# Robert Hardy Smith > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Hardy_Smith > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Robert_Hardy_Smith.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hardy_Smith > Source revision: 1310030179 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) American politician Robert Hardy Smith Member of the Provisional Confederate Congress In office 1861–1862 Member of the Alabama Senate In office 1851 Member of the Alabama House of Representatives In office 1849 Personal details Born (1813-03-21)March 21, 1813 Camden County, North Carolina Died March 13, 1878(1878-03-13) (aged 64) Mobile, Alabama Resting place Magnolia Cemetery Occupation Politician, military officer **Robert Hardy Smith** (March 21, 1813 – March 13, 1878) was an American [politician](/source/Politician) who served as a senior [officer](/source/Officer_(armed_forces)) of the [Confederate States Army](/source/Confederate_States_Army) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War). He served in the [Alabama House of Representatives](/source/Alabama_House_of_Representatives) and the [Alabama Senate](/source/Alabama_Senate). He served in the Confederate Congress, was a Confederate officer, and advocated for slavery. ## Early life and career Smith was born in [Camden County, North Carolina](/source/Camden_County%2C_North_Carolina) on March 21, 1813, and later moved to Alabama. In Alabama, Smith served in the state's House of Representatives in 1849 and the [Alabama Senate](/source/Alabama_Senate) in 1851. At the onset of the American Civil War, Smith was elected to represent the [State of Alabama](/source/Alabama_in_the_American_Civil_War) in the [Provisional Confederate Congress](/source/Provisional_Confederate_Congress) from 1861 to 1862. He later served as a Colonel of the 36th Alabama Infantry Regiment. In an 1861 speech, Smith stated that Alabama declared its secession from the Union over the issue of slavery, which he referred to as "the negro quarrel". In the speech, he praised the [Confederate Constitution](/source/Confederate_States_Constitution) for its un-euphemistic protections of the right to own slaves: We have dissolved the late Union chiefly because of the negro quarrel. Now, is there any man who wished to reproduce that strife among ourselves? And yet does not he, who wished the slave trade left for the action of Congress, see that he proposed to open a Pandora's box among us and to cause our political arena again to resound with this discussion. Had we left the question unsettled, we should, in my opinion, have sown broadcast the seeds of discord and death in our Constitution. I congratulate the country that the strife has been put to rest forever, and that American slavery is to stand before the world as it is, and on its own merits. We have now placed our domestic institution, and secured its rights unmistakably, in the Constitution. We have sought by no euphony to hide its name. We have called our negroes "slaves", and we have recognized and protected them as persons and our rights to them as property. — Robert Hardy Smith, 1861[1][2][3] ## Death Smith died in [Mobile, Alabama](/source/Mobile%2C_Alabama) on March 13, 1878, and was buried at the [Magnolia Cemetery](/source/Magnolia_Cemetery_(Mobile%2C_Alabama)).[4] ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Smith, Robert Hardy (1861). ["An Address to the Citizens of Alabama on the Constitution and Laws of the Confederate States of America"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010503021334/http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html). Mobile. p. 19. Archived from [the original](http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html) on May 3, 2001. Retrieved May 3, 2001. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** DeRosa, Marshall L. (1991). ["The Confederate Constitution of 1861: An Inquiry into American Constitutionalism"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010503021334/http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html). Columbia, Missouri: [University of Missouri Press](/source/University_of_Missouri_Press). p. 66. Archived from [the original](http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html) on May 3, 2001. Retrieved May 3, 2001. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Shedenhelm, Richard (2001). ["Some Doubts About the Confederate Case"](https://web.archive.org/web/20010503021334/http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html). *Open Thought*. Archived from [the original](http://www.openthought.org/summa/confederate.html) on May 3, 2001. Retrieved May 3, 2001. 1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** ["Robert H. Smith"](https://www.newspapers.com/clip/68915323/robert-h-smith/). *Selma Dollar Times*. March 20, 1878. p. 2. Retrieved January 30, 2021 – via Newspapers.com. ## External links - [Robert Hardy Smith](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/6406711) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave) - [Robert Hardy Smith](http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/smith7.html#607.26.26) at [The Political Graveyard](/source/The_Political_Graveyard) Articles related to Robert Hardy Smith v t e Signatories of the Provisional Constitution of the Confederate States President of the Congress Howell Cobb South Carolina Robert Barnwell Rhett R. W. Barnwell James Chesnut, Jr. C. G. Memminger Wm. Porcher Miles Laurence M. Keitt William W. Boyce Tho. J. Withers Georgia R. Toombs Francis S. Bartow Martin J. Crawford E. A. Nisbet Benjamin H. Hill Augustus R. Wright Thos. R. R. Cobb A. H. Kenan Alexander H. Stephens Florida Jackson Morton Jas. B. Owens J. Patton Anderson Alabama Richard W. Walker Robt. H. Smith Colin J. McRae Jno. Gill Shorter William Parish Chilton Stephen F. Hale David P. Lewis Tho. Fearn J. L. M. Curry Mississippi W. P. Harris Alexander M. Clayton W. S. Wilson James T. Harrison Walker Brooke William S. Barry J. A. P. Campbell Louisiana John Perkins, Jr. Alex. de Clouet C. M. Conrad Duncan F. Kenner Edward Sparrow Henry Marshall Texas Thomas N. Waul Williamson S. Oldham John Gregg John H. Reagan W. B. Ochiltree John Hemphill Louis T. Wigfall Category Commons v t e Signatories of the Confederate States Constitution President of the Congress Howell Cobb South Carolina Robert Barnwell Rhett C. G. Memminger Wm. Porcher Miles James Chesnut Jr. R. W. Barnwell William W. Boyce Laurence Keitt T. J. Withers Georgia R. Toombs Francis S. Bartow Martin J. Crawford Alexander H. Stephens Benjamin H. Hill Thos. R. R. Cobb E. A. Nisbet Augustus R. Wright A. H. Kenan Florida Jackson Morton J. Patton Anderson Jas. B. Owens Alabama Richard W. Walker Robt. H. Smith Colin J. McRae William P. Chilton Stephen F. Hale David P. Lewis Tho. Fearn Jno. Gill Shorter J. L. M. Curry Mississippi Alexander M. Clayton James T. Harrison William S. Barry W. S. Wilson Walker Brooke W. P. Harris J. A. P. Campbell Louisiana John Perkins Jr. Alex. de Clouet C. M. Conrad Duncan F. Kenner Henry Marshall Edward Sparrow Texas John Hemphill Thomas N. Waul John H. Reagan Williamson S. Oldham Louis T. Wigfall John Gregg William Beck Ochiltree Category Commons [Portals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents/Portals): - [Biography](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Biography) - [United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:United_States) - [American Civil War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:American_Civil_War) - [Politics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Politics) Authority control databases International VIAF FAST WorldCat National United States Israel Other Open Library SNAC Yale LUX This article about an Alabama politician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. - [v](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Alabama-politician-stub) - [t](/source/Template_talk%3AAlabama-politician-stub) - [e](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EditPage/Template:Alabama-politician-stub) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Robert Hardy Smith](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hardy_Smith) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Hardy_Smith?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.