Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter

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Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter
2nd Confederate States Secretary of State
In office July 25, 1861 – February 22, 1862
Preceded by	Robert Toombs
Succeeded by	Judah P. Benjamin
Born	April 21, 1809 Essex County, Virginia, USA
Died	July 18, 1887 Essex County, Virginia, USA
Political party	Whig, Democratic
Profession	Politician, Lawyer

Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (April 21, 1809 – July 18, 1887) American statesman, was born in Essex County, Virginia.

He entered the University of Virginia in his seventeenth year and was one of its first graduates; he then studied law at the Winchester (Va.) Law School, and in 1830 was admitted to the bar. From 1835 to 1837 he was a member of the Virginia House of Delegates; from 1837 to 1843 and from 1845 to 1847 was a member of the national House of Representatives, being Speaker from 1839 to 1841; and from 1847 to 1861 he was in the Senate, where he was chairman of the finance committee (1850-1861). He is credited with having brought about a reduction of the quantity of silver in the smaller coins; he was the author of the Tariff Act of 1857 and of the bonded-warehouse system, and was one of the first to advocate civil service reform. In 1853 he declined President Millard Fillmore's offer to make him Secretary of State.

At the National Democratic Convention at Charleston, South Carolina in 1860, he was the Virginia delegations choice as candidate for the presidency of the United States, but was defeated for the nomination by Stephen A. Douglas. Hunter did not regard Lincoln's election as being of itself a sufficient cause for secession, and on January 11, 1861 he proposed an elaborate but impracticable scheme for the adjustment of differences between the North and the South, but when this and several other efforts to the same end had failed he quietly urged his own state to pass the ordinance of secession.

From 1861 to 1862 he was the Confederate States Secretary of State; and from 1862 to 1865 was a member of the Confederate senate, in which he was, at times, a caustic critic of the Davis administration. He was one of the commissioners to treat at the Hampton Roads Conference in 1865, and after the surrender of General Lee was summoned by President Lincoln to Richmond to confer regarding the restoration of Virginia in the Union. From 1874 to 1880 he was treasurer of Virginia, and from 1885 until his death near Lloyds, Virginia, was collector of the Port of Tappahannock, Virginia.

Among his works was Origin of the Late War, about the causes of the Civil War.

See Martha T Hunter, A Memoir of Robert MT Hunter (Washington, 1903) for his private life, and DR Anderson, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter, in the John P Branch Historical Papers of Randolph Macon College (vol. ii. No. 2, 1906), for his public career.

In 1942, a United States Liberty ship named the SS Robert M. T. Hunter was launched. She was scrapped in 1971.

He is pictured on the CSA $10.00 bill.

[edit] External links

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter at Find A Grave

Preceded by John Roane	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 9th congressional district March 4, 1837 – March 3, 1843	Succeeded by Samuel Chilton
Preceded by James K. Polk	Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives December 16, 1839 – March 4, 1841	Succeeded by John White
Preceded by Willoughby Newton	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Virginia's 8th congressional district March 4, 1845 – March 3, 1847	Succeeded by Richard L.T. Beale
Preceded by William S. Archer	United States Senator (Class 2) from Virginia March 4, 1847 – March 28, 1861 Served alongside: James M. Mason	Succeeded by John S. Carlile
Preceded by (none)	Representative to the Provisional Confederate Congress from Virginia 1861	Succeeded by (none)
Preceded by Robert Toombs	Confederate States Secretary of State July 25, 1861 – February 22, 1862	Succeeded by Judah P. Benjamin
Preceded by (none)	Confederate States Senator from Virginia February 18, 1862 – May 10, 1865 Served alongside: William B. Preston and Allen T. Caperton	Succeeded by (none)

Speakers of the United States House of Representatives

Muhlenberg • Trumbull • Muhlenberg • Dayton • Sedgwick • Macon • Varnum • Clay • Cheves • Clay • Taylor • Barbour • Clay • Taylor • Stevenson • Bell • Polk • Hunter • White • Jones • Davis • Winthrop • Cobb • Boyd • Banks • Orr • Pennington • Grow • Colfax • Pomeroy • Blaine • Kerr • Randall • Keifer • Carlisle • Reed • Crisp • Reed • Henderson • Cannon • Clark • Gillett • Longworth • Garner • Rainey • Byrns • Bankhead • Rayburn • Martin • Rayburn • Martin • Rayburn • McCormack • Albert • O'Neill • Wright • Foley • Gingrich • Hastert • Pelosi

Confederate States Senators

Alabama: Clay • Jemison • Walker • Yancey • Arkansas: Garland • R. Johnson • Mitchel • Florida: Baker • Maxwell • Georgia: Hill • H. Johnson • Lewis • Kentucky: Burnett • Simms • Louisiana: Semmes • Sparrow • Mississippi: Brown • Phelan • Watson • Missouri: Clark • W. Johnson • Peyton • Vest • North Carolina: Davis • Dortch • Graham • Reade • South Carolina: Barnwell • Orr • Tennessee: Haynes • Henry • Texas: Oldham • Wigfall • Virginia: Caperton • Hunter • Preston

This article incorporates facts obtained from the public domain Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.