Robert Goodloe Harper Robert Goodloe Harper ( January 1765January 14 , 1825 ) , a Federalist , was a member of the United States Senate from Maryland , serving from January 1816 until his resignation in December of the same year . He also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives ( 1790 – 1795 ) , the U . S . House of Representatives from South Carolina ( 1795 – 1801 ) , and in the Maryland State Senate . He is best remembered for the phrase , " Millions for defense , but not one cent for tribute . " The town of Harper , Liberia is named after him . Early life . Harper , the fifth child and first son of Jesse Harper ( 1733 - ? ) and Emily Diana Goodloe ( 1734 – 1788 ) was born near Fredericksburg , Virginia in January 1765 and moved with his parents to Granville , North Carolina around 1769 . He received his early education at home and later attended grammar school . At the age of fifteen , Harper joined a volunteer corps of Cavalry and served in the American Revolutionary Army . He made a surveying tour through Kentucky and Tennessee in 1783 , and graduated from the College of New Jersey ( now Princeton University ) in 1785 . He studied law in Charleston , South Carolina , teaching school at the same time , and was admitted to the bar in 1786 . He commenced practice in the Ninety - Sixth District of South Carolina , moving back to Charleston , S . C . in 1789 . On 7 May 1800 , Harper married Catherine Carroll in Anne Arundel Co , Maryland , the daughter of Charles & Mary ( Darnall ) Carroll . Robert had a least 4 children with Catherine : Political career in South Carolina . Harper was a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1790 until 1795 , at which time he was elected from South Carolina to the Third Congress to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Alexander Gillon . He was reelected to the Fourth , Fifth , and Sixth Congresses but was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1800 to the Seventh Congress , serving as a U . S Representative from February 9 , 1795 to March 1801 . While in Congress , he was the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the Fifth and Sixth Congresses . Harper was one of the managers appointed by the House of Representatives in 1798 to conduct the impeachment proceedings against William Blount . Political career in Maryland . Harper moved to Baltimore , Maryland , and engaged in the practice of law . He served in the War of 1812 , attaining the rank of major general . He assisted in organizing the Baltimore Exchange Co . in 1815 and was a member of the first board of directors . He then became a member of the Maryland State Senate , and was later elected from Maryland to the United States Senate for the term beginning March 4 , 1815 , serving from January 1816 until December 1816 , when he resigned . He was an unsuccessful Federalist candidate for Vice President in the 1816 election . He also received one electoral vote for Vice President in the 1820 election . Retirement . Harper traveled extensively in Europe in 1819 and 1820 . He took a prominent part in the ceremonies on the occasion of Lafayette ’ s visit to Baltimore in 1824 . He died in Baltimore on January 14 , 1825 , and was initially interred in the family burial ground on his estate , ” Oakland ” , and later reburied in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore .