Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (April 21, 1809 – July 18, 1887) was an American lawyer, politician and planter. He was a
U.S. representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
(1837–1843, 1845–1847),
speaker of the House
The speaker of a deliberative assembly, especially a legislative body, is its presiding officer, or the chair. The title was first used in 1377 in England.
Usage
The title was first recorded in 1377 to describe the role of Thomas de Hungerf ...
(1839–1841), and
U.S. senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
(1847–1861). During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, Hunter became the
Confederate States Secretary of State
The Confederate States Secretary of State was the head of the Confederate States State Department from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. There were three people who served the position in this time.
Secretaries of State
See also
*Unit ...
(1861–1862) and then a
Confederate senator (1862–1865) and critic of President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
. After the war, Hunter failed to win re-election to the U.S. Senate, but did serve as the
treasurer of Virginia
The Virginia State Treasurer is the head of the Virginia Department of the Treasury. They are the primary manager of the state's multi-billion dollar investment portfolio and oversee the issuance of bonds and management of debt in excess of $15 b ...
(1874–1880) before retiring to his farm. After fellow
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Grover Cleveland
Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...
was elected President of the United States in 1884, Hunter became the customs collector for the port of
Tappahannock until his death.
Early life and education
Born at the "Mount Pleasant" plantation near Loretto,
Essex County, Virginia
Essex County is a county located in the Middle Peninsula in the U.S. state of Virginia; the peninsula is bordered by the Rappahannock River on the north and King and Queen County on the south. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,599. ...
, to James Hunter (1774-1826) and his wife Maria (Garnett) Hunter (1777-1811), R.M.T. Hunter was descended from the
First Families of Virginia
First Families of Virginia (FFV) were those families in Colonial Virginia who were socially prominent and wealthy, but not necessarily the earliest settlers. They descended from English colonists who primarily settled at Jamestown, Williamsburg ...
. His mother's father, Henry Garnett was one of the county's largest landowners, her brother
James M. Garnett was the U.S. Congressman representing the area (and her other brother
Robert S. Garnett
Robert Selden Garnett (December 16, 1819 – July 13, 1861) was a career military officer, serving in the United States Army until the American Civil War, when he became a Confederate States Army brigadier general. He was the first general offi ...
would be within a decade). However, Maria Hunter died shortly after giving birth to William Garnett Hunter (1811-1829), when Robert M. T. Hunter was two years old, and shortly after one of his slightly elder brothers, also William Hunter, died at age 5. Educated first by private tutors, R. M. T. Hunter entered the
University of Virginia
The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...
when he was 17, shortly after his father's death, and became one of its first graduates. While a student, Hunter became a member of the
Jefferson Literary and Debating Society
The Jefferson Literary and Debating Society (commonly known "Jeff Soc") is the oldest continuously existing collegiate debating society in North America, having been founded on July 14, 1825, in Room Seven, West Lawn. Named after founder of the U ...
, then studied law at the
Winchester Law School
Winchester Law School was a privately run institution for legal education. Operated by Henry St. George Tucker Sr., it was open from 1824 to 1831.
History
In 1824 Henry Tucker was named Chancellor of the Equity Court of the Fourth District, w ...
.
Planter
Several generations of Hunter's family owned a considerable number of slaves, most used to farm their plantations. In 1830, R.M.T. Hunter owned 72 slaves (44 males and 26 females), and his household consisted of two white males (presumably him and an overseer). A decade later, following his marriage, R. M. T. Hunter's household included himself, two young white males (presumably one his eldest son) and five white females, as well as 83 slaves. In 1850, R. M. T. Hunter of Essex County, Virginia, owned at least 100 slaves. In the 1860 U.S. Federal census for Essex County, Virginia, U.S. Senator Hunter owned real estate worth $80,890 and personal property (including slaves) worth $92,800. The federal lists of slaves owned by R. M. T. Hunter nearly fill the majority of two pages (more than 120 persons).
Political career
In 1830, Hunter was admitted to the Virginia bar. In 1834, he was elected to represent Essex County in the
Virginia House of Delegates
The Virginia House of Delegates is one of the two parts of the Virginia General Assembly, the other being the Senate of Virginia. It has 100 members elected for terms of two years; unlike most states, these elections take place during odd-numbe ...
