James Morely Whitehead (5 July 1786-17 October 1849) was an American politician and "Fire-Eater" from South Carolina.
Biography[]
James Morely Whitehead was born in Summerville, South Carolina in 1786 to a distinguished family of Lowcountry planters. Whitehead owned the "Dreamland" rice plantation in Santee, from which he attempted to launch a political career as a Federalist in 1806. Whitehead was defeated in his run for the State House, but he served in the State Senate from 1815 to 1820 as a Democratic-Republican. Whitehead struggled with his failing relevancy throughout the 1820s and 1830s, but he took up the pro-slavery cause in the early 1830s and became a local leader of the Nullifier Party in opposition to a strong central government. This affiliation led him to join the Whigs in 1833, and he served as a Whig state representative from 1836 to 1840. He became a staunch "Fire-Eater" as the slavery debate intensified, and he died in 1849.