Robert R. Hitt
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Robert Roberts Hitt | |
|---|---|
J.C. Bancroft Davis | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | January 16, 1834 Urbana, Ohio, U.S. |
| Died | September 20, 1906 (aged 72) Narragansett Pier, Rhode Island, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Children | R. S. Reynolds Hitt |
| Profession | Secretary, politician |
| Signature | .png){kind=small} |
Robert Roberts Hitt (January 16, 1834 – September 20, 1906) was an American diplomat and
Early life
He was born in
He became a very close friend of future President of the United States Abraham Lincoln.[when?][citation needed] As an expert shorthand writer, Hitt served as a note-taker for Lincoln during the famous Lincoln–Douglas debates of 1858.[citation needed]
In 1872, Hitt was a personal secretary for Indiana Senator Oliver P. Morton.
Diplomatic career
In December 1874, President Ulysses S. Grant appointed Hitt as First Secretary of the American Legation in Paris. He served from 1874 to 1881 and was Chargé d'Affaires during part of his term.
Assistant U.S. Secretary of State (1881)
He was United States Assistant Secretary of State under James G. Blaine during President James A. Garfield and President Chester A. Arthur's Administrations in 1881.
U.S. Representative (1882–1906)
Hitt was elected to represent
When the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 came up for renewal in 1892, he argued against the alien documentation provisions of the bill: "Never before in a free country was there such a system of tagging a man, like a dog to be caught by the police and examined, and if his tag or collar is not all right, taken to the pound or drowned and shot. Never before was it applied by a free people to a human being, with the exception (which we can never refer to with pride) of the sad days of slavery. …"[3]
He was appointed in July 1898, by President William McKinley, as a member of the commission created by the Newlands Resolution to establish government in the Territory of Hawaii.
Hitt received some support for the Vice-Presidential nomination at the
During the last years of his life, he was Regent of the Smithsonian Institution.
Death and legacy
He died on September 20, 1906. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Mount Morris, Illinois, along with his parents.
Hitt is the namesake of the community of Hitt, Missouri.[4]
See also
- List of United States Congress members who died in office (1900–49)
References
- archive.org
- ^ "S. Doc. 58-1 - Fifty-eighth Congress. (Extraordinary session -- beginning November 9, 1903.) Official Congressional Directory for the use of the United States Congress. Compiled under the direction of the Joint Committee on Printing by A.J. Halford. Special edition. Corrections made to November 5, 1903". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Printing Office. November 9, 1903. pp. 22–23. Retrieved July 2, 2023.
- ^ 23 Cong. Rec. 3923 (1892).
- ^ "Scotland County Place Names, 1928–1945". The State Historical Society of Missouri. Archived from the original on June 24, 2016. Retrieved December 23, 2016.
External links
- United States Congress. "Robert R. Hitt (id: H000649)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
- Robert Roberts Hitt, late a representative from Illinois, Memorial addresses delivered in the House of Representatives and Senate frontispiece 1907
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