and blighted as by the hand of an angry God." Among the methods Hatton proposes to avert war are repealing personal liberty laws, amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the abolition of slavery, and resolving the question of whether or not slavery will be legal in newly acquired territories.

Call number: MS-2718

Repository: University of Tennessee Special Collections Library, Knoxville, TN

Aquisition Information:

The Special Collections Library purchased this collection in January of 2006.

Access Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Copyright:

The copyright interests in this collection remain with the creator. For more information, contact the Special Collections Library.

Preferred Citation:

[Identification of Item], Robert Hatton Speech, MS-2718. University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Special Collections Library.

Collection consists of a single folder.

Robert Hopkins Hatton was born in Ohio, but moved to Tennessee with his family at an early age. He earned both a bachelor's degree and a legal degree from Cumberland University and was admitted to the Tennessee Bar in 1850. He soon became involved in politics, and was elected to the Tennessee State Legislature in 1855 and to the U.S. Congress in 1859.

Although Hatton originally believed that secession should be avoided, he reconsidered his position when President Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers to invade the Confederate States of America. Hatton formed a military unit, the Lebanon Blues, and was soon elected Colonel of the 7th Tennessee Infantry Regiment. He was promoted to Brigadier General on May 23, 1862, and was killed in the Battle of Seven Pines (Fair Oaks) just eight days later.

This collection consists of an eight-page reprint of a speech that Robert Hopkins Hatton gave in the U.S. House of Representatives on February 8, 1861. It documents Hatton's opinion that secession from the United States would "cause our fair land [to be] scourged and blighted as by the hand of an angry God." Among the methods Hatton proposes to avert war are repealing personal liberty laws, amending the U.S. Constitution to prohibit the abolition of slavery, and resolving the question of whether or not slavery will be legal in newly acquired territories.

• Hatton, Robert, 1826-1862.
• United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.