Person Information

Biography

Robert Augustus Toombs was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York and studied law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1830. He served as a State house representative 1837-1840, 1841-1843. He was elected a Whig to the 29th to 33rd Congress. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1852 and 1858. He believed in State sovereignty and that slavery should be maintained and extended. After Abraham Lincoln was elected President, he made speeches in Georgia asserting that the north would no longer respect the rights of the south and that the south needed to secede from the Union. He resigned his Senate seat in January, 1861, and became secretary of state for Jefferson Davis. He fought in the Civil War, at the second battle of Bull Run and Antietam. After the war he fled to Cuba and then London to avoid arrest. He returned to Georgia in 1867, and died there in 1885.

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Biography and Citation Information:
Biography: 
Robert Augustus Toombs was born in Wilkes County, Georgia. He graduated from Union College, Schenectady, New York and studied law at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville. He was admitted to the bar in 1830. He served as a State house representative 1837-1840, 1841-1843. He was elected a Whig to the 29th to 33rd Congress. He was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 1852 and 1858. He believed in State sovereignty and that slavery should be maintained and extended. After Abraham Lincoln was elected President, he made speeches in Georgia asserting that the north would no longer respect the rights of the south and that the south needed to secede from the Union. He resigned his Senate seat in January, 1861, and became secretary of state for Jefferson Davis. He fought in the Civil War, at the second battle of Bull Run and Antietam. After the war he fled to Cuba and then London to avoid arrest. He returned to Georgia in 1867, and died there in 1885.
Citation Type: 
Website
Citation URL: 
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=t000313
Title of Webpage: 
Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
Website Viewing Date: 
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Citation Type: 
Website
Citation URL: 
https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?qh=ZSUfiidaxgluxuvSiPnm2w%3d%3d&gss=angs-g&new=1&rank=1&msT=1&gsfn=robert&gsfn_x=1&gsln=toombs&gsln_x=1&msbdy_x=1&msbdy=1810&msddy=1885&msddy_x=1&catbucket=rstp&MSAV=1&uidh=if4&pcat=ROOT_CATEGORY&h=15398&
Title of Webpage: 
Ancestry.com
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Citation Notes: 
Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography; Volume: Vol. VI Source Information Ancestry.com. Appletons' Cyclopedia of American Biography, 1600-1889 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Citation for Birth Info:
Citation Type: 
Website
Citation URL: 
https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/interactive/61360/47194_547526-00154?pid=15398&backurl=https://search.ancestrylibrary.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?qh%3DZSUfiidaxgluxuvSiPnm2w%253d%253d%26gss%3Dangs-g%26new%3D1%26rank%3D1%26msT%3D1%26gsfn%3Drobert%26gsfn_x%3D1%26gs
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Ancestry.com
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Citation for Death Info:
Citation Type: 
Website
Citation URL: 
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=t000313
Title of Webpage: 
Biographical Directory of United States Congress
Website Viewing Date: 
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - 15:00
Website Last Modified Date: 
Tuesday, November 20, 2018 - 15:00
Citation Notes: 
American National Biography; Dictionary of American Biography; Phillips, Ulrich. The Life of Robert Toombs. 1913. Reprint. New York: B. Franklin, 1968; Thompson, William Y. Robert Toombs of Georgia. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1966.