, succeeding Richard Baylor. R. M. T. Hunter won re-election in 1834 and 1836, but resigned upon winning election to the U.S. Congress as discussed next.
In 1836, Hunter was elected
U.S. Representative
The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...
as a
States Rights
In American political discourse, states' rights are political powers held for the state governments rather than the federal government according to the United States Constitution, reflecting especially the enumerated powers of Congress and the ...
Whig. He was re-elected in 1838, and became
Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
The speaker of the United States House of Representatives, commonly known as the speaker of the House, is the presiding officer of the United States House of Representatives. The office was established in 1789 by Article I, Section 2 of the U. ...
– the youngest person ever to hold that office. He was re-elected again in 1840, but was not chosen Speaker. In 1842 he was defeated for re-election, but returned in 1844. Hunter favored annexing Texas and compromise on the Oregon question (opposing the
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was an unsuccessful 1846 proposal in the United States Congress to ban slavery in territory acquired from Mexico in the Mexican–American War. The conflict over the Wilmot Proviso was one of the major events leading to the ...
), and led efforts to retrocede the
City of Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...
back to Virginia (removing it from the District of Columbia). After losing the 1842 election, Hunter changed parties, becoming a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
. In 1845, he again took the oath of office as an elected Congressman, and supported the
Tariff of 1846.
[Appleton's Cyclopedia]
In 1846, the Virginia General Assembly elected Hunter
U.S. Senator
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States.
The composition and powe ...
. He assumed office in 1847 and won re-election in 1852 and 1858. Hunter continued to support slavery and its extension: favoring extending the
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was a federal legislation of the United States that balanced desires of northern states to prevent expansion of slavery in the country with those of southern states to expand it. It admitted Missouri as a Slave states an ...
line to the Pacific Ocean, opposing abolishing the slave trade in the District of Columbia as well as any interference with its operation in any state or territory, and supported the
Fugitive Slave Act of 1850
The Fugitive Slave Act or Fugitive Slave Law was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers.
The Act was one of the most co ...
. Senator Hunter delivered an address in Richmond supporting states’ rights in 1852, and in the 1857-58 Congressional session advocated admitting Kansas under the pro-slavery
Lecompton constitution
The Lecompton Constitution (1859) was the second of four proposed constitutions for the state of Kansas. Named for the city of Lecompton where it was drafted, it was strongly pro-slavery. It never went into effect.
History Purpose
The Lecompton Co ...
.
In the Senate, Hunter became chairman of the
Committee on Finance in 1850. He is credited with bringing about a reduction of the quantity of silver in small silver denominations, helping push forward Senate Bill No. 271 which would eventually become the
Coinage Act of 1853
The Coinage Act of 185310 Stat. 160 was a piece of legislation passed by the United States Congress which lowered the silver content of the silver half dime, dime, quarter dollar, and half dollar, and authorized a three dollar gold piece. Althoug ...
. Hunter also drafted and sponsored the
Tariff of 1857
The Tariff of 1857 was a major tax reduction in the United States that amended the Walker Tariff of 1846 by lowering rates to between 15% and 24%.
The Tariff of 1857 was developed in response to a federal budget surplus in the mid-1850s. The firs ...
(which lowered duties) and creation of the bonded-warehouse system, although federal revenues were thereby reduced. He also advocated civil service reform.
In January 1860, Hunter delivered a speech in favor of slavery and the right of slaveholders to carry their slaves into the territories.
At the first session of the
1860 Democratic National Convention
The 1860 Democratic National Conventions were a series of presidential nominating conventions held to nominate the Democratic Party's candidates for president and vice president in the 1860 election. The first convention, held from April 23 t ...
in
Charleston, South Carolina
Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...
, Hunter was a contender for the presidential nomination, but received little support except from the Virginia delegation. On the first eight ballots, he was a very distant second to the leader,
Stephen A. Douglas
Stephen Arnold Douglas (April 23, 1813 – June 3, 1861) was an American politician and lawyer from Illinois. A senator, he was one of two nominees of the badly split Democratic Party for president in the 1860 presidential election, which wa ...
, and was third on the remaining 49 ballots. When the convention reconvened in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, most Southerners withdrew, including Hunter, and Douglas won the party's nomination.
