WALKER, ROBERT JAMES (1801-1869)

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 273 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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WALKER, ROBERT JAMES (1801-1869) , American political leader and economist, was born in Northumberland,

Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA
PENNSYLVANIA, UNIVERSITY OF

, on the 23rd of July 18or. He graduated from the University of

Pennsylvania

PENNSYLVANIA
PENNSYLVANIA, UNIVERSITY OF

in 1818 and practised law in Pittsburg from 1822 to 1826, when he removed to Mississippi. Though living in aslave state he was consistently opposed to slavery, but he favoured gradual rather than immediate emancipation, and in 1838 he freed his own slaves. He became prominent, politically, during the nullification excitement of 183218J3, as a vigorous opponent of nullification, and from 1836 to 1845 he sat in the United States Senate as a Unionist Democrat. Being an ardent expansionist, he voted for the recognition of the independence of

Texas

TEXAS

in 1837 and for the joint annexation resolution of 1845, and advocated the nomination and election of James K. Polk in 1844. He was secretary of the treasury throughout the Polk administration (18451849) and was generally recognized as the most influential member of the cabinet. He financed the war with

Mexico

and drafted the bill (1849) for the

establishment

ESTABLISHMENT (0. Fr. establissement, Fr. etablissement,
late
- LATE
Norm. Fr. establishement, from O. Fr. establir, Fr. etablir, Lat. stabilire, to make stable)

of the department of the interior, but his greatest work was the preparation of the famous treasury report of the 3rd of December 1845. Although inferior in intellectual quality to Alexander Hamilton's Report on Manufactures, presenting the case against free trade, it is regarded as the most powerful attack upon the protection system which has ever been made in an American state

paper

PAPER
PAPER (Fr. papier, from Lat. papyrus)

. The " Walker Tariff " of 1846 was based upon its principles and was in fact largely the secretary's own work. Walker at first opposed the Compromise of 185o, but was won over later by the arguments of Stephen A. Douglas. He was appointed territorial

governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

of Kansas in the

spring

SPRING (from " to spring," " to leap or jump up," " burst out," O. Eng., springau, a common Teut. word, cf. Ger. springer, possibly allied to Gr. QnrFpxecOac, to move rapidly)

of 1857 by President Buchanan, but in November of the same year resigned in disgust, owing to his opposition to the Lecompton Constitution. He did, not, however, break with his party immediately, and favoured the so-called English Bill (see KANSAS) ; in fact it was partly due to his influence that a sufficient number of anti-Lecompton Democrats were induced to vote for that measure to secure its passage. He adhered to the Union cause during the Civil War and in 18631864 as financial agent of the United States did much to create confidence in Europe in the financial resources of the United States, and was instrumental in securing a

loan

LOAN (adapted from the Scandinavian form of a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Swed. Mn, Icel. lan, Dut. leen; the O.E. laen appears in " lend," the ultimate source is seen in the root of Gr. Xeiaecv and Lat. linquere, to leave)

of $250,000,000 in Germany. He practised law in Washington, D.C., from 1864 until his death there on the 11th of November 1869. Both during and after the Civil War he was a contributor to the Continental Monthly, which for a short time he also, with James R. Gilmore, conducted.
For the tariff report see F. W. Taussig, State Papers and Speeches on the Tariff (

Cambridge

, Mass., 1892).

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