Robert J. Walker

Robert John Walker (July 19, 1801 – November 11, 1869) was an American economist and statesman. Born in Northumberland, Pennsylvania, the son of a judge. He lived in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania from 1806 to 1814, where his father was presiding judge of the judicial district. Walker was educated at the Bellefonte Academy. he graduated in 1819 at the top of his class at the University of Pennsylvania where he was a member of the Philomathean Society, and was admitted to the bar in Pittsburgh in 1821. He practiced law in Pittsburgh from 1822 until 1826 when he moved to Mississippi. There he joined his brother, Duncan Walker, in a lucrative law practice. Walker became a speculator in cotton, land and slaves. (In 1838 he freed his own slaves...