Hunter

New York," now in preparation; E. B. O'Callaghan,
Docs Relative to the Colonial Hist, of the State of
N. Y., vols. V, VI (1855) ; N. Y. Colonial MSS. in
Albany—see E. B. O'Callaghan, Calendar of Hist.
MSS. in the Office of the Secretary of State, Albany
(1866), vol. II; W. A. Whitehead, Archives of the
State of N. I., i ser. IV (1882); sketch by H. M. Chi-
chester in Diet. Nat. Biog.; H. L. Osgood, The Am,
Colonies in the Eighteenth Century (1924), vol. II;
C. W. Spencer, Phases of Royal Govt. in N. 7. (1905);
J. F. Burns, Controversies between Royal Governors
and Their Assemblies (1923) ; Wm. Smith, The Hist,
of the Province of N. Y. (1757) ; Cadwallader Golden,
"Letters on Smith's History of New York/' in N. Y.
Hist. Soc. Colls. Pub. Fund Ser.f vol. I (1868) ; A. H.
Quinn, A Hist, of the Am. Drama from the Beginning
to the Civil War (1923) ; Gentleman's Mag. (London),
June I734J R.L.B.

HUNTER, ROBERT MERCER TALIA-
FERRO (Apr. 21, iSoQ-July 18,1887), lawyer,
statesman, was the son of James and Maria
(Garnett) Hunter; his mother was a sister of
the first James Mercer Garnett [#.&>.]. Hunter
was born at the homestead of his maternal an-
cestors in Essex County, Va., and like other sons
of Virginia planters, received his primary edu-
cation at home. He prepared for college under
a teacher employed by his father and uncle, en-
tered the University of Virginia, matriculating
for its first session, and finished his course in
July 1828. Deciding to read law, he chose as his
preceptor that ardent apostle of particularism,
Judge Henry St. George Tucker of Winchester,
Va,, and was admitted to the bar in 1830. At-
taining his majority in a period of political un-
certainty and confusion, he for some time re-
fused to ally himself with any political party or
faction. Nevertheless, he was elected as an inde-
pendent to the Virginia General Assembly, serv-
ing 1834-37, Following this term of office he
was sent to Congress as a state-rights Whig, but
to the surprise of party associates he supported
most of the Van Buren program, notably the in-
dependent or sub-treasury proposals. In 1839-
40 he voted with the Whigs in the memorable
contest between the rival delegations claiming
the right to represent New Jersey in Congress.
He thus became an available candidate for the
speakership of the House and was elected, in
the second term of his service in that body.

During his one term as speaker, Hunter's
leanings to particularism became pronounced, as
did his devotion to the leadership of John C.
Calhoun [#.#.]. In fact, Hunter's principles were
then being molded by that capable exponent of
Southern rights and interests, and they cannot
be understood except in the light of his idol's
plans and purposes. Fearing a revival of Clay's
paternalistic program, Calhoun after the acces-
sion of Van Buren to the presidency, forsook the
Whigs, with whom he had been in brief alliance
against the Jacksonians, and by gradual stages

Hunter

became fully identified with the state-rights
Democrats, carrying a number of Southern
leaders with him. For some time Hunter hesi-
tated to follow, but Clay's unrelenting activity,
together with the Whig triumph in 1840, left no
alternative; and he, too, became a consistent
state-rights Democrat. As such he was scarcely
considered for reelection to the speakership.
Moreover, factional differences within his dis-
trict, which had been gerrymandered, caused
him to fail of reelection to Congress in 1843.

The years immediately following marked a
determining period in the history of Virginia, as
well as in the political fortunes of many of her
leaders. The state-rights Democrats began to
plan seriously for the election of Calhoun to the
presidency and to make Virginia a strategic part
of a united pro-slavery South. To this end they
demanded the annexation of Texas and repu-
diated Van Buren's candidacy for the presi-
dency, already indorsed locally. Former Jack-
son Democrats were won over to the new pro-
gram by a skilful use of patronage and of Vir-
ginia traditions. Though of moderate ability,
Hunter played a leading role in the consumma-
tion of the political part of this program. He
lent his name to the campaign biography of Cal-
houn published in 1843, which was written in
large part by Calhoun himself (Gaillard Hunt,
John C. Calhoun, 1908, pp. 250-51). Beginning
in that year Hunter carried on an extensive cor-
respondence with the Tammany Society of New
York City and with politicians throughout the
Union to ascertain and to further Calhoun's
chances for election to the presidency in 1844.
Finding them hopeless, he diverted his efforts
to the consummation of the part of the program
previously agreed upon regarding the state of
Virginia. To this end he and James A. Seddon
[q.v.] rewrote the platform of the local Demo-
cratic party, committing it to the doctrine of
Calhoun*

Under this changed program Hunter was
easily reekcted to Congress, where he resumed
his service Mar. 4, 1845, Before his term ex-
pired, however, Seddon, Lewis E. Harvie, and
others had secured his election to the United
States Senate, where he took his seat Mar. 4,
1847, and in time won distinction as a tireless
worker, of genuine accomplishments, Disa|>-
pointed at the failure of Caifaoan to reach the
presidency in 1848, and discouraged by the de-
mands of the North as expressed in the WSmcit
Proviso, Hunter attended the Nashville Conven-
tion of 1850 and would not have been averse to
the dismemberment of the Union at that tinae,
During the discussion of the compromise meas-

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