Robert J. Walker

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Portrait of Robert J. Walker in the Treasury

Robert John Walker (born July 23, 1801 in Northumberland , Northumberland County , Pennsylvania , †  November 11, 1869 in Washington, DC ) was an American politician , Senator for Mississippi , governor of the Kansas Territory and Treasury Secretary .

Studies and professional career

The son of a judge first completed a general education course at the University of Pennsylvania , which he graduated in 1819 as the best of his year. This was followed by a law degree , which he completed in 1821 with admission to the bar.

After four years as a lawyer in Pittsburgh , he followed his brother in his law firm to Mississippi in 1826. At the same time he made a fortune by speculation with cotton , land and slaves . He himself released his slaves in 1838, well before the prohibition of slavery on December 18, 1865 by the 13th amendment to the constitution . After retiring from politics, he devoted himself to his business interests and last worked as a lawyer in Washington from 1864 to 1869.

Political career

US Senator for Mississippi

Walker began his political career in 1832 as a lawyer during the so-called nullification crisis . This was about whether a single federal state has the right to repeal (nullify) federal laws within its state borders.

Through his appearances there, he achieved such a high profile that he was elected senator in 1835 . As such, he represented the interests of the Democratic Party in the second Senate constituency in Congress until 1845 . Politically, he campaigned for an enlargement of the USA in the following years and voted in 1837 for the recognition of the Republic of Texas founded by Sam Houston and eight years later for the annexation of Texas.

Minister of Finance under President Polk

On March 8, 1845, President James K. Polk , whom he had previously supported in the election campaign, appointed him Treasury Secretary in his cabinet . As such, he advocated a low tax and duty rate . On the other hand, he was against a distribution of the budget surplus for fear of a subsequent necessary tax increase . After all, he was also opposed to an extension of the Second Bank of the United States , but instead advocated its own independent central banking system , which was not founded until 1913.

His most important work was the financial report of December 3, 1845, in which he dealt with many fundamental questions of economic and financial policy . As an advocate of low taxes and duties, he created the so-called Walker Tariff in 1846, one of the lowest tax rates in American history, which benefited the economically weak southern states in particular . During his tenure, funding for the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848 became necessary. Finally, he drafted the law that led to the establishment of the Ministry of the Interior in 1849 . Walker served as Treasury Secretary until President Polk's tenure ended on March 5, 1849.

His son-in-law, Benjamin H. Brewster , later served as Attorney General under President Chester A. Arthur's Cabinet .

Kansas Governor and Civil War

He was initially opposed to the compromise of 1850 , an agreement consisting of several laws, with which the antagonism between the slave-holding southern states and the northern states should be softened, which had been exacerbated by the acquisitions in the Mexican-American War (1846-48). Ultimately, however, the arguments of the later Democratic presidential candidate Stephen A. Douglas made him a proponent of the compromise. In 1853, he turned down President Franklin Pierce's offer to go to China as envoy .

In the spring of 1857 he was appointed governor by President James Buchanan of the Kansas Territory , which was then marked by the conflict between proponents and opponents of slavery . In protest against the Constitution of Lecompton , which strengthened the rights of the slave owners, he resigned from his office as governor in November 1857. Nevertheless, he did not immediately break with his party, but favored the English draft, named after Congressman William Hayden English , which provided compensation for Kansas in real estate in the event that the Lecompton Constitution was approved. However, the Kansas electorate overwhelmingly rejected this draft on August 21, 1858.

During the Civil War from 1861 to 1865, he was a supporter of President Abraham Lincoln 's government of the Northern States. In 1863 and 1864, he served as the government's financial agent in Europe to gain confidence in American financial policy. In particular, he succeeded in obtaining foreign loans . Between 1862 and 1864 he was also editor of the New York Continental Monthly . Finally, in 1867, he was one of the negotiators preparing the treaty for the sale of Alaska by Tsar Alexander II of Russia to the United States. Walker County in Texas was originally named in his honor. However, due to his support for the Northern States, the Texas Ranger Samuel Hamilton Walker was later named the district's namesake.

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personal data
SURNAME Walker, Robert J.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Walker, Robert John
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American politician
DATE OF BIRTH July 23, 1801
PLACE OF BIRTH Northumberland , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH November 11, 1869
Place of death Washington, DC