United States senator Robert Young Hayne (1791-1839), a notable defender of the Southern states'-rights position, distinguished himself in the 1830 Senate debates on the nature of the Union.

Robert Hayne was born on a rice plantation in South Carolina on Nov. 10, 1791. He studied law and was admitted to the bar just before he was 21. In 1814 he was elected as a Jeffersonian Republican to the lower house of the South Carolina Legislature and 4 years later became its speaker. After serving as state attorney general for 2 years, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1822, with the backing of John C. Calhoun.

As senator, Hayne took a lead in opposing Federal efforts to increase the tariff. He attracted national attention and became the idol of the South when he joined Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri in opposing a resolution to curtail the sale of western land. Hayne based his...