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Robert Hall Morrison, the first president of Davidson College, was born in 1798. Although he later became a wealthy planter, he was not born into wealth; his father owned a mill on McKee’s Creek in Cabarrus County. He studied at the University of North Carolina and graduated at the age of 18. He then studied theology at the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) and was ordained by North Carolina’s Concord Presbytery in 1820.

While in Princeton, he travelled and developed a positive impression of the Northern states. After his return to North Carolina, he outlined his thoughts in a letter to his cousin James Morrison: “I continue desirous to travel to the North. I wish in particular to travel over the States of Virginia Pensa. N. York & Ohio. But whether other engagements and other inducements will permit is uncertain … Should I ever settle myself as a minister I have a predilection for the New England States. I have formed ideas of the North probably exalted. Should it be the work of my Master to discover to me a project of usefulness I would by far prefer settling there.” Over the next 40 years he was to write many more letters to James, a fellow Presbyterian pastor.

In the end, he remained in North Carolina. For two years he served as the pastor of Providence Presbyterian Church in Mecklenburg County. In 1822, he wrote to James about his opinion of slavery: “I have long looked upon Slavery as a traffic in itself detestable and justified by no principle either of nations or of nature. Their condition is truly one of a most lamentable nature.” Such a statement was in essence a direct challenge to the basis of Southern society. He then took a church in Fayetteville, and during his 5-year pastorate, he met Mary Graham, daughter of Revolutionary War hero Joseph Graham, a prominent Mecklenburg County landholder and slaveowner. Ironically, in 1836 Mary’s father died, and she inherited a 200-acre plantation and 60 slaves in Lincoln County. Thus, Robert Hall Morrison’s family became part of the slaveholding class.

Photograph of a portrait of Robert Hall Morrison, c. 1825, Frist President of Davidson College (Found on ncpedia.org)

In 1827, Morrison accepted a call to the Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church in Mecklenburg County. While there, he organized 35 members of his congregation into the Congregation of Charlotte (now Charlotte’s First Presbyterian Church). In 1835, having noticed the lack of educational opportunities in the area, he began to raise funds for what is now Davidson College. Aided by an offer of land from Mary’s cousin, William Lee Davidson, his efforts were successful, and the college opened in 1837 with Morrison as its president. Despite his opposition to slavery, when the Morrisons arrived in Davidson, they brought with them six slaves – two adults, Mary and Bagwell, and their four sons.

Unfortunately, early in his presidency, Morrison developed a severe case of bronchitis, making it difficult for him to speak. Although he went to Philadelphia for treatment, it was unsuccessful. He lost his voice, making it impossible to teach or preach, and in 1840, he resigned and went to live on Mary’s plantation, Cottage Home, in Lincoln County. By that time the Morrisons owned 66 enslaved people, who were working on his plantation and in his iron mine.

Over the years, Morrison’s attitude toward slavery and the increasing Southern desire for secession changed. He was influenced by both his religion and the political and social changes of the time. In 1837-1838, the Presbyterian Church split into separate denominations, New School and Old School. Many members of Southern society, including pastors of Old School churches, supported slavery. They found reinforcement in the Bible, often in the story of Ham as told in Genesis. They relied on other Biblical endorsements of slavery, one of which was Ephesians 6:5 which instructs slaves to obey their earthly masters “with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.” (NIV) Southerners also argued that their churches offered valuable religious instruction to their enslaved people. The old school southern church split off from the Northern churches at the beginning of the Civil War in 1861.

Originally, Southern Presbyterianism focused on individual salvation and avoided comments on social constructs. This involved a moral dilemma: if slavery is morally wrong, why do we rely on it? Morrison himself saw this contradiction. Eventually he, along with other pastors, began to stress the advantages of a slave-based society. In her 2003 master’s thesis at Virginia Tech, Sarah Marie Eye notes that: “The contradictions surrounding Morrison’s attitudes and actions toward slavery parallel his attitudes toward secession as well.” He had always been in favor of a strong federal government, and politically he identified with the Whig party, which was formed in 1834 to oppose President Andrew Jackson. But by 1854, the party had collapsed, with most Northern members joining the Republican Party. Robert Hall Morrison had lost his political home.

‘As Eye notes, Republicans who advocated abolition and ending the expansion of slavery, were to be feared. The Democratic party, on the other hand, was endorsing states’ rights and secession.

In the end, the Morrison family was closely allied with the Confederate cause. Of his children, several of his daughters married men who became Confederate officers. They were Isabella (Lt. General Daniel Harvey Hill), Mary Anna, (second wife of Lt. General Stonewall Jackson), Eugenia (Brigadier General Rufus Barringer). Laura (Maj. Alphonso Avery), and Panthea (Col. John Edmunds Brown) In addition his sons William and Robert served in the Confederate army.