Robert Goodloe Harper, U.S. Senator

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Goodloe_Harper

Robert Goodloe Harper (January 1765 – January 14, 1825), a Federalist, was a member of the United States Senate from Maryland, serving from January 1816 until his resignation in December of the same year. He also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives (1790–1795), the U.S. House of Representatives from South Carolina (1795–1801), and in the Maryland State Senate. He is best remembered for the phrase, "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."

Early life

Harper, the fifth child and first son of Jesse Harper (1733 - ?) and Emily Diana Goodloe (1734 - 1788) was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia in January 1765 and moved with his parents to Granville, North Carolina around 1769. He received his early education at home and later attended grammar school. At the age of fifteen, Harper joined a volunteer corps of Cavalry and served in the American Revolutionary Army. He made a surveying tour through Kentucky and Tennessee in 1783, and graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1785. He studied law in Charleston, South Carolina, teaching school at the same time, and was admitted to the bar in 1786. He commenced practice in the Ninety-Sixth District of South Carolina, moving back to Charleston, S.C. in 1789.

On 7 May 1800, Harper married Catherine Carroll in Anne Arundel Co, Maryland, the daughter of Charles & Mary (Darnall) Carroll.

Robert had a least 4 children with Catherine:

Charles Carroll Harper, m. Charlotte Hutchinson Cheffelle

Richard Caton Harper
Robert Goodloe Harper, Jr
Emily Louisa Harper, m. William Clapham Pennington.
Political career in South Carolina

Harper was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1790 until 1795, at which time he was elected from South Carolina to the Third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Alexander Gillon. He was reelected to the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Congresses but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1800 to the Seventh Congress, serving as a U.S Representative from February 9, 1795 to March 1801. While in Congress, he was the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the Fifth and Sixth Congresses. Harper was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1798 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William Blount.

Political career in Maryland

Harper moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and engaged in the practice of law. He served in the War of 1812, attaining the rank of major general. He assisted in organizing the Baltimore Exchange Co. in 1815 and was a member of the first board of directors. He then became a member of the Maryland State Senate, and was later elected from Maryland to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4, 1815, serving from January 1816 until December 1816, when he resigned. He was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for Vice President in the 1816 election. He also received one electoral vote for Vice President in the 1820 election.

Retirement

Harper traveled extensively in Europe in 1819 and 1820. He took a prominent part in the ceremonies on the occasion of Lafayette’s visit to Baltimore in 1824. He died in Baltimore on January 14, 1825, and was initially interred in the family burial ground on his estate, ”Oakland”, and later reburied in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore.

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https://www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/harper-robert-goodloe/

Congressman, U.S. senator. Harper was born near Fredericksburg, Virginia, in January 1765, the only son of the cabinetmaker Jesse Harper and his wife, Diana Goodloe. Harper was raised in Granville County, North Carolina, and at the age of fifteen joined a cavalry unit under General Nathanael Greene to resist the invasion of Lord Cornwallis. Following the Revolution, Harper worked as a surveyor in Kentucky, but he continued to aspire to a military career. With the financial support of his father and a small loan from Richard Dobbs Spaight, Harper graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1785.

Harper moved to Charleston, South Carolina, following graduation. After being admitted to the bar in 1786, he practiced law at Ninety Six. He returned to Charleston in 1789 where western land speculating consumed most of his time. Thanks to his participation in the reapportionment movement, Harper’s political career began in 1794 through a confusing turn of events. In October he was elected to both the General Assembly and the Fourth Congress. However, in November he won a special election to the Third Congress to replace Alexander Gillon, who had died in office. Harper’s congressional career representing South Carolina continued until 1801.

After a brief flirtation with pro-French republicanism in the early 1790s, and contrary to what his critics often claimed, Harper remained a dedicated Federalist throughout the remainder of the decade, a position endorsed by his constituents in Ninety Six. He supported western expansion, unlike some New England Federalists. He defended the Jay Treaty with an eloquent address that went through fifteen printings, resisted attempts in the House to expand its role in foreign policy, and worked to strengthen executive autonomy. Although associated with the moderate John Adams wing of the Federalist Party, Harper was steadfastly pro-British, especially after the XYZ affair unleashed a torrent of anti-French sentiment. He led the move to enhance the country’s military capability and defended the alien and sedition laws of 1798, which he justified on the existence of a national common law implied by the Constitution.

After retiring from politics in 1801, Harper moved to Baltimore, Maryland, where he had been a de facto resident since 1799. On May 7, 1801, he married Catherine Carroll, daughter of the eminent Charles Carroll of Carrollton. Most of the family wealth remained in Catherine’s name, and despite a successful law practice, Harper owed considerable debts throughout the rest of his life.

Harper’s oratorical skills attracted numerous influential clients to his law practice, whose cases took Harper before state and federal courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Judges John Pickering and Samuel Chase both employed him during their impeachment trials. Harper opposed the War of 1812, but was made a general of the Maryland soldiers who defended Baltimore. Briefly returning to politics, Harper served in the Maryland state senate and in the U.S. Senate. He stood as the Federalist vice-presidential candidate in 1816. A charter member of the American Colonization Society, Harper helped choose Africa as the location of the colony and proposed the names Liberia and Monrovia later used for the colony and its capital. Harper considered reentering politics, but died suddenly on January 14, 1825. He was interred at Greenmount Cemetery, Baltimore.

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