HAMILTON, James, American statesman: b. Charleston, S. C., 8 May 1786; d. at sea, 15 Nov. 1857. He was educated for the bar, but entered the army and served with credit as a major in the Canadian campaign of 1812. At the end of the war he resumed the practice of law in Charleston. For several successive years Hamilton was chosen mayor, or, as it was then termed, intendant of Charleston. To his vigilance and activity was chiefly due the de tection of a formidable conspiracy in 1822 among the negro population, led by Denmark Vesey, a free mulatto from Haiti. In the same year he was elected to the State legislature, and was also chosen a representative in Congress, of which he soon became a prominent and popular member. He became noted for intense and energetic opposition to the protective sys tem, and favored direct taxation, regarding all indirect processes for raising revenue as frauds upon the people, and as disparaging to the popular intellect, as well as popular morals. He
quitted Congress to become governor of South Carolina in 1830, at a period when the State had resolved upon nullifying the tariff laws of the Federal government. On the settlement of this question by Clay's compromise, Hamilton retired from public life for a time. Later he became interested in the cause of Texas, to which he devoted his personal services, and a large portion of his private fortune. In 1841, while Texas was an independent republic, he was her Minister to England and France, where he procured the recognition of her independ ence. On the death of Calhoun in 1852, he was appointed his successor in the United States Senate, but declined the office.