Hunter did not regard
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
's election as being of itself sufficient cause for secession. On January 11, 1861, he proposed an elaborate but impracticable scheme to adjust differences between the North and the South. When this and several other similar efforts failed, Hunter quietly urged his own state to pass the ordinance of secession in April 1861. He was
expelled from the Senate for supporting secession. One scheme proposed him as president of the new Confederate government, with fellow former U.S. Senator
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
as commander of the
Confederate States Army
The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fighting ...
. Voters in parts of Virginia which had not seceded elected Unionist
John S. Carlile
John Snyder Carlile (December 16, 1817October 24, 1878) was an Americans, American merchant, lawyer, slaveowner and politician, including a United States senator. A strong supporter of the Union (American Civil War), Union cause during the Ameri ...
to fill the rest of Hunter's term.
American Civil War
![CSA-T68-$10-1864](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/CSA-T68-%2410-1864.jpg)
In July 1861, Confederate President
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the United States Senate and the House of Representatives as a ...
appointed Hunter the
Confederate States Secretary of State
The Confederate States Secretary of State was the head of the Confederate States State Department from 1861 to 1865 during the American Civil War. There were three people who served the position in this time.
Secretaries of State
See also
*Unit ...
. He resigned on February 18, 1862, after his election as a
Confederate Senator. Hunter served in the Confederate Senate in Richmond, Virginia, until the war's end, and was at times President ''pro tem''. His portrait appeared on the Confederate $10 bill.
As a Confederate Senator, Hunter became an often caustic critic of Confederate President Davis. Despite this friction, Davis appointed Hunter as one of three commissioners sent to attempt peace negotiations in February 1865. Hunter met with President
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
and Secretary of State
William H. Seward
William Henry Seward (May 16, 1801 – October 10, 1872) was an American politician who served as United States Secretary of State from 1861 to 1869, and earlier served as governor of New York and as a United States Senator. A determined oppon ...
at the
Hampton Roads Conference
The Hampton Roads Conference was a peace conference held between the United States and representatives of the unrecognized breakaway Confederate States on February 3, 1865, aboard the steamboat ''River Queen'' in Hampton Roads, Virginia, to discus ...
. However, after Lincoln refused to acknowledge the Confederacy's independence, Senator Hunter chaired a war meeting in Richmond where Confederates vowed they would never lay down their arms before achieving independence. Following
Lee's surrender, President Lincoln summoned Hunter to confer regarding Virginia's restoration to the Union.
Many of Hunter's Garnett relatives became Confederate military officers, and his cousin Judge Muscoe Garnett (1808-1880) commanded the Home Guard in Essex County. Hunter's first cousins (through his mother) were career U.S. Army officers who became Confederate generals
Robert S. Garnett
Robert Selden Garnett (December 16, 1819 – July 13, 1861) was a career military officer, serving in the United States Army until the American Civil War, when he became a Confederate States Army brigadier general. He was the first general offi ...
and
Richard B. Garnett, both of whom died in the conflict. His son James D. Hunter enlisted as a private in Company F,
9th Virginia Cavalry
The 9th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.
History
Virginia’s 9th Cavalry Regiment ...
, which was organized in December 1861 with Lt. Garnett among its officers, and which was initially assigned to protect the Rappahannock River as well as the Rappahannock river port cities of
Falmouth and
Fredericksburg. James D. Hunter served only months before being furloughed on account of sickness in July 1862, but did participate in raids under Gen. J.E.B. Stuart and Capt. William Latane (who became a Confederate martyr as the only casualty of Stuart's vaunted ride around Union troops) and in General Lee's Seven Day offensive which ended the Union
Peninsular Campaign. While his eldest son R.M.T. Hunter Jr. died early in the war of disease, his second son, Robert D. Hunter, served as a staff officer in the Army of Northern Virginia and as an engineer.
When some suggested late in the war that their slaves could be armed and serve in the Confederate Army to win their freedom, Senator R.M.T. Hunter vehemently opposed the proposal with a long speech against it, but after the Virginia legislature passed a resolution to the contrary, voted as instructed but with an emphatic protest.
