biography
| name: |
Hayne, Robert Young
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1791–1839)
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| biography:
| US senator, governor, and railroad promoter, born in Colleton District, South Carolina, USA. A prosperous lawyer, he held various state offices in South Carolina before going on to serve in the US Senate (Democrat-Republican, 1823–32). A staunch defender of states' rights, he came to national prominence as the chief adversary of Daniel Webster in the Senate's debates (1830–2) over the issue of whether a state could ‘nullify’ Federal legislation of which it did not approve. Hayne resigned from the Senate, and as South Carolina's governor (1832–4), he led in the adoption of the nullification ordinance, and then called for troops to resist any efforts by President Andrew Jackson to force South Carolina to back down. After Henry Clay managed a compromise, Hayne rescinded the ordinance. Leaving public office, he directed his energies to establishing railroad links between the South and the West, and in 1836 he formed the Louisville, Cincinnati & Charleston Railroad Co and became its president, but the financial panic of 1837 ended his ambitious scheme. |
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