Taylor, John (1753–1824)

US political philosopher, Democrat senator (1792–94, 1803, 1822–24), and agriculturist. He opposed the Federal Constitution because it did not sufficiently protect individual and states' rights. In 1798 he introduced the ‘Virginia Resolutions’ supporting delegated powers and asserting that states' rights take precedence in cases of the ‘dangerous exercise of other powers’. Owner of several plantations in Caroline County, he also wrote a series of essays on agriculture, collected in The Arator (1813).

Taylor was born in Caroline County, Virginia. He fought in the American Revolution and served several terms in the Virginia House of Delegates (1779–81, 1782–85). He wrote numerous pamphlets, books, and articles such as An Inquiry into the Principles and Policy of the Government of the United States (1814), proposing divided powers of government to best serve the people and opposing a permanent national debt.