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 (1839–1841), and U.S. senator (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 ...

, 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. After the war, Hunter failed to win re-election to the U.S. Senate, but did serve as the treasurer of Virginia (1874–1880) before retiring to his farm. After fellow Democrat

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, Williamsbur ...

. 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 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 research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective ad ...

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-number ...

, 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 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. 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. 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 state and ...

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 con ...

. 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 C ...

. 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 (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 in Charleston, South Carolina, 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, 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 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 to fill the rest of Hunter's term.

American Civil War

In July 1861, Confederate President Jefferson Davis appointed Hunter the

. 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 disc ...

. 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 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, 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

In 1867, President Andrew Johnson 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. However, Confederate veteran (and war hero) Robert E. Withers of the Conservative Party won. After that loss, Hunter accepted an appointment as the Treasurer of Virginia, 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

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. Ma ...

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, on June 18, 2020.

In popular culture

Hunter appeared in the 2012 film ''

'', which included the Hampton Roads Conference. He was portrayed by Mike Shiflett.

Notes

* *

References

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