Helper, Hinton Rowan, 1829-1909

American writer and diplomat.

Author and diplomat.

Hinton Rowan Helper, born December 27, 1829 in Davie County, North Carolina, was a Southern critic of slavery whose books inflamed the South. His objection to the system was not moral (his belief in the radical inferiority of African-Americans was absolute), but economic; he blamed slavery for the poverty of most Caucasian Southerners. Helper spent three years in California during the Gold Rush, and began his authorial career in 1854 by writing a harshly critical book on the Golden State, "The Land of Gold: Reality Versus Fiction." Other well-known books by Helper are "The Impending Crisis of the South: How to Meet It" (1857) -- a book often considered second only to "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in its impact on 1850s public opinion -- and "Nojoque: A Question for a Continent" (1867). Helper also wrote on the subject of railroads. During the Civil War, he served as United States Consul in Buenos Aires. Hinton R. Helper died in Washington, D.C. on March 9, 1909.

American diplomat and writer.

Hinton Rowan Helper (1829-1909) was an abolitionist author most famous for his book The Impending Crisis of the South. Helper lived in Salisbury and Asheville, North Carolina, as well as in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Washington, DC. His brother Hanson Pickney Helper lived in Davidson, North Carolina and operated the Helper Hotel.

Author, businessman; consul, Buenos Aires, 1861-1866.