Excerpt from Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1916, Vol. 2 of 2: In Two Volumes The letters and papers here presented derive their value from the importance of the period (1826-1876) with which they deal. Except in so far as he represented and spoke for Calhoun's followers in Virginia, always more formidable than numerous, Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (1809-1887) had little of claim to statesmanship or influence. Moreover, the period of his constructive effort was one of declining influence for his State and later one of civil strife between the great sections of the Nation. Although he served the public almost continuously during a period of thirty years, he held only a few positions of trust, most of his service being in the United States Senate. A chronology of his life would therefore tell little, and a brief biographical sketch instead may be helpful in this connection. R. M. T. Hunter, familiarly known as "Bob" Hunter, was born at the homestead of his maternal ancestors, the Garnetts, in Essex County, Va., a county which, by the way, produced more leaders of influence for Virginia than did any other one county or small section of the State for the period from 1800 to 1860. To one at all familiar with her history the names of Spencer Roane, Thomas Ritchie, John Brockenbraugh, and the Garnetts (J. M., M. R. H., and R. S.) at once suggest themselves. Hunter's early education was received at the hands of his father and at the Rose Hill Academy, two and a half miles from his home. To this school he and his colored boy, Austin, walked every morning. Later he entered the University of Virginia, matriculating for its first session and becoming one of its first graduates. After completing his university course he took up the study of law with that famous teacher and effective apostle of State rights, Judge Henry St. George Tucker, of Winchester, Va. It was in this period of his preparation that Hunter met and married Mary Evelina Dandridge, a niece of Judge Tucker's wife and the reputed heroine of Philip Pendleton Cooke's "Florence Vane," a famous love poem. After a short period (1835-1837) of service in the General Assembly of Virginia, and despite the fact that he had refused affiliation with either of the leading political parties of the time, Hunter was elected by the State rights Whigs to represent his district in Congress. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.