James Henry Hammond was born in South Carolina on November 15, 1807 and died on November 13, 1864. Hammond was not only a very wealthy plantation owner, but he was also a politician very successful. From 1835 to 1836 he served as a United States Representative. He also served as governor of South Carolina from 1842 to 1844. In his later years he was a United States senator from 1857 to 1860. Hammond's voice was very strong when it came to the issue of slavery. He wasn't ashamed to let everyone know how much he supported him. In 1831, Hammond became the owner of a cotton plantation called Silver Bluff. There were 147 slaves in Silver Bluff when Hammond arrived to take possession. They were eager to meet their new master. “Hammond had acquired seventy-four females and seventy-three males, a population with an average age of twenty-five. He would certainly have noticed that forty-six, nearly a third of these slaves, were not yet fifteen years old, too young to be of much use in the fields but a good foundation for a vigorous future workforce. He also no doubt observed that sixty-four slaves were between fifteen and forty-five years old, the prime working years. These were the individuals Hammond relied on to plant, cultivate, and harvest the cotton and corn that would generate the majority of his annual income” (Faust, 71). The rest were older slaves who couldn't do much heavy work in the fields, but could do jobs that didn't require such a demanding work ethic, such as caring for children whose parents were out working in the fields. Hammond had a desire for complete power and authority over his slaves. He wanted “total dominion” (Faust, 72). He tried to control the way they thought and worshiped; anything. In time, Hammond created a “carefully designed plan of physical and psychological control intended to eliminate the basis of black solidarity” (Faust, 72). Obviously the slaves didn't like this. They were not used to a master so obsessed with power and authority. The slaves rebelled and took action. Some of them even attempted to escape. Hammond decided he needed to "tame" these slaves. “Those who performed unsatisfactory work, left the plantation without permission, or otherwise defied Hammond's authority were whipped, in a public demonstration of the consequences of refusing to conform to the master's will” (Faust, 73).