Robert Barnwell Rhett

Robert Barnwell Rhett (born Robert Barnwell Smith; December 21, 1800 – September 14, 1876) was an American politician who served as a deputy from South Carolina to the Provisional Confederate States Congress from 1861 to 1862, a member of the US House of Representatives from South Carolina from 1837 to 1849, and US Senator from South Carolina from 1850 to 1852. As a staunch supporter of slavery and an early advocate of secession, he was a "Fire-Eater", nicknamed the "father of secession".

Quotes

Sir, if a Confederacy of the Southern States could now be obtained, should we not deem it a happy termination—happy beyond expectation, of our long struggle for our rights against oppression? I fear that there is no longer hope or liberty for the South, under a Union, by which all self-government is taken away. A people, owning slaves, are mad, or worse than mad, who do not hold their destinies in their own hands. Do we not bear the insolent assumption by our rulers, that slave labour shall not come into competition with free? Nor is it our northern brethren alone—the whole world are in arms against your institutions. Every stride of this Government, over your rights, brings it nearer and nearer to your peculiar policy; and even now, it stands, with the Bill of Blood in one hand, and the Sword in the other, and Carolina must bow her dishonoured head, and breathe forth the slavish or hypocritical profession of "ardently attached to the Union of these States." Sir, let slaves adore and love a despotism—it is the part of freemen to detest and to resist it.
- Speech, March 11, 1833, as printed in Speeches Delivered in the Convention, of the State of South-Carolina, Held in Columbia, in March, 1833 (Charleston: E. J. Van Brunt, 1833), p. 25

Free debate no longer exists in the House of Representatives of this Congress of the United States. The people, through their Representatives, have no longer the right of speaking to the taxes imposed upon them. Tyranny, in the shape of a majority, is erected in the Capitol. The new reign of terror is begun.
- Letter of the Hon. R. B. Rhett to the Editors of the National Intelligencer on the Right of Debate in Congress (Washington: Globe Office, 1841), 5

The real issue involved in the relations between the North and the South of the American States, is the great principle of self-government. Shall a dominant party of the North rule the South, or shall the people of the South rule themselves. This is the great matter in controversy. After the lapse of eighty-four years, this party of the North set up the same pretension the British Parliament claimed over our ancestors in 1776. As the British crown contended, that the British Parliament was omnipotent in its Legislation over the Colonies, so the Northern people now contend, that the Congress of the United States through their majority, is omnipotent in its legislation over the people of the South.
- "Report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs on the President's Message Relating to the Affairs Between the Confederate and the United States", issued to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, May 10, 1861, as quoted in William C. Davis, ed., A Fire-eater Remembers: The Confederate Memoir of Robert Barnwell Rhett (University of South Carolina Press, 2000), 48

Let us present a hollow square to our enemies, in the great battle now raging between the North and South. Nineteen years, have I served as a representative of the people of South Carolina, in her long contest for her rights and liberties. I began in 1828. For thirty-two years, have I followed the quarry. Behold! it, at last, in sight! A few more bounds, and it falls—the Union falls; and with it falls, its faithless oppressions—its insulting agitations—its vulgar tyrannies and fanaticism. The bugle blast of our victory and redemption is on the wind; and the South will be safe and free.
- "Response of Hon. R. B. Rhett", in "The Serenade on Saturday Night", Charleston Mercury 55, no. 11,032 (December 10, 1860): [2]