Later years
![Robert M](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6a/Robert_M._T._Hunter_c1865.jpg)
In 1867, President
Andrew Johnson
Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...
pardoned Hunter for his activities supporting the Confederate States. He unsuccessfully ran to become U.S. Senator again in 1874, to succeed Unionist Republican
John F. Lewis
John Francis Lewis (March 1, 1818September 2, 1895) was an American planter and politician from Rockingham County, Virginia. He served two terms as the ninth and 14th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and represented Virginia as a Republican in th ...
. However, Confederate veteran (and war hero)
Robert E. Withers
Robert Enoch Withers (September 18, 1821September 21, 1907) was an American physician, officer (armed forces), military officer, newspaperman, politician diplomat, and Freemason. He served as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia and represented Virgin ...
of the Conservative Party won. After that loss, Hunter accepted an appointment as the
Treasurer of Virginia
The Virginia State Treasurer is the head of the Virginia Department of the Treasury. They are the primary manager of the state's multi-billion dollar investment portfolio and oversee the issuance of bonds and management of debt in excess of $15 b ...
, serving from 1874 to 1880, when he returned to his farm. Hunter also published ''Origin of the Late War'', about the causes of the Civil War. From 1885 until his death, he was customs collector of the Port of
Tappahannock, Virginia
Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,375 at the 2010 census, up from 2,068 at the 2000 census. Located on the Rappahannock River, Tappahannock is the county seat of Essex County. Its name ...
, near his home.
He died near
Lloyds, Virginia, in 1887, and was buried at the Garnett family burial ground in
Loretto in Essex County.
Personal life
He married Mary Evelina Dandridge (1817–1893) on October 4, 1836, in
Jefferson County (then in Virginia, but which became West Virginia during the American Civil War). They had sons Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter Jr. (1839-1861), James Dandridge Hunter (1844-1892), Philip Stephen Hunter (1848–1919) and Muscoe Russell Garnett Hunter (1850-1865). Their daughters (educated and unmarried) were Martha Taliaferro Hunter (1841-1909), Sarah Stephena Hunter (1846-1865), Annie Buchanan Hunter (1852-1853) and Mary Evelina Hunter 1854-1881). In 1860 and later censuses, R. M. T. Hunter's unmarried sisters Martha Fenton Hunter (1800-1866) and Jane Swann Hunter (1804-1880) and half-sister Sara (Sully) Hunter (1822-1874) also lived on the family plantation.
Legacy
![Removal of Robert M](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Removal_of_Robert_M._T._Hunter_portrait.jpg)
In 1942, a United States
Liberty ship
Liberty ships were a class of cargo ship built in the United States during World War II under the Emergency Shipbuilding Program. Though British in concept, the design was adopted by the United States for its simple, low-cost construction. Mass ...
named the
SS ''Robert M. T. Hunter'' was launched. She was scrapped in 1971.
As a former Speaker of the House, his portrait had been on display in the US Capitol. The portrait was removed from public display in the Speaker's Lobby outside the House Chamber after an order issued by the Speaker of the House,
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
, on June 18, 2020.
In popular culture
Hunter appeared in the 2012 film ''
Lincoln
Lincoln most commonly refers to:
* Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States
* Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England
* Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S.
* Lincol ...
'', which included the Hampton Roads Conference. He was portrayed by
Mike Shiflett.
See also
*
List of United States senators expelled or censured
The United States Constitution gives the Senate the power to expel any member by a two-thirds vote. This is distinct from the power over impeachment trials and convictions that the Senate has over executive and judicial federal officials: th ...
Notes
*
*
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Retrocession of Alexandria– A speech by R. M. T. Hunter before the U.S. House of Representatives, May 8, 1846
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Robert Mercer Taliaferro
1809 births
1887 deaths
19th-century American lawyers
19th-century American politicians
Candidates in the 1860 United States presidential election
Executive members of the Cabinet of the Confederate States of America
Confederate States of America senators
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Virginia
Democratic Party United States senators from Virginia
Deputies and delegates to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States
Expelled United States senators
Garnett family of Virginia
Members of the Virginia House of Delegates
People from Essex County, Virginia
People of Virginia in the American Civil War
Speakers of the United States House of Representatives
State treasurers of Virginia
University of Virginia alumni
Virginia lawyers
Virginia state senators
Virginia Whigs
Whig Party members of the United States House of Representatives
Winchester Law School alumni
Southern Historical Society