RARE! “19th Century Mississippi Senator" Robert Walker Clipped Signature COA

Description: Up for auction a VINTAGE! "Mississippi Senator" Robert Walker Clipped Signature. This item is certified authentic by JG Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity. ES-1650 Robert John Walker (July 19, 1801 – November 11, 1869) was an American lawyer, economist and politician. An active member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. Senate from Mississippi from 1835 until 1845, as Secretary of the Treasury from 1845 to 1849 during the administration of President James K. Polk, and briefly as Territorial Governor of Kansas in 1857. As senator, Walker vigorously supported the annexation of Texas. As Secretary of the Treasury, he held responsibility for the management of funds relating to the Mexican–American War, and was involved in a bank scandal. He contributed to a bill called the Walker tariff, which reduced rates to some of the lowest in history. Walker was appointed Governor of Kansas in 1857 by President James Buchanan but resigned shortly after due to his opposition to the administration-sponsored pro-slavery Lecompton Constitution. After his retirement from politics, Walker supported the United States during the American Civil War and continued to practice law in Washington, D.C. Born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania to Revolutionary War veteran and Pennsylvania judge, Jonathan Hoge Walker (July 20, 1754 – March 23, 1824) and his wife Lucretia ("Lucy") Duncan Walker (1770–1837), he and his brother Duncan grew up in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania from 1806 to 1814, where Jonathan Walker served as presiding judge of the judicial district. Judge Walker become the first Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania in 1818 (after nomination by President James Monroe and confirmation by the Senate) and served until his death. Initially educated at the Bellefonte Academy, Robert Walker graduated in 1819 at the top of his class at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Philomathean Society. He married Mary Blechynden Bache Walker and had five children, including Duncan Stephen Walker. Robert Walker became politically prominent during the Nullification Crisis of 1832, even arguing the federal government's right to coerce rebellious states and earning praise from former President James Madison. In 1836 Walker became the Union candidate for U.S. Senate from Mississippi and won election over the incumbent George Poindexter, who had criticized him for rigging bids to purchase land that Mississippi had acquired from the Choctaw as a result of the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek (1831). Walker served in the United States Senate as a Unionist Democrat from 1835 to 1845, winning re-election by a 2 to 1 margin over Sergeant S. Prentiss, as well as convincing Mississippi legislators to adopt resolutions denouncing nullification and secession as treason. An ardent expansionist, Walker supported the administration of President Andrew Jackson and (perhaps to continue his brother's legacy) voted for recognition of the Republic of Texas in 1837 and in January 1844 proposed annexation of Texas, subject to gradual emancipation and colonization of its black population, for which John C. Calhoun criticized him. Nonetheless, Walker proposed the joint annexation resolution of 1845. He also worked for the nomination and election of James K. Polk in 1844, in part because President Martin Van Buren opposed annexation. Walker also favored the award of public lands to new states and proposed a Homestead bill in 1836. He also endorsed a low tariff (which favored his state's farming interests); opposed distribution of the federal surplus funds for fear of creating an excuse to raise tariff rates; and, significantly, supported the independent Treasury system idea. He also opposed the Bank of the United States, and later repeal of the Missouri Compromise of 1850. As a Mississippi senator and slaveholder himself, Walker passionately defended slavery, while also opposing the African slave trade and favoring gradual emancipation and the efforts of the American Colonization Society. He stressed its economic benefits, and claimed slaves/ African Americans would fall into turpitude or insanity without firm masters. However, in 1838 Walker freed some of his slaves. Walker also claimed that independent Texas had to be annexed to prevent it from falling into the hands of Great Britain, which would use it to spread subversion throughout the South. He warned northerners that if Britain succeeded in undermining slavery, the freedmen would go north, where "the poor-house and the jail, the asylums of the deaf and dumb, the blind, the idiot and insane, would be filled to overflowing."

Price: 299.99 USD

Location: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

End Time: 2024-11-04T14:37:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: 0 USD