Romulus M. Saunders

Romulus Mitchell Saunders
Judge of the North Carolina Superior Court
In office 1852–1856
In office 1835–1840
United States Minister to Spain
In office July 31, 1846 – September 24, 1849
President	James K. Polk Zachary Taylor
Preceded by	Washington Irving
Succeeded by	Daniel M. Barringer
Chair of the House Judiciary Committee
In office 1844–1845
Preceded by	William Wilkins
Succeeded by	George O. Rathbun
13th Attorney General of North Carolina
In office 1828–1834
Governor	John Owen Montfort Stokes David Lowry Swain
Preceded by	Robert H. Jones
Succeeded by	John Reeves Jones Daniels
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina
In office March 4, 1841 – March 3, 1845
Preceded by	William Montgomery
Succeeded by	James C. Dobbin
Constituency	8th district (1841-1843) 5th district (1843-1845)
In office March 4, 1821 – March 3, 1827
Preceded by	Thomas Settle
Succeeded by	Augustine H. Shepperd
Constituency	9th district
Speaker of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office November 15, 1819 – December 25, 1820
Preceded by	James Iredell Jr.
Succeeded by	James Mebane
Member of the North Carolina Senate from Caswell County
In office November 18, 1816 – December 28, 1816
Preceded by	B. Graves
Succeeded by	Bartlett Yancey
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons
In office November 20, 1848 – December 27, 1852
Preceded by	Berry D. Sims Rufus H. Jones
Succeeded by	Jacob Mordecai Nathaniel G. Rand W.W. Whitaker
Constituency	Wake County
In office November 17, 1817 – December 25, 1820
Preceded by	W. Watkins
Succeeded by	Quinten Anderson
Constituency	Caswell County
In office November 20, 1815 – December 21, 1815
Preceded by	John P. Harrison
Succeeded by	W. Watkins
Constituency	Caswell County
Personal details
Born	March 3, 1791 Caswell County, North Carolina
Died	April 21, 1867 (1867-04-22) (aged 76) Raleigh, North Carolina
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic
Spouses	Rebecca Payne Carter ​ ​ (m. 1812)​ Anne Hayes Johnson ​ (m. 1823)​
Children	9
Parents	William Saunders (father) Hannah Mitchell Saunders (mother)
Education	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Romulus Mitchell Saunders (March 3, 1791 – April 21, 1867) was an American politician from North Carolina.

Saunders was born near Milton, Caswell County, North Carolina, the son of William and Hannah Mitchell Saunders. His mother died when Romulus was an infant, and his father subsequently moved him to Sumner County, Tennessee. Following his father's death in 1803, uncle James Saunders became legal guardian and brought Romulus back to Caswell County to attend Hyco and Caswell Academies. In 1809, Saunders enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was expelled in March 1810 for firing a pistol on campus and throwing "a stone at the Faculty". Nine years later, Saunders would be elected to the university's board of trustees, where he served for forty-five years.

After his expulsion, Saunders moved to Tennessee and read law under future Senator Hugh Lawson White. He was admitted to the bar in Nashville in 1812 and returned to Caswell County the same year. In 1815, he was elected to the North Carolina House of Commons and soon after the North Carolina Senate. In 1818 he returned to the House and served as Speaker of the House from 1819 to 1820.

Saunders was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1820. As a congressman, Saunders was known for his unabashed pro-states' rights opinions. Saunders was such a staunch supporter of William H. Crawford's presidential campaign in the 1824 election that the eventual winner John Quincy Adams referred to the congressman as the most "cankered or venomous reptile in the country".^[1] As an admirer of Nathaniel Macon, Saunders was a fiscal conservative, believing that "men in power are apt to think the peoples' money is intended to be expended in such way as their distempered fancy may support".^[2] Despite this, Saunders supported internal improvements such as roads and railroads projects.

In 1828, Saunders left Congress to become North Carolina Attorney General. He left the post in 1834 after receiving a presidential appointment on the French spoliations claims commission. The state legislature appointed Saunders to the North Carolina Superior Court in 1835 – an office he held until 1840 when he became the Democratic nominee for Governor of North Carolina. After a contentious campaign, Saunders was defeated by Whig nominee John Motley Morehead. During his time in state government, the North Carolina Democratic Party split into two factions. Saunders led the states' rights faction, which believed in the ideas of John C. Calhoun. The more moderate wing was led by Bedford Brown, a fellow Caswell native and political enemy to Saunders. When Democrats gained control of the state legislature in 1842, both Brown and Saunders ran for the U.S. Senate seat. Neither man received a majority of votes, and the seat went to William Henry Haywood Jr.

Saunders returned to Congress following his election in 1840, where he became an outspoken opponent of Martin Van Buren and his allies who opposed the annexation of Texas. At the 1844 Democratic National Convention, Saunders sponsored a resolution requiring a two-thirds vote for the selection of a presidential candidate. This paved the way for the nomination of James K. Polk.

Perhaps as an act of appreciation for helping him win the Democratic presidential nomination, President Polk appointed Saunders as minister plenipotentiary to Spain in 1846. This coincided with the nation's increasing desire to procure Cuba, not only in the context of manifest destiny but also in the interest of Southern power. Cuba, with some half a million slaves, would provide Southerners with extra leverage in Congress. In the late 1840s, President James K. Polk dispatched Saunders with a mission to offer $100 million to buy Cuba. Saunders however did not speak Spanish, and as then Secretary of State James Buchanan noted "even [English] he sometimes murders". Saunders was a clumsy negotiator, which both entertained and angered the Spanish. Spain replied that they would "prefer seeing [Cuba] sunk in the ocean" than sold. It may have been a moot point anyway, as it is unlikely that the Whig majority House would have accepted such an obviously pro-Southern move. The 1848 election of Zachary Taylor, a Whig, ended formal attempts to purchase the island.^[3]

Saunders moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, and in 1850 was elected to represent Wake County in the House of Commons. As representative, Saunders became a supporter of constructing the North Carolina Railroad. Saunders again attempted to be appointed to the U.S. Senate in 1852. The legislature could not agree on whom to appoint, and the seat remained open until the appointment of David Settle Reid in 1854. The legislature did, however, reappoint Saunders to the Superior Court. He was a member of a commission to codify North Carolina laws in 1851 along with Bartholomew F. Moore and Asa Biggs.^[4]

Saunders married Rebecca Peine Carter on December 27, 1812. The marriage produced five children: James, Franklin, Camillus, Anne Peine, and Rebecca. Rebecca later died, and Saunders married Anne Heyes Johnson (the daughter of William Johnson) on May 26, 1823. The couple had at least four children: William Johnson, Margaret Madeline, Jane Claudia, and Julia A. Around 1831, the Saunders family purchased the Elmwood estate in Raleigh – the former home of John Louis Taylor. Saunders died there on April 21, 1867, and was buried in the Old City Cemetery.

Samuel A. Ashe, ed., Biographical History of North Carolina, vol. 3 (1905). Biog. Dir. Am. Cong. (1961).

• Joseph Blount Cheshire, Nonnulla: Memories, Stories, Traditions, More or Less Authentic (1930).
• DAB, vol. 8 (1935).
• A. R. Newsome, ed., "Letters of Romulus M. Saunders to Bartlett Yancey, 1821-1828," North Carolina Historical Review 8 (1931).
• William S. Powell, When the Past Refused to Die: A History of Caswell County, North Carolina, 1777-1977 (1977).
• James Edmonds Saunders, Early Settlers of Alabama (1899).

• Caswell County Historical Association
• Romulus Saunders entry in the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress
• Romulus Saunders Find-A-Grave