In the Senate, then under the control of the Democratic party, with the South in the lead, the bill encountered opposition.
Senators from the Cotton States thought they saw in it the hated principle of protection, and protection meant in their view, strength and prestige for the manufacturing States of the North.

The bill had been prepared in committee and reported in the House by a New- England member, Mr.Morrill of Vermont, which of itself was sufficient in the eyes of many Southern men to determine its character and its fate.
Mr.Robert M.T.Hunter of Virginia was at the time Chairman of the Senate Committee of Finance.

He was a man of sturdy common sense, slow in his methods, but strong and honest in his processes of reasoning.

He advanced rapidly in public esteem, and in 1839, at thirty years of age, was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives.

He was a sympathizer with the South-Carolina extremists, and coalesced with the Whigs to defeat the regular Democrats who were sustaining the Administration of Mr.Van Buren.
In 1847 Mr.Hunter was chosen senator from Virginia, and served continuously till the outbreak of the war.